A hazard I never thought of!

[waterinthefuel]

Toledo Bend rose 2 feet in 2 days from Saturday to Monday (5th largest man-made lake in the US, so that's a huge amount) due to the enormous amount of rain that has fallen recently. This has made for a huge number of floaters (floating logs and trees drifting around the lake). This, however, is not what this thread is about.

There is a small island of trees that was flooded out in the recent rains. Although the island was always useless to boaters for anything other than a nice place to fish, it was never inhabited in any way. It did do a great job of blocking the wind, giving you a little spot of heaven on a windy day, depending on which way the wind was blowing.

My dad and I were throwing some rat-l-traps at the island when this big, and guys, I mean BIG snake came around the corner, headed briefly for our boat (until we started making lots of noise, a 6-7 foot snake tends to do that to ya), and then proceeded to climb up into a hole in the side of a very innocent looking stump. This stump was the only one you could tie off to (due to high water) on the protected side of the island. That snake managed to hide himself completely in the stump. Someone could have easily boated right up to it to tie off, and had the fecal matter scared right out of his britches.

Guys, be careful when tying up to stumps. Various creatures can and do use them for housing.

 

[i386]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

Good post and good timing too. It's getting to be about that time of year.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

If that snake was either a dark brown or black, it was probably a water mocassin! I have the same problem where I live (SE Louisiana) - when the water rises, they tend to go places that they are normally not found in. Right after Katrina, we had them all over the place, including in people's houses, workshops, barns, etc.!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

I am a firm believer in snake shot in a revolver just for that reason. Even a 12 ga single shot does not take up too much room.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

One very good reason to put up with long cold winters!
We have snakes, but we have practicaly no poisonous snakes!
I know this may or may not have been a "nasty" but still.
I've got no problem with snakes, but the deadly ones I can do without.

 

[oops!]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

you started yelling at it.....

do snakes have "ears" or is it the vibration they "hear"

 

[Coors]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

vibration from the gun!
It could have been a water snake (looks the same), but I can handle a rattlesnake with a shovel or a large stick; a cotton mouth can get pretty aggressive. A rattlesnake wont's to leave- moc thinks the best defense is a good offense.

 

[rolmops]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

Most 6 or 7 foot snakes are the non poisonous type.the poisonous ones are shorter and usually a bit on the fat side(as thick as your arm).
As for listening.Yes they hear quite well on top of feeling your vibrations.That is why we do not see them very often. They tend to be a lot more scared of us than we are of them.If they are not poisonous, that is.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

It was long and equally thick from head to toe with the head being just a tiny tad bigger than the body. We made an initial species call of it being a large king snake. A LARGE king snake.

Cottonmouths, like someone said before, tend to be short and fat. Our snake was the right color, but just simply not the right body type.

There are only 6 species of poisonous snakes in this state. 3 are rattlers, 1 is the cottonmouth, 1 the copperhead, and 1 the coral snake. That's just off the top of my head. (you think I've been studying this or what?)

I'm about 90 percent sure this is what we saw. Considering it floated higher in the water than any snake I ever saw and that photo there shows it, and it was that color, it looks like this is what we saw.

http://www.geocities.com/onias_2000/texasratsnake.html

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

I agree that a snake with those markings wouldn't be a water moccasin/cottonmouth. They do have a little bit of a pattern to them but the ones that I have seen are much darker overall so the markings aren't as distinctive.

The king snakes that we tend to have in my neck of the woods are speckled king snakes. I guess they aren't poisonous but I wouldn't want to tick one off because I have seen them eat smaller cottonmouths! Tough little buggers!

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

I don't think I would like that very much........​

 

[QC]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

My experience with a snake in the water was that it headed straight for the boat and tried to get in . . . It freaked me out a little even though it was probably not poisonous, but he kept coming back. Luckily he was trying to climb up the sides and didn't find the swimstep. You can just guess how the women aboard were behaving

 

[bjcsc]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

We have lots of snakes around here, including Kings. They are about as dangerous as squirrels. Unless you like large populations of rodents, I vote for sharing the habitat and leaving them be...

 

[i386]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

I usually catch the ones around the house and relocate them to the woods (if they play nice). I'm not scared of them usually as long as they don't surprise me. I've never seen a poisonous snake near the house. We've got quite a population of chipmunks living in the back yard. They've got my dogs digging holes everywhere trying to get them. They've caught and killed 2 already. No telling what diseases those little buggers are carrying. The dog's shots are up to date but still. If I find any snakes this year I think I will leave them be. Maybe they'll thin out the chipmunks.

I need to let JB borrow my dogs. The armadillos are gone!

 

[LadyFish]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

My experience with a snake in the water was that it headed straight for the boat and tried to get in . . . It freaked me out a little even though it was probably not poisonous, but he kept coming back. Luckily he was trying to climb up the sides and didn't find the swimstep. You can just guess how the women aboard were behaving

The same exact thing happened to us last year. I was histerical.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

Snakes don't eat much and the vipers are tastey! They don't taste like chicken either, more like bacon and at least so far none are a protected specie! Boat hooks are a good collection/dispatch tool.

 

[Coors]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

Not a moc.
King snakes are good-immune to venom and eat the ones we don't like.

 

[Nandy]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

I vote chose to let the snakes live every time I see one. I had my share of encounters while boating but mostly water snakes.

 

[mscher]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

Could it have been a Python or Boa constrictor?

It is told that in South Florida, they are dumped as unwanted pets into the wild and are reproducing quite nicely.

Probably just a matter of time before they make to your neck of the woods

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: A hazard I never thought of!

I relocate snakes when I can but, with a 2-1/2 year child around, the mocs get to meet their maker immediately - not gonna risk my little man over trying to be a snake humanitarian!