Snakes...Yikes!

[VChurch]

So this morning I took Minna for our typical morning walk (about 30 minutes)...and we're in the last five minutes of the walk when we both hear something in the grass. Her hackles went up and she growled and then I saw a snake slithering around the corner. I, of course, wanted to see what kind of snake it was; Minna wanted nothing to do with, except to keep an eyeball on it -- which is interesting because she loves chasing things that move (like leaves, and lizards, and bugs)....apparently not snakes.

She's so aware of little critters moving around.



Anybody else have some fun snake encounters?

[LauraT]

We were hiking with Kirin at a local lagoon in the middle of the day when she stumbled upon a rattlesnake in the middle of the trail. She was off leash and quite a bit ahead of me. It coiled up and started rattling, she stood their with her tail in the air excited about what she found. As soon as i figured out what it was I called her to me in my most commanding voice. She passed my DH and friend and came directly over to me and gave me some excellent eye contact, i put on her leash and praised the crap out of her. She was so excited about the praise that she wanted to go back over and check the snake out....I of course, didn't!

Whew!! I guess that proves her recall is pretty dang good

[squerly]

We have an encounter, but it wasn't "fun". Shep was running through the field (we have 50 acres) and he ran across a snake. I mean he literally ran across the snake, which reached up and bit him on the rear leg as he ran by. Shep started limping a little while later, which is what caused us to even realize he had been bitten. It wasn't hard to locate the twin holes on his leg where the fangs got him. Anyhow, he got quite swollen up and limped around for a couple of days, but it all turned out OK.

Because of the abundance of snakes in our area we had been pro-active in getting him some rattle snake venom shots. Not sure how he would have done without the shot, and not sure that the shots were actually effective in saving him, but I know it sure make my wife and I feel better knowing that he had them.

[Lilie]

My neighbor's rottie was swimming in thier pond when she was bitten several times by water moccisons. There must have been a nest. She didn't survive.

My sister's roping horse came from a ranch in north Texas. As a yearling she was bitten by a rattle snake on the nose. Luckily it didn't swell enough to cut off her air. she still has a funny shape to her nose - just barely, but if I point it out you can see it. The vet stated that even dogs can survive the bite of a rattle snake, as long as they are healthy before hand and they aren't bitten in the face (swelling of the airway). I hope I never have to find out.

[Moonlight]

Well, after reading this, I went out in the yard to go find where our momma cat just took the litter off to in the bushes. As usual, my faithful giant white tom cat walked with me, complaining and yowling the entire time (typical). I get closer to the bushes, he jumps up and claws me on the leg. Sure enough, there's a snake between me and the bushes. Couldn't tell what kind because I quickly grabbed a kitten and high-tailed it out of there.

Sometimes I swear that cat is more dog than cat.

[Zoeys mom]

I encounter about 20 snakes a day....at home of course and in cages,lol

[Good_Karma]

No dangerous snakes out here, thankfully.

The first time Niko saw a snake it was by the side of our house near a rock wall we had made out of field stone. He did his yelp/yip bark of excitement, hair all raised up, everything. I let him chase the snake into the rock, but it must have kept thinking we had left because it persisted in coming out just for Niko to drive it back in.

DH came home about five minutes later and I told him about it. We were sitting around in the lawn by the house and DH bounced a ball at Niko, who didn't see it coming and he got hit in the butt. He leaped into the air like he'd been bitten and whirled around. We got a good laugh out of it.

Bad side: now he gets a bit obsessive about snakes.

[Greydusk]

Did you see what kind of snake it was?

Once while Blitz and I were out hiking we came across a Diamond back rattlesnake. Blitz was walking a little bit ahead of me and neither of us noticed it until it rattled and coiled back. I yanked so hard on Blitz's leash in order to pull him out of the snakes strike zone that I think I may have given him whiplash.

[GermanPrinceHero]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

Well, after reading this, I went out in the yard to go find where our momma cat just took the litter off to in the bushes. As usual, my faithful giant white tom cat walked with me, complaining and yowling the entire time (typical). I get closer to the bushes, he jumps up and claws me on the leg. Sure enough, there's a snake between me and the bushes. Couldn't tell what kind because I quickly grabbed a kitten and high-tailed it out of there.

Sometimes I swear that cat is more dog than cat.

Prince has not encountered a snake yet, but our cat Mollie has caught and killed a few garden snakes and brought them in the house or left them by the front door. We had a small copperhead in our pool last year. We got it out and killed it. It was very aggressive and had a pretty good striking distance for a little snake. They are not much of a worry here though in populated area's. It was only the second one I have seen in my life. Have seen quite a few water moccasins though. We do a lot of fishing and they are not an uncommon sight near banks of rivers and lakes here

[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by GermanPrinceHero

Prince has not encountered a snake yet, but our cat Mollie has caught and killed a few garden snakes and brought them in the house or left them by the front door. We had a small copperhead in our pool last year. We got it out and killed it. It was very aggressive and had a pretty good striking distance for a little snake. They are not much of a worry here though in populated area's. It was only the second one I have seen in my life. Have seen quite a few water moccasins though. We do a lot of fishing and they are not an uncommon sight near banks of rivers and lakes here

We have so many copperheads around here I'm surprised I've only seen a few in the last few years. I'm usually on the look out when I walk around but today my head was just in a fog. Guess kitty knew I wasn't looking out for myself today.