Snakes

[justmeincal]

I don't like snakes either. I'm not afraid of them, but don't like to be startled by them. I walked out my front door a few months and almost stepped on one. I swear I jumped ten feet in the air.

 

[Mem]

I've never seen one in the wild and they do creep my out. One time at a straight dance club a guy I knew bought in his snake, it was albino and about 6 feet long, It was pretty cool, he had it around his neck and I petted it.

I'd also never seen a frog, toad or lizard in the wild until I moved to Florida.

 

[2322]

Snakes don't bother me. I worked in a zoo and had fallen in love with the snake keeper so I'd go with her in the evenings to help feed the snakes and clean the cages during the day. All of the snakes were trained to take dead food so feeding consisted of defrosting and warming dead chicks and rats and then feed them to the snakes. It wasn't difficult at all and quite fun.

Some snakes are beautiful, others not. Some have nasty tempers and others wouldn't bite you even if you mishandled them. Snakes definitely have personalities.

Where I live we have lots of snakes, tons of ribbon and garter snakes, some really pretty milk and corn snakes, black racers, rat snakes (nastiest snakes), the very beautiful and rarely seen ring neck snake, and only two venomous species (though garter snakes have recently been discovered to have a very weak venom), the copperhead and timber rattler. They're rarer to see and of the two, the copperhead is the more dangerous as it will not warn you if you approach it as a rattler will. Copperheads blend very well into leaf litter and about the only warning you'll get that you're too close is the smell of cucumbers.

If you really don't like snakes and live in a fairly warm area, you may want to get a secretary bird. These delightful, graceful, even somewhat trainable creatures are a snake's worst nightmare. Even their Latin name, Sagittarius serpentarius, means "archer of snakes." Rattlesnakes? Cobras? Mambas? Kraits? Not a problem for the secretary bird! It will dispatch your snake using a combination of a razor sharp beak, two blinding flapping wings, and two enormous taloned feet with enough strength to break your arm if it should kick you. They live to kill and eat snakes. About the only snake which it might have a problem with is the king cobra because those suckers can think. Otherwise, feel free to sleep in peace while the secretary bird patrols your grounds.

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

What an astounding Bird Jason els ! It's oddly beautiful and slightly scary at the same time, it kicks lick a Ninja.

 

[2322]

What an astounding Bird Jason els ! It's oddly beautiful and slightly scary at the same time, it kicks lick a Ninja.

They're very beautiful and scary. According to DNA studies, they are one of the closest living relatives of the Terror Birds (up to 7 feet tall and over 300 lbs of carnivory). In other words, were it any larger, it would likely eat you.

Men, particularly some of those here, should not walk around naked in front of a secretary bird. I've never heard of any mistaken attacks but prudence is definitely in order.

 

[Flashy]

birds are very cool...especially the birds of prey (see my threads with the videos on the golden eagles)

i like the snake-killing animals, such as birds of prey, mongoose, ratel etc...

this mongoose does not mess around!

YouTube - Mongoose Attacking an Asian Cobra

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

birds are very cool...especially the birds of prey (see my threads with the videos on the golden eagles)

i like the snake-killing animals, such as birds of prey, mongoose, ratel etc...

this mongoose does not mess around!

YouTube - Mongoose Attacking an Asian Cobra

I love Mongooses :biggrin1: Rikki Tikki Tavi was my childhood introduction and I've always loved them since :tongue:

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

*makes note reminding her to add something about Vince posting about his mother and the spiders a bannable offence* (second time you've made me freak and tuck my feet up off the floor :redface

I've always had snakes, they are easily one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet collectively.

The *people* who feed them live food as a rule are genuinely sick (or fucking dumb) individuals. Yes from time to time, you may get a snake go off its food, and yes, from time to time a snake will actually starve itself, and it may be worth trying a mouse or two to get it back in the swing of things, but those are very rare cases, in fact, I've had (between myself and my father) literally hundreds of snakes, and I've known 3 cases of a snake going off its food to the point of starving itself. Same breed all 3 times, and yes, I believe live food was tried and worked in one, maybe two of the cases, after the third though, we simply didn't get that breed any more, as it is not a practise we agree with.

Oh and who ever said they smell must have known some pretty dodgy snake keepers... if you clean them out, they don't smell (much like cocks in that sense I guess)

Which kinds of snake have you kept then Kotchanski ?

 

[Flashy]

*makes note reminding her to add something about Vince posting about his mother and the spiders a bannable offence* (second time you've made me freak and tuck my feet up off the floor :redface

I've always had snakes, they are easily one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet collectively.

The *people* who feed them live food as a rule are genuinely sick (or fucking dumb) individuals. Yes from time to time, you may get a snake go off its food, and yes, from time to time a snake will actually starve itself, and it may be worth trying a mouse or two to get it back in the swing of things, but those are very rare cases, in fact, I've had (between myself and my father) literally hundreds of snakes, and I've known 3 cases of a snake going off its food to the point of starving itself. Same breed all 3 times, and yes, I believe live food was tried and worked in one, maybe two of the cases, after the third though, we simply didn't get that breed any more, as it is not a practise we agree with.

Oh and who ever said they smell must have known some pretty dodgy snake keepers... if you clean them out, they don't smell (much like cocks in that sense I guess)

thanks for your informed post...i still don't like snakes, but i respect those who keep them responsibly and don't enjoy the sadistic elements of snake ownership (feeding live creatures)

 

[Flashy]

I love Mongooses :biggrin1: Rikki Tikki Tavi was my childhood introduction and I've always loved them since :tongue:

Rikki Tikki Tavi was awesome...i was so scared of the two cobras...Nag and Nagaina

 

[B_hungprepjock]

Except in a zoo, or on television, unless you live in the country (as I do), or keep them as 'pets,' just where would most of you people have occasion to run into a snake?

Are you sure you're not just having the DTs?

 

[2322]

Rikki Tikki Tavi was awesome...i was so scared of the two cobras...Nag and Nagaina

Perhaps wisely so. The King Cobra is different from any other snake. It can stare at you at eye-level, which is very disconcerting. They also have an extra thought process in their heads that other snakes don't have. They're far and away the most intelligent of snakes as they have the ability to plan just a little ahead of others. They don't strike without provocation but they also will stand their ground even if retreat is possible, unlike other snakes. You have to meet one and know others to know what I mean. Snakes don't bother me unless I figure they can determine I'm on the menu but the King Cobra is a very different matter altogether because they're unpredictable in a rather frightening way. I want glass between me and them. Always. They're not snakes you can play with like Steve Irwin.

Milliliter for milliliter, the real snake to fear in that book is Krait. Kraits really are death. Cobras can moderate their venom output and will frequently not envenomate something they perceive to be a casual threat as venom is precious and takes a while to manufacture; you get bitten but with not enough venom to kill you (if any at all). Not so with kraits. They can and will bite you with more venom than can kill 10 elephants.

 

[Flashy]

Perhaps wisely so. The King Cobra is different from any other snake. It can stare at you at eye-level, which is very disconcerting. They also have an extra thought process in their heads that other snakes don't have. They're far and away the most intelligent of snakes as they have the ability to plan just a little ahead of others. They don't strike without provocation but they also will stand their ground even if retreat is possible, unlike other snakes. You have to meet one and know others to know what I mean. Snakes don't bother me unless I figure they can determine I'm on the menu but the King Cobra is a very different matter altogether because they're unpredictable in a rather frightening way. I want glass between me and them. Always. They're not snakes you can play with like Steve Irwin.

Milliliter for milliliter, the real snake to fear in that book is Krait. Kraits really are death. Cobras can moderate their venom output and will frequently not envenomate something they perceive to be a casual threat as venom is precious and takes a while to manufacture; you get bitten but with not enough venom to kill you (if any at all). Not so with kraits. They can and will bite you with more venom than can kill 10 elephants.

in terms of the eye level, this video i saw a while ago on TV where he confronted the King Cobra was the scariest thing i had seen...the thing was fast, huge and as you said jase, moving at eye level, really terrifying...granted it was alternating between searching for an escape route, and than standing its ground and making rushes to keep it its perceived tormenter at bay, it was quite a sight.


YouTube - HUGE king cobra

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

I love snakes. :smile:

 

[vince]

*makes note reminding her to add something about Vince posting about his mother and the spiders a bannable offence* (second time you've made me freak and tuck my feet up off the floor :redface

I've always had snakes, they are easily one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet collectively.

Yeah my stories about Mum have freaked out many people. :redface: :tongue: (You should have seen her at 75 years old shooting at the starlings with her .22 pistol. They supposedly scared off the robins and such. )

I agree they are among the most beautiful animals. When we were 22 my best buddy and I caught a Black Indigo and kept it for a while. It was a lovely shiny iridescent black colour. We fed it dead field mice but it wouldn't eat any "human" food like chicken. It really seemed to enjoy being handled and Jeff said it was the heat from our skin that it liked. We let it go after about a month but we often saw it in the backyard. We could get quite close to it, but it never let us touch.

 

[justmeincal]

Perhaps wisely so. The King Cobra is different from any other snake. It can stare at you at eye-level, which is very disconcerting. They also have an extra thought process in their heads that other snakes don't have. They're far and away the most intelligent of snakes as they have the ability to plan just a little ahead of others. They don't strike without provocation but they also will stand their ground even if retreat is possible, unlike other snakes. You have to meet one and know others to know what I mean. Snakes don't bother me unless I figure they can determine I'm on the menu but the King Cobra is a very different matter altogether because they're unpredictable in a rather frightening way. I want glass between me and them. Always. They're not snakes you can play with like Steve Irwin.

Milliliter for milliliter, the real snake to fear in that book is Krait. Kraits really are death. Cobras can moderate their venom output and will frequently not envenomate something they perceive to be a casual threat as venom is precious and takes a while to manufacture; you get bitten but with not enough venom to kill you (if any at all). Not so with kraits. They can and will bite you with more venom than can kill 10 elephants.

Jason,
Thanks for posting that, very interesting. Plus I learned a new word; envenomate!

 

[2322]

in terms of the eye level, this video i saw a while ago on TV where he confronted the King Cobra was the scariest thing i had seen...the thing was fast, huge and as you said jase, moving at eye level, really terrifying...granted it was alternating between searching for an escape route, and than standing its ground and making rushes to keep it its perceived tormenter at bay, it was quite a sight.

YouTube - HUGE king cobra

Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm not enough of a snake person to deal well with that kind of situation. Even behind glass they frighten me. I don't think I'd like a spitting cobra either but I don't recall ever seeing one live.

I meant to say before, in my previous post, that they can moderate their venom. They don't always and even partial envenomation is enough to kill a person.

 

[DaveyR]

If you were to watch David Attenborough "Life in cold blood" you might change you opinion of snakes. I found the series fascinating and have it on DVD.

 

[Zeuhl34]

I fucking love snakes (and all reptiles, for that matter). I'd love to someday have a pet snake or lizard of some sort.

 

[2322]

What an astounding Bird Jason els ! It's oddly beautiful and slightly scary at the same time, it kicks lick a Ninja.

That site I linked is not quite correct. My apologies. Titanis was the heaviest terror bird but it wasn't the largest. That distinction belongs to the astonishing Argentavis magnificens. Imagine seeing the shadow of something like this flying over you!