I don't mean to insult who ever posted it. It's just that it freaks me out every time I see it. Sorry. You can't look away from it either. I'm sure I am not the only snake a phobic person on GH. I really really hate the site of snakes. Especially huge ugly snakes with their jaw wide open. Am I alone in this or do others feel the same way?
I'm right there with you Sarah. I was bitten by a very large rattler in the back of the leg at 10 and almost lost the leg. I have a large scar where they had to cut out dead area. There are no good sankes, dead, alive,plastic, rubber, on TV, anywhere. I have nightmares. (Not you, Snake! I only mean things that look like snakes, not named Snake!)
By the way, I was a police dispatcher in Bossier City for a long time and you'd be amazed at the number of big brave policemen who would take a bullet in a second but refuses to go to a snake call. It was hysterical.
Personally, I enjoy looking at many of the pictures (including the snake....and especially the little dogs!). It's kind of neat, in my opinion, to see what others in here find interesting, important, etc.
The pictures I don't particularly care for, I simply ignore. (...and by the way, if anyone in here finds my squid salad picture gross...tough luck!! It ain't coming down!!!) Hahhahaaaa!!
Nah, I feel the same, and two winters ago, a small rat snake got into my bedroom and hibernated. Luckily for me, I have two American Pits that "whip" snakes and kill them, so I wasn't uncomfortable, he finally showed up in another room when it became warm enough, and my son took him outside. As you can tell, we live literally in the woods, and have had to put out moth balls around my back yard fence to keep them away from my dogs, and my house too. This is his other half replying here. Therefore you are not the only one, I grew up in south Louisiana, and am very aware of them. Faelan
While working in Chad, Central Africa I bought two African Rock Python skins there. One is 23-foot long and 18-inches wide. The "baby" skin is "only" 18-foot long and 13-inches wide. There is enough skin there to not only make a pair of boots, but a whole "Country & Western Singer" outfit!
As this snake is not endangered, I had no trouble bringing the skins into the US.
I have brought in skins from South America, the Far East and other parts of the world, that are more colorful. A Rock Python is the dusty-red color of a North West Louisiana gravel road.
It is interesting to watch how the natives catch Pythons. They find a snake den (usually after chasing such a snake down a hole). One man ties gunny sacks around each leg with hay wire. He goes legs first into the hole until the snake swallows one leg up to the crouch, then his mates pull him and the snake out of the hole by a rope around the man's waist. It is quite a chore to get the snake off the leg.
After watching this done, I would want a steel "jockey strap" on before I offered myself as "bait".
Another disturbing thought crossed my mind-the fact that there may be other types of poisonous
snakes down in that hole-like a Cobra, Puff Adder, Russel Viper or a Gaboon Viper. The Gaboon Viper,
the full- grown ones, have 2-inch fangs and kills 99% of the time. The "Puff" or "Death" Adder kills over half of the people that die of snake bite in Sub-Sahara Africa. He is a nasty piece of work. He is bad and very quick.
I worked a year in Zimbabwe and 4-years in Chad. The snakes in both places I hated most were the Black Mambas, Green Mambas and other tree vipers that would drop out of the trees around your neck. Talk about causing a "Break-Away"! There was the Spitting Cobra there and in Indoneasia that could spit a stream of venom like a garden hose to blind you, then it ran up and bit you. These had a white spot on its hood, so if you saw that-you ran like Hell.
I had a pair of US-made "Snake-proof Chaps" which worked good against Cobras and most snakes. After a few Cobra strikes I got to reading the label where it said it was snake-proof against "all North American snakes"! I never got hit by a King Corba, Gaboon Viper or a Bushmaster. I don't think it would stop those size fangs or force of strike.
I did have a King Cobra raise up six foot off the ground (eyeball to eyeball) with me in the jungle in Bangladesh. But that is another story. You never forget the Kings-they do not hiss-they growl like a Terrier dog.
Goodness Pipeliner! You DO have experience with snakes now , don't cha? Thanks for sharing!
I especially enjoyed the anecdote of the natives method for catching pythons.
"It is quite a chore to get the snake off the leg". Awww. What a fond memory. Cuuuute!
Not!
All I can say is WOW! And thanks for going in to all this detail. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight! :)