Halftime Hope Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) Dh and I were out cleaning up the property today. I was working on the top half of the property, dragging and throwing branches onto a brush pile, making trips back and forth. On one of my trips--the last in that area, ha!--I was accosted by a snake that I had probably scared out of the brush pile. I'd estimate it to have been about 4' long, and he was a truly lovely solid teal color with a lighter pale spring green underside. He struck at me maybe from 3 feet or so away, and of course I jumped and screamed. After that he just watched me, and kept his spot while I walked around him at about a dozen feet away. Dh wanted to know if I wanted him killed, but we decided he was probably a beneficial snake and left him alone. FYI: dh and I both wore long pants and tall boots, and we were using a hoe and a short-tined rake to turn over and move stuff in the grass--not our gloved hands. I'm pretty sure from looking at photos online that it was an eastern yellow-bellied racer. Interestingly, juveniles of the species have a brown patched pattern, and snakes of all ages "rattle" their tales, which in dry grass can mimic the sound of a real rattler. So, I'm hoping that's all it was. I hope he moves on with the removal of all the debris/habitat from the property when the guys with the big equipment come, and when we've mowed (and kept it mowed). I didn't mind the snake so much; I didn't appreciate the realization that the neighbors had been cutting and pruning and dumping their junk on the property. People shouldna do stuff like that, even if there is no one living there! Rude. Edited January 25, 2016 by Halftime Hope 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 That sounds scary! As a teen, I can remember fishing with my brother and him suddenly shouting at me, "Jump in the creek!". I thought he was being crazy until I saw that he'd startled a rattlesnake and that the thing was slithering away from him... directly at me! I jumped in the creek. lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroe1 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 We love racers in our yard and will gladly take him off your hands. Here, in South Florida, rats love water front homes so we try to acquire lots of snakes. Our landscapers love black racers and King snakes because they keep the bad snakes away also. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 I'm not visiting you... ever. At least, not at your property. ;) As much as I love hiking and all things natural, I still get way too jumpy with snakes (sigh). If I know where they are, I'm ok with them. When they surprise me... yeah, I'm not visiting you. (Enjoy your property though and I fully agree with you regarding trash!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Hate snakes. We have snakes on our property some and I hate them all. I know the huge black ones are beneficial (NC rat snakes) but they look so much like the black mambas I grew up with that were NOT beneficial that it creeps me out. Dawn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 I think you should claim "rattleshakes" the unintended misspelling in the title of this thread as a new word you just coined. It could mean something like "the tremors one getswalking through a field of rattlesnakes". As in, "With a brushy yard like this, I get the rattleshakes every time I think of stepping over a fallen log." By the way, I love snakes. But I love novel words more. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 That must have been really scary! Bless you for letting him live. :thumbup1: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 I think you should claim "rattleshakes" the unintended misspelling in the title of this thread as a new word you just coined. It could mean something like "the tremors one getswalking through a field of rattlesnakes". As in, "With a brushy yard like this, I get the rattleshakes every time I think of stepping over a fallen log." By the way, I love snakes. But I love novel words more. I'd have liked your post had you not included your second to last sentence... ;) :lol: My youngest loves snakes too. I'm not sure how he's related to me TBH, but he's useful as we can send him ahead on trails. If anyone wants to see snakes, we saw the most at the Barataria Preserve in southern LA (outside New Orleans)... the places we'll go for our kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Thank you for letting this racer live! Racers are probably the single most comfortable snake around humans-we even found one right by a 12 lane road in a fringe of landscaping, so just because you have racers doesn't mean there are other snakes around. They mostly eat rodents and small lizards. Yes, a lot of snakes shake their tails, and it's amazing how effective it can be. I was once holding my daughter's corn snake when our cat came in the room, and she started shaking her tail-it truly sounded like a rattlesnake, and the only thing she had to rattle against was my arm. Pretty impressive trick, snake. Unfortunately, it often leads to non-venomous snakes being killed when the human brain registers snake and rattle as "rattlesnake" and, instead of fleeing, as the snake wants, kills the snake instead. It works much better against animal predators. You're doing exactly the right things to make your property unattractive to snakes. Keeping brush piles (and trash-snakes love dumped appliances and the like because they collect heat) back and grass mowed will do a lot to make your property less attractive to snakes and to rodents, and also reduce your chance of tick-borne illness. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Glad you let him live. We see black racers in our yard every spring and while we don't encourage them, we also don't kill them or try to get them out of the yard. We used to have an Eastern indigo living in the yard at our old house (we were surrounded by woods there). They are good to have around because they're territorial and will do their best to keep other, less desirable snakes away. They've been known to eat rattlesnakes! A friend brought in her potted plants the other night when it was going down into the 30s overnight. She noticed the next day when she went to put them back outside, that there was a corn snake in one of them. Apparently it spent the night in the house! At least he was warm overnight. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) nm Edited January 31, 2016 by - 8 95 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Snakes, yuck! I'm always worried about them when working in tall grass and brush. Thankfully yours was of the friendly sort even if he did act out a bit. We had a black racer in the house last week. IN THE HOUSE! How in the world he got there I haven't a clue. DH and I worked together to shoo him out the front door but even with him gone I had the heebie jeebies for a long time after. Yuck, double yuck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 This thread is giving me the rattleshakes. Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 Heh, heh! Well, I jumped good, but no rattleshakes. :smilielol5: Someone upthread mentioned neighbors dumping: I'm hopeful that the folks who did it thought they could due to the property being vacant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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