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AL Ursich
06-03-2008, 1:21 PM
As I ran down the ramp between the Laser Shop and the Wood Shop at 8AM this morning I stopped dead in my tracks..... There in striking distance was a Rattle Snake looking for breakfast.... I feed the birds on my table on my deck. So it didn't surprise me too much... I just brought the birds into a area and that interested the Snake.

My Step Father Jesse put it in a trash can with tongs and we carried it to the Brook behind the house and let it go. As you can see by the last picture I was shaking slightly.....

It's going to make the walks to the wood shop at 11PM a little more interesting.... Delayed Spring Clean up just popped to the TOP of my "TO DO" List.....

AL

Jim Becker
06-03-2008, 8:26 PM
Brings new meaning to "'Creeker Visit"!! LOL Please leave him/her home when you come for your visit here, thank you very much... ;)

John Shuk
06-03-2008, 9:09 PM
I didn't realize rattlers were common in PA. What type was it? We have timber rattlers here in NY but I have never seen one in the wild.
I saw a rattlesnake recently in San Diego on a visit but they are pretty common there.
Gutsy to move it without a bag of some sort.

Andrew Derhammer
06-03-2008, 9:47 PM
I didn't realize rattlers were common in PA. What type was it? We have timber rattlers here in NY but I have never seen one in the wild.
I saw a rattlesnake recently in San Diego on a visit but they are pretty common there.
Gutsy to move it without a bag of some sort. IIRC when settlers first came to PA, they killed off alot of the rattlers here, some survived in the mountain regions such as the poconos.

Bryan Rocker
06-04-2008, 12:09 AM
Snakes of any kind can be a startling experience, especially when you find them inside the house :) I haven't ran into many here in ohio but I ran into them all the time in Oklahoma. The ones that bugged me were the ones that left 5' plus skins on the brick wall next to the back door.......

Randy Davidson
06-04-2008, 8:14 AM
I was crawling under the house last year and came upon a 3'+ snake shed. I don't know that I have ever crawled on my knees so fast out of the crawlspace. Went back in colder weather and pulled it out. It was just a king snake skin (thank goodness). They help to keep the copperheads in check.

Jeffrey Makiel
06-04-2008, 10:46 AM
Man, that thing is big. I'd wet my pants if I saw that on my steps.

-Jeff :)

Mark Kosmowski
06-04-2008, 11:16 AM
Wow.

I've never seen a poisonous snake outside of the zoo in person either. Thanks for just gently moving it along it's way.

Glad no one was hurt.

Von Bickley
06-04-2008, 1:17 PM
Any snake on my property is considered a "Target".... Especially rattle snakes.:)

Lee Koepke
06-04-2008, 1:45 PM
yeah, i had to dispose of a little one last weekend. it crawled under my bench adjacent to my tablesaw.

not exactly the distraction that one would like when you have a spinning blade.

curtis rosche
06-04-2008, 7:23 PM
my golden retreiver seams to think that snakes are a toy, its kinda funny to watch since all we have around here is gardner snakes, he picks it up it his mouth and it slides out of his mouth quite funny to see.

mark page
06-04-2008, 10:08 PM
In our housing annex, we don't USUALLY get any vipers roaming around, just black snakes, garden snakes, etc. But what I do worry about is the snapping turtles we get roaming during mating season. Most all of the kids around here know to leave snakes alone, but get a big snapper and all the neighborhood kids think they are equivalent to box turtles. Reminds me of a slightly humorous event. A couple years ago, my kids came running in and stated they found a turtle and can they keep him. I think a small box turtle and went out to investigate. With all the area kids, it looked like a circle of indians around Custer in an old western movie. I found a snapper moving up the sidewalk that was about a 15 incher. He was more than slightly pi$$ed off, and even I couldn't handle him. So I shot him and told my son to take him to the creek and dispose of him. Number 1 son takes off with said dead snapper by the tail, and me being the guy that I am, sneak up on #1 son and goose him in the rear. He discus throws this snapper at olympic distance and high steps it at least 3/4 of a block away. I still laugh to this day every time I see any type of turtle.:D

Doyle Alley
06-06-2008, 2:58 PM
That's a decent sized timber rattler for being so far up north. You have far more patience with them than I do. That's what I keep the first two cylinders loaded with snake shot for.

AL Ursich
06-06-2008, 10:13 PM
That was a 3 foot Yellow Timber Rattle Snake. Here is a picture of a BLACK Timber Rattle Snake coiled next to a path to my Step Father's Garage. It showed up along side the path in the shade of a old chicken coop roof. There were some berries falling from the bush above and we think he was just hunting there waiting for some black bird to hop on down for a berry lunch and become lunch.... He stayed 3 days.... We put some fencing around him to keep the dogs out.... One time while I was watching him he.... Yawned.... Opened his mouth full open while coiled.... Saw the fang area but they were retracted.... Would have made a GREAT Picture....

The Last 3 are another one from the previous year.... about 50 feet from the other one. This one bigger. Find WALDO.....

One summer a few years ago we had 8 in our front yard over a period of one week.... Just passing thought to get to the Brook. We had a drought that summer and they came out of the mountains... for water...



AL

John Shuk
06-07-2008, 9:08 PM
What a great snake. Finding a good skin would be awesome. I'd love for my kids to have the chance to see one in the wild.

Eddie Watkins
06-07-2008, 10:11 PM
If you want to see a rattlesnake come on down!! We have pygmys, copperheads, diamondbacks, and water mmocassins which I think is a cousin to rattlers. We have rattlesnake roundups where folks go out and harvest them to "milk" the venom to make anti-venom, I believe. Most of them , people, that is, are sober, thankfully:rolleyes:.
We had a guy last summer about 10 miles from here that thought you should leave them alone. He went in a shed in his back yard and a copperhead bit him on the leg, when he fell a pygmy rattler bit him on the face. He evidently was not terribly allergic because he was able to get to a hospital and get some anti-venum serum and survived. He did say he was going home and start killing snakes as soon as he felt better.
I ALWAYS kill poisonous snakes, I leave other snakes alone as long as I don't find them close to the house or LOML don't see them.

Eddie

AL Ursich
06-07-2008, 10:51 PM
We have a Gas Pipeline on our property. About every 3 years they come through and cut the grass. A few miles away they ran into a Rattle Snake den and used the tractors to pull it apart. They killed all the snakes. Bragging at the bar that night resulted in someone telling someone and saw in the paper a few weeks later they were all arrested and fined in another state working on another pipeline.... Interesting....

They are endangered here and you can't kill them.... But there is some hunting season for them?.... With a permit $$$$$.

AL