My exciting morning....

A little explanation first...
We live in the country and have a large yard...1 1/2 acres of it is ours, and everything else around it is open land, with no neighbors. Our 9 yr old lab has the run of the area, but for Molly we put in a large L-shaped fenced area that goes around our house. (Protection from coyotes, hawks, ect.)

So this morning was pretty chilly...I took Molly out to the fenced in area to go potty, and noticed a little snake curled up against the house foundation for warmth. Well, around here, one of the first things you do is look at the tail (for rattles). The grass was pretty tall around the foundation, but I didn't see any rattles. I thought it was a garter snake, so I moved the grass a bit with my hand when all of a sudden it curled up and I saw it's ugly flat head and spiked eyes :shock: ...then it proceeded to try and strike at me!!! [-X Ahhhhhhh!!!!! A BABY rattlesnake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

After a moment of sheer terror, I scooped Molly up, ran to the garage for a shovel and bucket (to dispose of it...one way or another), and returned to the yard only to find it had disappeared! :x

I spent the next hour carefully poking around looking for it, and even mowed the area with the push mower. It probably went down a hole or something.

Needless to say, we may not be spending a lot of time in the fenced in area for awhile (even tho it is probably long gone).....and poor Molly will have to be happy playing in the house and not so much in the yard for awhile.

I'm going to go out early tomorrow morning and see if it might be curled up against the house again. That's the first rattler I've seen around here in about two years.....I still have the shivers!!!

I can't wait until they go into hibernation!

 

OH man, I'm sooo petrified of snakes its not EVEN funny! I would have been gone so fast once I saw it I'd have probably taken the wall out!!!

Sorry, I wouldn't have stuck around to find out what it was!!! Ugh

Your lucky you didn't get bit! The babies are much more venomus than the grown, THey can't control their venom flow and usually overdose! I wouldn't let her out there until you weed eated around the house and mowed the grass short.

I keep cedar wood chips in the flowerbeds and around our property along with 7dust. IT deters the snakes from the yard. Good thing, because I can't handle them!!!

 

Yep.....we had a lab that got bit in the back leg a few years ago...and it was not pretty!!! She swelled up so huge that the skin on the inside of her leg split, and her pads even came off. She got an abcess inside her leg from it also.
It was absolutely awful....but after lots of rounds of meds, tender loving care, she fortunately recovered and survived. The weird thing tho, she was black and the hair on the spot of her leg where she was bitten turned white :?:

I did not know about the cedar chips....what is 7dust?

I'm going into town Friday,,....think I'll pick some of the chips up for sure.

I noticed that you are in TX....(Mom was from there, have several relatives in Houston)....and I remember them talking about the snakes...copperheads were one of them.
At least here in CO...we only get the prairie rattlers...not as poisonous as the Diamondbacks or copperheads....but still very nasty! :shock:

 

Sevendust is s white powder that kils bugs, but its been prooven to deter snakes away from areas. You can buy it in a small shakeable container or buy the 20 lb bags. ( I think it comes in various sizes as well.)

WE have COttonmouths, water moskins, timer rattlers, diamondbacks, copperheads, and a bunch others...I don't care wether its venomous or not, the only good one is a dead one!!!! Ewwww!!!!!!

Chickens also help keep them away. I know my grandmother got a puff hatter in her yard, and the chickens went NUTS!!! Then pecked it and all attacked it at once. Needless to say they killed it!!! It was crazy! WHo'da thought a chicken could be worth anything other than eggs and fried legs!!

 

You did better than I would have - I would have passed out; the dog would have run away; and the snake would have bitten me. Maybe not really that drastic. Anyway, several months ago, my Mother had a snake by her front door so we put several small boxes (with small holes in them); filled them with moth balls; laid them around the front door area; and the snake has never come back. Maybe that would work for you. Good luck!

 

Man I hate snakes. Yikessssss. well after i wet down my leg id run. lol. We have snakes here too usually garder but sometimes some nasty ones my hubby makes me so mad he lets them go. it was funny one time we got one in laundy room just small one. My neighbor lady came and got it out but was afraid of a spider which i am not.