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Close Call...

Jwrussell

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So the wife and I were walking our dog last night. It was about 10pm and we decided to head out to "the pond" and back. "The pond" is about half a mile from the house and is one of our standard walks with the dog. There are multiple conservation areas throughout our neighborhood that border the road that this pond is on. Being Florida we are constantly running into wildlife during our walks. Frogs, Lizards, and armadillos are common with the armadillos causing the biggest stir. They've scared the wife countless times when they've taken off through the underbrush on the side of the road. There are also 'gators in these conservation areas though we've never seen them, only heard them. When it gets as dry as it is now you have to watch for them though as they start moving around looking for ponds that still have water. We also have some deer that hang out in the neigborhood.

So, that's all fine and dandy. No big deal. But I forgot another common critter. Snakes. Mostly of the garter or black racer variety. In fact, my dog was bit...oh, probably a year ago by a black racer in my backyard. Freaked me out at the time, but I was glad I was there to see that it was nothing poisonous. At the time I was also kind of glad it had happened because I hoped it would help him to understand that snakes were something to stay away from. Well, last night either that lesson stayed with him or he simply didn't see the snake that was right at the edge of the sidewalk because he walked right on past it. Thank God I DID see it. Don't know what made me look down but I had my left foot in the air mid stride and happened to glance down right when one of these little fuckers:
















































Right before he decided to show me this:



For those who don't know their snakes, this is a Cottonmouth, also known as a Water Moccasin.
Thankfully, this was a little-ish guy and he wasn't in the mood to be aggressive and didn't actually strike. But I'll tell you he scared the crap out of me and I was freaked out the rest of the way home. Of course that didn't stop me from getting close enough to get a really good look at him once he settled back down and started moving through the grass again. He was much lighter than the picture up top and had some amazing markings on him that really aren't all that visible on the two pics above, but you can get the general idea.

Needless to say we won't be walking the conservation areas (full of water, where these guys live) at night (the time of day when they are active) any more!
 
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Water moccasin. I've seen copperheads, coral snakes, and moccasins around Fishhawk. The last moccasin I saw was sunning on a trail right next to a pond before sunset. I was riding bikes with my ten year old, and told her to get the hell out of there. They will chase your ass.
 

Gummi Bear

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I hate moccasins. I've had them crawl right into the damn boat with me when fishing too.

It's a very lucky thing you saw him when you did. The little ones are often more dangerous than the big ones.
 

Benzopyrene

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Yeah I was gonna say the little ones cant control their venom release like the big ones can or something of that nature, and whe you get bit you get a supersized portion of venom which is no bueno. Thats if my snake loving days recall correctly. Thats a great story.
 
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Wow ... good thing you didn't run into his big brother!

Does animal control do anything regarding poisonous snake sightings in your area?
 

Jwrussell

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Wow ... good thing you didn't run into his big brother!

Does animal control do anything regarding poisonous snake sightings in your area?
You know Ted, I don't know. I can be sure in this case they wouldn't have, it was next to a conservation area where it would live naturally so there isn't much they could have done. Now, if I saw one in my backyard for some reason I'm sure they'd come out and get it.

Then again, methinks it's beyond time for me to get my concealed permit and a box of shot shells...
 

CWS

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Damn. At least our rattlers usually give you a warning. That sucker looks fast. Snakes on the water. Hmmmm not good
 
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Once my mom was swimming in our pool in Mississippi and we came out to talk to her. We looked down and noticed a big 'ol water moccasin swimming around the pool. She had no idea! We had to tell her she had a phone call so that she would get out of the pool without having a heart attack. :hysterica
 

GuyMcBeerdrinker

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ugh. moccasins are nasty nasty. I, too, encounter lots of critters when I walk my dog. I've discovered one of the best repellents is a strong flashlight. not a maglite...but something badass like a surefire.
 

Jwrussell

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That's not a bad idea. I was so totally unprepared for anything that might have happened on this walk that it totally pissed me off. I didn't have my phone, I didn't have my knife, nothing. Had that snake bit me, my wife would have had to run home in her flipflops to get the car or run to one of the houses nearby to call 911. Had it bit the dog, same thing, I'd have been running back to the house for the car. And from what I read, moccasins tend to latch on when they bite so I would have had nothing handy with which to dislodge the fucker.

Both the wife and I were kind of surprised he hadn't scurred out of the way before we got near him as there was two of us walking along the sidewalk, plus the dog.

Ted, a cattle prod involves more precision than I want to have to deal with, lol.
 
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Wow what a coincidence. I killed two this weekend on a trip with my family to the lake. We were walking up a path to a waterfall and luckily I had my two year old on my shoulders in case we were to run up on something like that. The first one was very small and I was able to kick a large rock on top of it since we were in the open. The second one was larger and in the middle of the path on our way back to the boat. I had to throw a couple rocks at it to kill it.

Conservationists and animal rights activists can kiss my ass. If I see a snake I'm going to kill it. I hate those freakin things!
 

Jwrussell

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My wife's a big animal rights person for the most part, but you can bet she would have had no problem with me killing that damn thing last night, lol.

Quite honestly, I don't have any trouble letting him live, just so long as he gets the hell away from me.
 
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