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It’s That Time of Year

This is a snake story so if you don’t want to hear about snakes . . don’t move to Texas and don’t read any farther.

Yesterday I was walking from the shop to the house . . across the rock driveway.  I wasn’t in grass and I wasn’t in weeds.  I glanced over at the plants still waiting to be planted to see if any of them were drooping and needing water.  There . . right in the middle of my plants was a big snake.  Thoughts ran through my head . . go in the house and get the gun with the snake shot.  No . . he’ll get away before I get back.  Get the pistol out of the sewing room . . no, Vince would not be happy if I used that one for a snake.  Then I saw a shovel.  Then I looked down at my toes . . flip flops . . yes, I was on the driveway, not walking through weeds.

I grabbed the shovel and . . off with his head.  It was a chicken snake but from where I first saw him, I thought it might have been a rattlesnake.  I’m not real good when it comes to knowing which ones are good and which ones are bad.  I know that ribbon snakes are ok but I still pretty much am sure that the only good snake is a dead snake.

There are those baby birds in the carport, as well as Louise’s babies in the shop.  A chicken snake loves eggs but it will also eat baby birds, baby chicks and it can kill full grown chickens.  So . . he won’t be hurting anything or any one but when Vince got home, I was in tears.  He said “What’s wrong?”  I said “You owe me!  You brought me to this desert where nothing grows, it’s hot, it’s dusty and I hate snakes!”  He reminded me that I was the one who wanted to live in the country and if we lived in town, we would not be seeing snakes.  Ok . . I’ll deal with it but I think I’ll always panic when I see a snake.

Last spring, we put out 8 wooden eggs on the ground around the coop.  Supposedly, the snakes will think they’re real eggs, eat them and then crawl off and . . The End!  Those 8 eggs have been various places around the coop.  Nothing has ever touched them.  After the snake incident yesterday, I went out to let the chickens out this morning and guess what I noticed . . not a single wooden egg remains.  All 8 gone!  I hope 8 different snakes each ate one but my luck, one greedy snake at them all.

We’ll be seeing snakes for at least the next six months and from what friends are telling me, they’re seeing way more of them earlier this year than in previous years.  I’m sure that means something . . probably that I’ll stay in the house til Thanksgiving.  What bothers me more than the ones I see are the ones I don’t see . . the ones I know are waiting to get me!

 

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Comments

  1. This is why i brave the cold in the north, we have only rattlers and they are in the very high mountains. We do have garter snakes and they always make me jump but I can just shoo those away. You are far braver than I am.
    Hugs!!!!

  2. My cat was bitten by a copperhead about two weeks ago. I didn’t even discover it until the bite was a few days old. She’s fine, its healing on its own with no intervention. Amazing how resilient animals are, if i had been bitten i’d be hysterical. We do have a huge black snake…like six feet long…that visits the guinea coop. It does eat eggs, but i only have one lady guinea and she’s old so she doesn’t lay much. We’ve gotten the snake out a few times, but he keeps coming back. Now we just ignore him…the guineas don’t mind. It does freak me out when i first see him every year…he hasn’t shown up yet this year. We call him Sneaky Snake.

    • Oh funny we also have one and we call him Sneaky Snake because he can scare the bejeb berfs out of you. We take him and put him in the barn hoping he will catch some rats. Yes I said rats. And no they will not eat poison nor wil they get in a trap. Sam says they are rafter rats. I wish they were gone. I do not go in the barn. Period. I hate Rats worse than snakes.

  3. Aunt Mildred always sprayed around her yard with ammonia to repel snakes. I don’t know that it works, but she swore by it. haha

  4. OMG!! What a coincidence!! I just had a snake in my yard yesterday. Don’t know what kind it was (not a rattler thank goodness), but it was about size of a garden hose and about 3 feet long, That’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen in my yard (usually we only have the small garter snakes). I ran to a neighbor and he came over with an ax & hoe and chased that sucker down and chopped its head off. Another neighbor down the street got upset cause she says it was a “beneficial” snake. Sorry….told her if I saw another one, I’d come get her and she could take it to her yard…it wasn’t gonna be in mine!!!

  5. We don’t have many snakes, but, you could be in MN! Where we haven’t even seen the grass yet, (up north anyway) and are expecting more snow still. GARDENS? We will be lucky if we all have any this year! The tulips don’t even DARE show their faces yet, not that they could, even it they wanted to. Most of us are becoming homicidal. When you are tired of the desert, you can come visit anytime! As for me, I’ll go out west. I am not a desert fan, and Texas bugs are too stinking BIG, but I love snakes…hate mice, too destructive… Good combo…

    • I could have written this, except to say that it is snowing right now in Western MN.

      Judy, the only snakes I have seen here are garter. And only a handful over my 30some years. When I was a child, I was scared

  6. You are brave to go after the snake in your flip-flops. I’ve been told that moth balls in the chicken coop will keep the snakes out. I have some lavendar scented ones (I don’t like the smell of the regular ones) on hand but I haven’t put them out yet. My DH says I have a particular noise someplace between a squeal and a squeak that I make when I come across a snake. So far all I’ve found are “good” ones, but I still don’t like finding them by accident. I just want to know why I’m always the one to find them and he never does!

  7. Brave girl! I started out the back door with a pair of lopers to do some rose pruning. A copperhead was on the porch and I was so close to him, I didn’t see him until the last minute. I tried to cut his head off with the lopers just as he tried to strike. While he was in mid strike I chopped at him with the lopers. I was aiming for his head but cut him about half in two. I did manage to finish him off, but like yours, he was not in grass or weeds. I’ll still take country over city. Be careful out there, though.

  8. That’s exactly how I react to a snake. DH jokingly calls me ‘city girl” when I have a run in with a snake. Ugh. I will never get used to finding them, but haven’t seen any yet this year.I think…and hope…our barn cats keep them at bay. And now, after reading your post, I found myself propping my feet up on the desk, and I’m in the house! 🙂

  9. Yikes! I am not a snake fan either. We live in central Arkansas. My husband saw a big king snake yesterday while mowing. He got some pictures, but let it live. I am glad I only had to see the picture. Be careful!

  12. Judy, I grew up in snake country, hills of Virginia but still feel that a dead snake is a good snake. Since being here in East Texas we have had our share of copperheads, etc. We have some outside cats and they really made a difference. We feed them once a day but other than that they go to the woods and hunt. Haven’t seen a copperhead in the yard or close to the house for a few years now but that doesn’t mean they are not out there. Also, lime on the ground will burn their belly when they crawl over it, but you are like us.. too much property to spread lime 🙂
    Be careful,, keep an eye on the ground as you walk..
    Helen

    • Maybe lime around just the garden would help, since that’s where you spend so much time.

      Poor Judy! Last year, grasshoppers; this year, snakes? Maybe next year will be rain (one can wish.) In the meantime, just remember how much you love it there!

  13. We have snakes!!! I saw the first of the year on Monday – dead in the road where it had been run over (several times by the appearance). I agree, the only good snake is a dead snake. It’s been so warm in Arizona the snakes are out in full force. I love living in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, but in town no snakes. Guess I’ll take where I’m at and watch where I put my feet. So much better than living in town.

  15. Last week a guy came into the library complaining about the “huge ball of snakes” in the park near his house. He wanted the town guy to do something about it. I was envisioning this huge ball of rattlers, or at least bull snakes. When I went to get my lunch I drove over to the park to see. Disappointment!! It was just a bunch of garter snakes that had come out of their den and were crawling around. Speedy little buggers. Bet they went back in by the next day when the cold, wind, rain, sleet, ice and snow struck.

  16. Judy, you need to get some guineas and let them run loose and they will take care of the little snakes…..who then won’t grow up to be big snakes!

  18. I just saw a documentary that showed that the snake head can live and bite for an hour after they have their head cut off. That was news to me.

  19. Good for you, girl! Here’s hoping that there are 9 fewer snakes in the world… and go get some more wooden eggs!

  20. New Zealand doesn’t have snakes, we have lovely isolated areas for folk who prefer the country, have chickens, fruit trees and vege gardens … our weather isn’t as hot as what it can get where you live, and we don;t get massive snow storms (just the occassional little one) we quilt and we LOVE brilliant quilters like you … you would fit in well down under 🙂 Just a thought … oh and we use 3M products too 😀

    • Oh Judy, what an offer.! Don’t you dare let Rose persuade you to move there! It sounds wonderful, but we’d miss you too much!

  21. Oh Judy, bless your heart. Yep, the only good snake is a dead snake. As for the wooden eggs, I hope you’re right about a snake eating one and then that’s the end of him/it/her but it’s also possible that a crow or squirrel ran off with the eggs. They love to pilfer things……strangers things have happened.
    So far I’ve only seen a copperhead at a distance but it gave me the “willies” even so.
    Take care my friend!!

  22. I am not a country girl at all. While visiting my Mom at Lake Whitney, there was a snake on the porch by the door. I was so scared, I jumped backwards, and slammed the door. Then later, we threw soup cans out the door before I was brave enough to walk out to my car. We laughed later how silly we were as I am sure the snake left as soon as I slammed the door.

  23. There are snakes everywhere, even in the city. A few years ago, I read an article about using crushed egg shells in the flower beds to help the plants and get rid of ants. I dutifully crushed any shells that I had and put them out at the end of each day. I kept noticing that the egg shells had been disturbed during the night and thought I had a very hungry raccoon. One day I spotted a huge black snake with a yellow belly in my flower bed. I didn’t know what it was, so I killed it with a hoe, screaming at the top of my lungs at each whack. Then I took my tree trimmer and picked it up, laying it out on the driveway for a photo session. I sent pictures to the relatives who had snake identification skills. It turned out to be a rat snake or a chicken snake. I guess you know, I don’t use crushed egg shells in the garden anymore, but I AM the Queen of the Castle.

  24. My daughter and family with 4 kids lives in MN and they are renting a nice house with a walk out finished basement. Shortly after they moved in, she discovered some snakes in the unfinished storage area of her basement. She wasn’t happy but got more unhappy when she discovered lots and lots of them sunning themselves outside her house. They called the exterminator and he determined that a mom/dad snake combo had moved into their house to avoid the cold MN winters. The exterminator managed to capture one of the adults – only 5 feet long. I’ve seen the snakes outside her house and they move super fast. She has used a garden hoe to chase after the snakes, cut their heads off and put the bodies in a plastic bag to give to the exterminator. So far this spring, I haven’t heard any more snake stories from her.

  25. The yard men mowed the grass early this morning and I thought oh no I have to wash bird cages this morning and if they stir up snakes I am going to be very mad. Well they left and I wanted to get those cages cleaned right away so I went out on the patio and I looked everything over real good to make sure nothing was there. I started to power wash the bird cages but I was so jumpy. You actually look in the yard to make sure nothing is headed your way as you are power washing. All I saw was 2 wasps.

    I live in TX and my house is right next to a pipeline right- of-way and vacant land. When we first moved here I did see a copperhead up on top of the wood fence crawling on top of the pointed picket fence. It came to the end of the fence and turned and went back from where it came from.

    I called my dh saying you have to get home fast but he was 50 miles away. I could not find any men to kill it so I just let it go.

    I have seen dead snakes in 38 degree weather here in Febr. I don’t think they ever hibernate. I always keep my eyes open and looking for snakes.

    You know TX is famous for Blue Bonnet flowers and every year people sit their kids in a sea of Blue Bonnets and take their picture. I have seen many pictures where a rattlesnake was not far away from that kid.

    We have a huge park in the city and just a few weeks ago on the news they were showing snakes that they had found there. They also had a man on that relocates snakes and he said he had received 20 calls before 10AM from people wanting snakes removed or snake identification that they had killed.

    You have to always be on the watch for them. I believe women do see snakes more then men do because we are more aware of our surroundings due to our gender.

    I have one more snake story which is really scary but it can wait till another time.

  26. We live in town, and have copperheads in my back yard. I knew they lived nearby, but a couple of weeks ago I was pulling bricks out of a pile to use for my garden and I unearthed a big adult. He got away because it took me too long to get a shovel, but we found and killed two small copperheads. Unfortunately, I think there are more out there and going into my back yard is now an adventure!

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