Back Yard Critter (UPDATE)

[Byron Bay]

Have lost too many dogs to the most common one in these parts Eastern Brown.
Protected but not if I am around, bird netting, long length of whippy bamboo or a shotgun solves the problem for me but as my dad used to say for everyone that you see there are 20 you don't...

 

[peachhead]

I almost stepped on a water snake one day at my neighbor's. He thought it was hilarious. He said snakes make me speak in tongues lol

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

Yup, plenty of coyote here...

 

[blume357]

A rattler is pretty good eating if you get the batter right.
We have copper heads here and I will dispose of them... neighbor was working on the area beside the road back in the fall and turned over a rock with a momma and a bunch of baby copperheads....

 

[Mobuck]

I have no idea how many times I've been locked out of my pickup because I stopped to catch a snake along the road. Other family members not so happy with snake catching.

 

[tazbigdog]

Looks like a black racer. They love to eat rats and mice.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

A rattler is pretty good eating if you get the batter right.

Thick beer batter/deep fried is the best in my opinion. Also rattler tacos. BUT....I really don't trust rattler that was killed/prepared by someone else. One you have to kill it right, not crush the head. Two, you have to know how to bone it properly. Once you get sick from one or a bone in the top of your mouth (or worse throat) you get a little wary of it. I enjoyed rattler hunting while stationed in Southern Cal. Conduit pole with a piano wire run through it was a great tool. Took the head clean off.

 

[Moparfreak]

Different subspecies of rattlesnake have different temperaments. Western Diamondbacks are usually mellow and you have to practically step on them. Sidewinders, Mojave Greens, and the reds are notoriously bad tempered. Plus the reds and the greens are also neurotoxic.

When you say Reds are you speaking of Red Rock Rattlers? I’m know the Mojave Greens have dual poisons (grew up in the Yucca Valley Ca. Area) but I thought they were the only ones in the USA?

 

[XUSNORDIE]

When you say Reds are you speaking of Red Rock Rattlers?

Probably Red Diamondback.

 

[303hunter]

The wife and I have a small farm in NC with goats, chickens, and rabbits. Where you have animal feed, you have rats and mice. Where you have rats and mice, you have snakes.

We dispatch several copperheads and cottonmouths every year. The non poisonous snakes are welcome. I stepped on a cottonmouth once and it bit my boot, but didn’t get my foot. That will get your heart pumping!

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Here is a pic of a Red Diamondback rattler I caught in the Tierrasanta community in San Diego in late 80's. That community was an aerial range back in the day. After a heavy rainy season ordnance would become exposed. Some still AURs. I was with EODMU3 at the time a sweep was being conducted in canyons/trails/even backyards. Very arduous but fun. Besides exposed ordnance there was a ton of snakes on the rocky canyon hillsides. I found this guy under a rock overhang. I typically left them alone but I loved the color and it was a fatty. Held it down behind the head with a stick, got control of his head, stretched out about a hand length between hands and told my buddy to cut it with his knife...he cut under my bottom hand instead of between because he didn't want to get close ...threw the head down with it chomping away on the ground. We had 5 gallon jugs of Gatorade on the trucks. I got a trash bag and filled it with ice from the jugs. It was still squirming when we got back. Threw it in my truck, took it home and skinned/boned it.

I'm a tad over 6'4" tall....the tip of the rattle is on the deck.....and yes, we ate it...and yes the shorts are screaming 80's!

 

[Diamondback]

OTOH, my chipmunk loves America more than your politician.... usually when I see this little guy he's just like this, roosting on that wheel-cover next to the spot under the carport where I store our flag in bad weather like he's a furry little honor guard.

Yes, I feed and talk to squirrels too... my neighborhood has been feeding them practically since it was first subdivided and built in the '50s so the local population knows it's best to stay on our good sides so they stay well fed.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

I can't seem to shoot enough chipmunks.....destructive little things. I have a 22 PCP just for them.

 

[Diamondback]

Rural? It is an observed pattern that rural ones tend to be more destructive while urban ones tend to self-domesticate.

Little Chip there is the first chipmunk I've seen in this neighborhood in 40 years, almost all we get are Eastern Grays that the Fischgestapo want to exterminate like their fellow jackboots in New York did poor little Peanut.

 

[Jeepnik]

We just called them reds. But they were actually red Diamondbacks. Like the Mojave Green they have both hemo and neuro toxic venom. They tend to get larger than the Greens. They range in color from a dark, almost brown to an almost pink. I'm Not sure but the coloration might be either the area they are in of how long ago they shed. I've read, but can't confirm, that the only rattle snake that can strike faster is the sidewinder.

Talk about attitude, I watched a sidewinder slither up to the tire on an O-11B crash truck and strike it, twice. Then it just slither off under the truck for the shade.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Rural? It is an observed pattern that rural ones tend to be more destructive while urban ones tend to self-domesticate.

Little Chip there is the first chipmunk I've seen in this neighborhood in 40 years, almost all we get are Eastern Grays that the Fischgestapo want to exterminate like their fellow jackboots in New York did poor little Peanut.

Ahhhh a city boy? Please refer us to the city vs rural chipmunks and destructive tendencies.......fishgestapo? jackboots?........little Peanut?........you obviously need a big warm loving hug and tissues to wipe your little soggy eyes. There should be a tree nearby you can hug and gently remove a leaf for your tears.

We just called them reds. But they were actually red Diamondbacks.

YUP

Talk about attitude, I watched a sidewinder slither up to the tire on an O-11B crash truck and strike it, twice

Sidewinders were the nasty ones in the desert. Night rides or poker runs you better take a flashlight when stopping to take a leak or dump. Those things were crazy nasty....I never caught one. Didn't really have the time to because I always came across them during a time crunch...usually a poker run at Borrego Springs.

 

[blume357]

We have plenty of chipmunks and they really don't cause a problem here... now squirrels are a different matter all together....

 

[eveled]

Gray Squirrels never bothered me, But I had a pair of Red Sqirrels, OMG! Those guys were high strung and destructive.

I let snakes live their life, technically we have Timber Rattlers around here, but nobody ever sees them.

 

[stonebuster]

When I was a kid snakes were everywhere around here & I used to catch/release garter, ribbon, hognose, black, ring neck, water snakes. Now, it's rare to see one. Pesticides & lawn care products I suspect are the reason. Only venomous snakes we've got are Copperheads & Timber rattlesnakes.

 

[contender]

303hunter;

You said;
"The wife and I have a small farm in NC
We dispatch several copperheads and cottonmouths every year."

Where in NC are you?
To have cottonmouth snakes,, you'd have to be on the southern tip of our coastal area.

I POLITELY share this,, because quite often,, many here in NC THINK they have cottonmouth snakes but have mis-identified the snake.
According the the NC Wildlife Commission, and the biologists in NC,, the only verifiable population of cottonmouth snakes are in a small area of the southern, coastal area of NC.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Snakes, another good reason to live in Alaska.

 

[Jeepnik]

303hunter;

You said;
"The wife and I have a small farm in NC
We dispatch several copperheads and cottonmouths every year."

Where in NC are you?
To have cottonmouth snakes,, you'd have to be on the southern tip of our coastal area.

I POLITELY share this,, because quite often,, many here in NC THINK they have cottonmouth snakes but have mis-identified the snake.
According the the NC Wildlife Commission, and the biologists in NC,, the only verifiable population of cottonmouth snakes are in a small area of the southern, coastal area of NC.

Are those the same type of "experts" that keep telling us we don't have puma and now at least one black bear wandering around this area?

 

[303hunter]

303hunter;

You said;
"The wife and I have a small farm in NC
We dispatch several copperheads and cottonmouths every year."

Where in NC are you?
To have cottonmouth snakes,, you'd have to be on the southern tip of our coastal area.

I POLITELY share this,, because quite often,, many here in NC THINK they have cottonmouth snakes but have mis-identified the snake.
According the the NC Wildlife Commission, and the biologists in NC,, the only verifiable population of cottonmouth snakes are in a small area of the southern, coastal area of NC.

We’re on the east side of Fayetteville, and have the Cape Fear river on one end of our land and a swamp on the other end. It’s hard to mistake a cottonmouth in a threat pose.

 

[contender]

Ok,, you are in the area where it is possible.

 

[coachk64]

When I was a teenager in SW Oklahoma I would go to the Rattlesnake Derby every year in Mangum, OK. People would come from all over the country for this event. There were prizes for the longest, heaviest, most rattles, shortest, and probably a few other categories. While you could purchase a snake snare, I've spent most of my life on a limited budget so my weapon of choice was on old curtain rod with some clothesline to make a loop, and an old pillow case for a game bag. Only once was I in any danger. I stopped over a log right onto the back of a rattler that was under some leaves and he was able to get a fang in the toe of my boot, but missed the toe of my foot.

By the end of each day they had an above-ground empty pool filled up with a few hundred live snakes squirming around.

You could get a plate of fried rattlesnake with some cole slaw for around $4 a throw at that time.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Where in NC are you?
To have cottonmouth snakes,, you'd have to be on the southern tip of our coastal area.

Seemed every few steps in the Dismal Swamp, either NC or VA side you came across Cottonmouths. Even the swampy areas of VA BCH I deer hunted (mostly still hunting with handgun) had a decent population of Cottonmouth. Growing up in MD many thought the snakes in our large ponds were Cottonmouths but they were actually just northern water snakes.

We’re on the east side of Fayetteville, and have the Cape Fear river on one end of our land and a swamp on the other end. It’s hard to mistake a cottonmouth in a threat pose.

Yep...that wide open white mouth gives it away. Get close and it's like a flower blooming in fast speed. For the record......NEVER had one come after me.....or even move much.

 

[303hunter]

Ok,, you are in the area where it is possible.

Weird thing is, about one mile down the road from me, the land gets really sandy and there are a lot of rattlesnakes. I’ve lived on the same land for all of my 61 years and have never seen one.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Weird thing is, about one mile down the road from me, the land gets really sandy and there are a lot of rattlesnakes. I’ve lived on the same land for all of my 61 years and have never seen one.

Easterns, Pygmy, and Timber (you may call them Canebrakes down there). My dog was bit by a "Canebrake" on a friends property in Currituck. I thought for sure it was a Cottonmouth but Vet said it was a Canebrake.....my friend never saw any rattlers there.

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

 

[Diamondback]

Ahhhh a city boy? Please refer us to the city vs rural chipmunks and destructive tendencies.......fishgestapo? jackboots?........little Peanut?........you obviously need a big warm loving hug and tissues to wipe your little soggy eyes. There should be a tree nearby you can hug and gently remove a leaf for your tears.

You don't remember the kerfuffle with Peanut the Internet Squirrel in New York back in '24 that became an 11th-hour Trump Campaign item about overreach of Dems in power? As for critters... YMMV, but in this neighborhood, over almost 70 years generations of people and squirrels interacting have naturally selected in favor of critters that are better behaved. Conversely, I have a buddy way out in the mountains where his are holy terrors. There's even a park up at Snoqualmie Falls where the squirrels have learned to perform for the tourists conning them out of nuts... now don't get me wrong, I'm not some treehugging soy-and-tofu-eating whacko, if I need to put a problem critter down I'll do what I gotta do, BUT I also believe in for myself "live and let live" until a time comes that it's time to move to the second half of "Be Nice, Until It's Time To NOT Be Nice." Besides, mine have learned to earn their keep as living alarm clocks, climbing on the screen door and chittering when it's time to wake up, mealtimes, break times, quitting time... used to have one spoiled little princess that liked to curl up in my lap and siesta while I was taking my end-of-work blood-pressure break then share my bucket of walnuts. Remarkably effective therapist too, no talker but Frick was a great listener while I got stuff out and had just the right sense of distraction timing, and worked for peanuts.

WA "Fish & Wildlife Police" (really, that's what the game wardens here are called) do tend to be a bit full of themselves, more about jamming you up than assisting compliance and fixing honest mistakes, at least that's the impression I've gotten albeit not much since I don't go play in the woods and Animal Planet's "Northwest Law" was admittedly less than flatteringly edited compared to the sister shows on Texas and NH/ME game wardens.

Any other chairshots you'd like to toss? Maybe that my gray skivvies aren't what you personally consider Regulation Acceptable?