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cgs April 17, 2012 08:32 PM

Garden Dangers
 
Anyone else have to keep their eyes open for life threatening garden creatures? Not your average hornworm!

[IMG]http://img.tapatalk.com/46efb5eb-0bab-8da9.jpg[/IMG]

augiedog55 April 17, 2012 08:36 PM

you can cook that one "taste like chicken". Be careful

Worth1 April 17, 2012 09:47 PM

What kind of snake is that?
It looks like a rattler.
I have a hog nosed snake here at the house with the same markings.
Worth

Rockporter April 17, 2012 09:50 PM

We have copperheads and rattlers out here, the other ones just startle me but the ch and rats are the ones I will run from. Eeeeek!

cgs April 17, 2012 09:59 PM

It would be a medium sized Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I ignorantly (and somewhat luckily) walked right by him in the dark twice, before it registered that the irrigation system didn't make that noise and it wouldn't be on at that time anyways. I should know better. I retrieved a flashlight and a camera... Very grateful the dogs and I are alright.

Rockporter - I hope your garden survived the storms ok - some wind down there. Copperheads scare me more, because they don't have an audible alarm on them.

JonFrum April 17, 2012 10:02 PM

I've got rattlers within a mile and a half of my house, but they stay in the rocky, hilly reservation and don't come down into the flatlands. All I deal with is skeeters and the occasional bee or wasp.

Worth1 April 17, 2012 10:02 PM

From habit I look for snakes everywhere I go.
I even jump sometimes while at work in Alaska and they dont have snakes. :(

Worth

Rockporter April 17, 2012 10:06 PM

Glad to hear you didn't get struck by that nasty snake.

We did ok here, we were on Tornado warning 4 times and a total of about 6 hours ending around 2:00 pm. We started at 3:30 am with tornado watch in Portland just about 18 miles away and I called everyone I knew there and in between, the storm was headed our way at 10 miles per hour. A 4:00 am phone call is not what people expect from me but it got everyone moving and the result was 3 tornados struck Portland and one in Gregory, so much flooding resulted from all the rain. My rain barrels filled up in less than an hour. Wow.

My husband called the boss to tell him he would be waiting out the storm and boss laughed and said, "Yeah, me too" and hubby never did make it to work because the storm was all up and down the highway he takes to work in Corpus. A very tense day for all of us but far from the terrible storms in Oklahoma all the way to Wisconsin. I really feel for those people.

Note: My garden structure at the community garden is still intact and has been through many high winds, I am amazed at how well it stays together.

ScottinAtlanta April 17, 2012 10:08 PM

My dad was bitten twice on the hand by a copperhead last summer in our garden. Those things are mean as...well...as a snake. My mom ran out with hoe, struck off the head of the snake, threw the head and the body in a bread bag, drove to the hospital, and dumped the snake on the front desk at the reception. Her purpose was to get correct identification for the antevenom. The hospital staff behaved like a bunch of five year old girls, running around screaming at the dead snake. My dad was treated right quick.

jennifer28 April 17, 2012 11:22 PM

I covered my beds last year with black landscape fabric after I tilled them under for the season.
A few days ago I was taking the fabric off and there were several garter snakes under there, LOL. They are nothing compared to that snake, but they did startle me. I think non-venomous snakes can be a benefit in the garden since they do eat pesty insects. Even the bigger non-venomous snakes are helpful in my opinion when they eat rodents. But I wouldn't want a big venomous one around.

Hmmm I went and read about garter snakes on wikipedia and I found this
Garters were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed that they do in fact produce a mild neurotoxic venom.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake#cite_note-3"][SIZE=2][4][/SIZE][/URL] Garter snakes cannot kill humans with the small amounts of venom they produce, which is comparatively mild, and they also lack an effective means of delivering it. They do have enlarged teeth in the back of their mouth, but their gums are significantly larger.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake#cite_note-4"][SIZE=2][5][/SIZE][/URL][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake#cite_note-5"][SIZE=2][6][/SIZE][/URL] Whereas most venomous snakes have anterior or forward venom glands, the Duvernoy's gland of garters are posterior (to the rear) of the snake's eyes.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake#cite_note-6"][SIZE=2][7][/SIZE][/URL] The mild venom is spread into wounds through a chewing action.

Very interesting, but I still don't think their venom "counts" LOL

Crandrew April 17, 2012 11:44 PM

[QUOTE=ScottinAtlanta;269091]My dad was bitten twice on the hand by a copperhead last summer in our garden. Those things are mean as...well...as a snake. My mom ran out with hoe, struck the head of the snake, threw the head and the body in a bread bag, drove to the hospital, and dumped the snake on the front desk at the reception. Her purpose was to get correct identification for the antevenom. The hospital staff behaved like a bunch of five year old girls, running around screaming at the dead snake. My dad was treated right quick.[/QUOTE]

Love this story!!!

cgs April 17, 2012 11:46 PM

I like to see the non-venomous ones around. Seems to me they eat the same things and hopefully displace the venomous snakes. They do still make the heart race.

Further south, I've heard of people stocking their property with Indigo snakes. They eat rattlesnakes, but get pretty big. After my initial scare, it is always good to see them.

desertlzbn April 18, 2012 12:18 AM

I have had several side winders rattle snakes in my yard, and a couple of western diamond backs. I live "in the desert" not in the city. Mostly the WDB'S are not "too" aggressive, but those danged sidewinders will chase you. Had a scary episode one night when I came home late. The dogs had it cornered, barking their fool heads off, about 2 ft away from the snake (we have trained them the command "leave it" ) so I called them off, and tried to beat the ground to scare off the snake, and that jerk tried to chase me so I ran the dogs into the house and called the neighbor guy to come catch it.

desertlzbn April 18, 2012 12:21 AM

This guy was on the sidewalk at work[IMG]http://img.tapatalk.com/aeeb840c-4114-8f0f.jpg[/IMG]
The ground squirrel was beating his tail on the ground trying to scare the snake away!

Father'sDaughter April 18, 2012 12:45 AM

We used to have a very large garter snake that made her home in the basement window window-well right outside our back door. I named her Sammie. We never had a problem with chipmunks while she was around. She disappeared a couple of years ago and the chipmunks have started overrunning the place! We can't even open our back door anymore without checking to make sure one isn't sitting on the doorstep for fear that they may run into the house. We have to mothball the heck out of all the motorcycles and lawn equipment to keep them from nesting in them during the winter. And occasionally we live with the stink of death around the back door after one has found it's way up behind the siding and apparently dies in there.

I miss Sammie.

Given a choice though, I'll take the chipmunks over a rattler any day.


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