Husband had to kill a pygmy rattler. (Warning: Pic a little on the gory side.)

[hippywife]

I really hate to have to kill anything but it was really near our puppy and she has no fear of anything, tries to chew or eat anything that presents itself. It would not have been a good outcome if he hadn't killed it. :scared:



Its very small rattles:

[Kali]

1. I kill them if they get in the yard or around the barn.

My youngest was bitten when he was 18 months old and we've lost dogs to them. Do you have barn type outdoor cats - they are pretty much immune and can give a pretty good warning.

You going to cook it up? :P

[hippywife]

3. No outdoor kittehs.

There's a woman at work that was trying to give me her pregnant cat (pregnant for the third time!) because she can't afford to have it fixed. I wanted to take her and have her the kittens outside but hubs said no. We can't afford to fix that many cats and I don't want to abort them.

No, no rattlesnake on the menu here. LOL

:hi:

[Kali]

5. I bet it's got a rabbit or something inside, looks full.

we usually keep the rattles, bury the head, and leave the rest for other critters (away from the house of course)

When I was younger I skinned them and covered belts with the hides or made hat bands. hmm wonder where those all went? bet my mom tossed them when I wasn't looking :rofl:

[XemaSab]

7. Pygmy Rattlers aren't that big

an adult mouse would be a big meal. :P

[Kali]

8. well it could be a small one

:P
I was going for something kind of diurnal (recent meal, heh) but yeah I don't know the snake - don't think we have those around here and I cant tell the dimension of that lumber.

I stand corrected. Unless we can get Hippywife to do a postmortem.:think:

[hippywife]

17. It was about 4 feet long

possible a fairly young one.

[Kali]

22. 4 feet? pretty big for something called a pygmy!

big enough to eat a rabbit too, here is a young diamondback under 3 feet I am pretty sure:

[yankeepants]

2. Sometimes you have to do that

I'm glad your puppy is safe.

I had a dog, Tug, who got into a battle with a snake at a young age and made a career of killing snakes. He was amazing. People would borrow him if they had a snake problem.

[hippywife]

4. I know.

But I always feel like this is their home, too. We have 8 acres, most of which we leave wild for the various critters and we try not to harm them if we can help it.

:hi:

[Archae]

6. Killed it with a shotgun?

Looks that way.

[Deep13]

13. My guess is a shovel.

On second thought, I'll bet it was a shotgun.

[hippywife]

15. No. He hit it in the head with something. n/t

[Taverner]

9. SNAAAAAAAKE!!!!

Seriously, I would have killed it too

[Tsiyu]

10. That sucks

But I'm one of those "crusaders" for snakes. I understand in limitied circumstances they sometimes cross the line, but it always bothers me.

A lot of people hate snakes because of some biblical superstition.

But the nine years I worked in hospitals, I never saw a single snake bite case. Saw lots and lots of rat bites.

i HATE rats* and mice - little disease-ridden things. So the snake is the enemy of the rat and therefor my pal.

Not giving you shit. The rattler may indeed have hurt the pup. Just saying, for those who would just randomly kill snakes out of inordinate fear, that snakes are really your pals in pest removal.

:hi:


Edit to add: *Cept Swamp Rat....I luvs me some Swamp Rat....

[Deep13]

12. Agreed. Never heard of snakes starting any plagues. nt

[hippywife]

14. We definitely don't do that.

We have a few snakes living in the garden which we allow to remain. They are non-poisonous beneficial snakes.

Here's a pic he took of one behind the house:




:hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

18. I have several snakes in my yard. I can't identify them, so I just call them my yardsnakes.

They live under rocks, around the compost heap and other places along with the toads and lizards. They all eat bugs and all are welcome.

When I was younger and lived out in the country, we had several black snakes that lived around the place. My dad always told us that if you had black snakes around that they would keep poisonous snakes away. I don't know if it's true or not, but in 19 years I never saw any poisonous snakes on the place. We lost an occasional egg or baby chick to the black snakes, but we figured it was a small price to pay for keeping the barn free of rats and keeping harmful snakes away.

[hippywife]

20. Yeah, we're losing an egg here and there

but we look at it the same way you did. :hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

21. Every now and then we'd find one near (or sometimes in) the house. Daddy

would have us catch it and take it back to the barn with the stern warning "Don't tell your mother". That's not too hard with the smaller ones, but some of those black snakes get really big. Holding 4-6 feet of squirming snake can be a real chore.

[Blue_Tires]

11. damn..where do you live if something like THAT is in your yard?

[hippywife]

16. Freakin' Oklahoma.

Some of the wildlife and the politians here have a lot in common. LOL

[catzies]

19. One bit my dad 2 years ago; he lived to tell the tale and show the bite site

He was helping out an elderly neighbor lady who had one in her hedge. Very common in his part of Florida.

Dad knew what to do, he just did it wrong (that's how he tells the story).

[hippywife]

23. We're not very close to a hospital.

Maybe about 20 miles or so. I wouldn't want to get bitten coz I have no idea how long it would take for it to be too late to make it there. :scared:

[backwoodsbob]

24. I or the terrier takes care of them

don't let it bother you

[backwoodsbob]

25. we have LOTS of black and king black snakes here

we have run across a grand total of one poisonous snake here...an eastern diamondback.

I have yet to see a copperhead here

[Roon]

26. Awww!

Poor snakey. :-(