Rattlesnake

[santaman2000]

Spotted last year in south Florida by a random poster

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1620773984703700&set=a.122283107886136&type=3&sfns=mo

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1620774068037025&set=a.122283107886136&type=3&sfns=mo

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1620774114703687&set=a.122283107886136&type=3&sfns=mo

 

[Robson Valley]

That's a fat one! We've got lots of skinny "rats" in the southern orchards.
You just need a long stick to get them to slither away.
Far better mousers than any cat.

 

[santaman2000]

That's a fat one! We've got lots of skinny "rats" in the southern orchards.
You just need a long stick to get them to slither away.
Far better mousers than any cat.

I really wouldn’t want to get close enough to use a stick. He looks about 6 to 8 feet long as well.

 

[Robson Valley]

Do you remember the "Snake Charmer" from 40+ years ago?
That was a cute .410 cal stick for poking snakes.

 

[Janne]

If you make lots of tiny holes in him, the skin can not be made into a nice hat band

 

[santaman2000]

If you make lots of tiny holes in him, the skin can not be made into a nice hat band

That one has enough skin for a dozen hatbands. Holes behind the head don’t stop,them anyway.

 

[Janne]

Hat band and matching boots!

 

[santaman2000]

And maybe a belt.

 

[Janne]

Was it that big?

When we built our house ( Grand Cayman) I discovered a huge thrown off skin. Huge. Around 2.5 meters long in the shrunken state.
Took it to the experts in Agricultural Dept, they did some anslysis and said it was from an Anaconda.
We do not have those here, only two small snakes. They sent out guys to try to find it, but no success.

I guess it moved away due to the disturbance during the built.
10 years ago now.

 

[Robson Valley]

Paleo museum exhibits show snake skins used for decorative purposes.
Long bow decoration here, I've seen nothing else at all.
The Red-lined Garter snake of any size is hardly a trophy.
The babies (ovoviparous) are the size of pencils. r = 8-12.

I can't believe that there's any tensile strength to a skin unless you're able to swallow a goat.

Used to be some big rattler hunts down south of my place but I think that the snakes are protected now.
They kill a lot of rodents that do winter bark damage in the orchards.

 

[Woody girl]

The only thing that rattles when a snake is around is me! I have a terrible phobia about them. Once when gardening I pulled up a weed and the roots began to wriggle. I'd pulled a handfull of baby grass snakes. Totally harmless but my screams brought neighbours running from both sides of the house. I felt such a fool but still had to be treated for shock. I just can't stand them. Yet slow worms hold no fear despite their snakyness. It's the only creature that makes me run a mile in 10 seconds flat!

 

[C_Claycomb]

 

[sunndog]

So that's where the format for 'I'm a celebrity' came from

 

[Wayne]

I’m rather fond of snakes. Amazing adaptations for their environments. The chemistry of their venoms and variations of types of toxicity with species is fascinating.

Generally they leave you alone if you treat them with respect.

There is zero justification for harming a snake in my book. Simply allow it do it’s thing or call in the experts to move it to somewhere else.

 

[santaman2000]

I’m rather fond of snakes. Amazing adaptations for their environments. The chemistry of their venoms and variations of types of toxicity with species is fascinating.

Generally they leave you alone if you treat them with respect.

There is zero justification for harming a snake in my book. Simply allow it do it’s thing or call in the experts to move it to somewhere else.

Why? How are they different from any other animals we hunt? They taste good. They have a beautiful skin for the items we want to make. Why should they be an exception to harvest?

This particular snake was a rattlesnake and the sheer numbers of them make them a nuisance at best and a danger at worst. We find them (albeit smaller usually) hiding in everything we use daily. It’s kinda difficult to “leave them alone” when they turn up hiding in pretty much everything we use on a daily basis around the barn, the yard shed, the vegetable garden, etc. It’s not like they’re especially rare. And some species, moccasins in particular, are indeed aggressive and attack simply because you’re there.

 

[Robson Valley]

Here, it's always going to be an issue of population management. Sustained yield if need be.
And, that changes from year to year.
I'll bet good money that Florida has a rattle snake reproductive capacity that's unheard of elsewhere.
I lived in Australia for nearly 4 years, about the same thing as Santaman sees.

Example from here: Black Bear tags = 1/year sometimes. I've seen it as high as 5/year.

 

[slowworm]

Well, in the UK at least, there's no reason at all to harm snakes, or slowworms, or lizards etc. I lived next to a realy horrible person who would kill slowworms whenever she saw them because she was frightened of them

 

[Robson Valley]

True, it's so different. You all in the UK can keep food with you and hammock-camp for the night.
Where I live, that makes you a very big tamale (or taco, if you prefer).

 

[Wayne]

Id remind folk hunting is an emotive subject and should be restricted to discussion in the relevant subforum.

 

[santaman2000]

Id remind folk hunting is an emotive subject and should be restricted to discussion in the relevant subforum.

If that would be a more appropriate forum them please move the thread.