Hey, Moderator. Why, all of a sudden won’t my computer reply to msgs? Hit reply, and everything works except the ability to type text. This is only way I could get anything to work.
Happened to my mother in about 1947. Weren’t no garter snake, however. It was a full grown two-fanged rattlesnake, & it wasn’t very happy. Came into the bathroom through the toilet via the septic tank . This was in Miami, Fla. Mom walked into the potty, & there it was, coiled up behind the pot. A good scream and a neighbor dispatched it w/ a golf club. I waws away at school at the time.
Don
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REstart!
Excellence is its own reward!
Don:
Due to your post, my wife is now forever banned from this website. Last night, after we set "Stevie" loose, she joked about being bit while sitting on the throne. I didn't correct her, but thought "She's forgot about the shower, no way would they come through the toilet..." Now you have also made me paranoid, and with two tykes under five there goes my magazine reading...
Regards,
Rework
Uh, sorry to burst your bubble... but just 4 months ago, I went to our cabin(guest cabin on our farm- use it to get away from the twins). I grabbed a rag out of the chest behind the throne & went to another room, wondering why my husband, David, had left washing machine hose on the floor, between the sink & the toilet. I came back a few moments later, this time turning on the light so I could wash my hands- started to park my bare feet under the sink & run the water, when the "hose" moved, hissed & rattled. I screamed & jumped... toward the shower- the "hose" rose up (think cobra), hissing, in the doorway, when I realized the 5 foot snake was between me & the escape (it stood up about 1.5 feet, went under the sink- 1/8th " from where my toes had been, and wrapped around the back of the toilet). I jumped on the tub & started to think how to get out- the window had been recently painted shut (damned painter!) & the bathroom was tiny- an old closet, so unsticking the window would have gotten me bit. I kept hearing a rattle, and had enough time to check out the diamond shape markings, but couldn't find the rattle... I did find a large towel, which I threw over the snake & then I dove out the bathroom, picked myself up & ran to my car & the phone (oh, I forgot to mention, no phone service in the cabin). Called David, who (after laughing himself silly- he slept on the sofa for a week), told me it was a copperhead (we're in the south). He said he'd take care of it that evening. I started driving back to our home, when the largest mouse I ever saw jumped out of the firewall of my old car and ran over my feet- I almost drove into our pond I was so freaked.
David couldn't find the snake that night. Started thinking I was making it up. A friend of his came by 2 weekends later & they were checking out some electrical work David had done at the cabin, and when they opened the guest room closet, David & Ted got the scare of their lives. There was my 5 foot friend... Turned out he was a king snake, which we like around here as they kill mice & bad baby snakes. My 2.5 yr old twins & I showed up just in time to ceremoniously carry it (on a large stick) to the woods. I saw it about a month ago hanging out with my turkey, probably reducing the wood rat population in his pen.
This is a true story- I'm much greyer now. David now keeps the trap door to the crawl space closed so the snakes don't come into the cabin. I know it's working as the mice are back...
You need to pour this energy into "Piffin Swarms." All the time reading it I was wondering what would happen and how you would get away...
Piffin to the rescue, saving gray headed damsels in distress.
I used to (for maybe four weeks) make my money by catching rattlesnakes in south Florida. Sold to a place that milked them for research. I also went snake hunting once with friends in western PA.
I'm just an old adrenaline junkie..
Excellence is its own reward!
I have a feeling Piffin Swarms is going to get very interesting! Man, you're crazier than I am (it's a compliment). I would wear a friend's 4' boa as a necklace or belt (luckily he didn't consider me food) to my 8:00 am psych class. there were 300 people in it, was boring as all get up, so my pals & I would sit in the 2nd to last row & make things more interesting. Goliath, the snake, would sleep thru class for the most part, until about 8:30 am when we'd always get a late arrival to class- usually the same sleepy blond girl... She'd sit behind me, just as Goliath would decide to stir, and as her sleepy eyes would start to focus for class, she'd realize there was a snake crawling around me & would start screaming- mass hysteria would ensue & class would be dismissed.
This worked for the majority of the semester- we'd do it about once every 2 weeks...
Vivi, I'm the kind of person who has to take a Xanax just to READ a thread about snakes, so I sorta empathasize with the sleepy blond girl, so I have to ask...who the H e l l let you pull this stunt more than once? arggggggg!"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
vivi=what a gal
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
It's amazing what you'll do when you're bored! It wasn't as bad as being 60' in the air balancing on a 6" beam (no harness), with a japanese hand saw, fixing the boss' mistakes on a timberframe in Maine, with stifff winds...Actually, snakes don't bother me (unless they're between me & the exit & they're making threatening moves), nor do spiders (don't like them on me tho)... I have to call my husband every evening and let him know the status of "Charlotte's web"- we have a lovely wolf spider who makes a very large nest in our side door, which is glass- my twins & I pull up chairs every afternoon & watch her work. David just comes in the front door if Charlotte has taken over. The lady who helps me with the twins 3 daze a week is completely freaked by this behaviour- she thinks we're nuts. We're trying to prove her right.
Now, you want to see me freak- Ants in the house will do it every time!
I understand that college students have fun when bored--I'm just trying to imagine the instructor who would let it continue!
I'm fond of the spidies, too, and this time of year is the best for watching their webs. The neighbors think I'm nuts too, for not cleaning them up off stuff. Ants in the house, heck that's just free protein for supper!!
Snakes? Sorry, whether inborn, or acquired, and I'm not proud of it, if I had seen a garter snake come through the pipes, I would have been passed out on the floor."I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
the professor never figured out what was going on- He kept droning on in his monotone voice (half the class was sleeping until the screaming started)... this was a huge lecture hall- he didn't even notice the cigarrette smoke, or empty beer cans rolling around - and we'd pull our snake stunt every few weeks, so he'd forget in between. Of course, the football players would pull their own stunts (I hung out with the art students) - I actually believe the prof was asked to submit for early retirement the following semester- turns out he had a serious drinking prob...
Don't mind the free dinner protein- I just have astigmatism, so all those bloody ants drive me nuts (and they're unclean, and eating my brand new house to pieces- there's another thread on this subject, which led to Piffin Swarms).
I do worry that one of these mice eating snakes is going to drop onto the floorboard of my old car one day while I'm driving. THAT scares me! I feel for Rez' wife afraid to use the toilet!
have you ever "spray painted" an old (unused) web with gold or silver glitter paint onto black construction paper? Spiders are beautiful artists!
Ants are unclean???? No! Really? Annoying and destructive, yes, but UNCLEAN?
I have to ask--astigmatism? Are you seeing, like, ants with twelve legs? Maybe you don't really have twins...
I'm working on the snake phobia thing. Last summer my neighbor, who has a great water garden on his deck, had a couple of garter snakes hanging out at his waterfall. He and I sat quietly by the pond and watched them for a long time, chasing each other through the rocks, and having little sips of water. I forced my self to stay there, feet up on the chair, and really enjoyed watching. They were lovely, and very sweet. Someday I'll work myself up to handling one. Laws of probability say, as a serious gardener, I'm going to have to deal with one face to face at some point. I remember working with my Mom in the garden one day. She was sitting on the ground, and a little snake came up and sat beside her inquiringly and raised its little head up on her leg. She just looked down and said, "Well, hello, Clive, how's tricks?"
Hadn't thought to do the spray paint web thing. Good idea. And I'm sorry about your college experience. Wish it could have been better.
"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
Piff,
I never hunted rattlers but when I lived in Nelson County Virginia for a year we use to go "giggin". Ever hear of that? You go late at night into the swamps waist deep with a burlap sack, flashlight and a giggin pole( a tiny pitchfork at the end of a pole). You shine your flashlight around the swamp till you see two eyes....BULLFROG....the light kinda paralizes them then you stab em' with your giggin pole and put em in the burlap sack.....Take all your frogs to the fancy restaurants in Charlottesville for the pay day. By the way, its illegal. I did this with some back hills people manyyyyyyy moons ago. What a trip it was living back there......and the only snakes we contacted in the swamps were copperheads. Great eatin'
PS....I'm a vegatarian now.
Be well
Namaste'
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
nada on giggin' tho' I know what it is from havinf been in S Louisianna for several weeks.
I also visited awhile with an old grampa who owned a whole mountain up in West Virginia and went deer hunting with him.
What's a license son?.
Excellence is its own reward!
I guess the crazy life I lead must bleed thru to Piffin Swarms :) I did think throwing a towel over the snake & diving over it was a rather dramatic, James Bondy thing to do, eh? My martial arts friends were proud of me!
My knowledge of snakes is limited to those we have in California so if there are any herpetologists in the group they may correct me but if the snake rattled it was a rattlesnake. king snakes do not rattle so you may have very well had more than one visitor in the cabin. It is also possible for a rattlesnake to have lost its rattles and thus not make that distinctive sound. A closer check for other openings that could be the entrance point would be advised.
PD,
Quite a few snakes will vibrate their tails when agitated, some can even flair their necks so the resemble vipers. Protective mimicry.
KK
Spent three days in yard deep water fixing a tilting gazebo/bridge affair notching diagonal supports and such. Could feel fish or what have you bumping legs on occasion. The painter on the spread was staying in a large cabin-cottage on the grounds. He had found a snake in the bath of the cabin and asked me what I knew about snakes. Went over there and a 5 foot water moccasin had perched itself on an overhead shelf. Upon disturbing it we watched it crawl to a half dollar sized hole at the top of the wall at the eave and crawl through it with the sound of it's scales rubbing the sides as it slithered out. Unnerving man. Glad I wasn't sleeping there.
Then later was repairing a tower structure at same place. Had saw set-up placed below and was continuously climbing up and down to measure cut measure cut. On one trip down to the saw, a couple feet away, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a fresh pie of donkey poop from the several donkeys that roam the place. Upon closer inspection I could see it was another water moccasin coiled in the sun. Found out later the farmette was in the middle of a flood plain and figured the snakes would come over to the nice mowed grass to party and eat duck eggs. Don't know if I'd have taken the job if I'd known.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
Edited 10/3/2002 9:05:28 AM ET by rez
All of the king snakes I have ever seen can in no way be confused with a rattlesnake based on coloring alone. That distinctive rattling sound so often portrayed on TV can only be made by the Rattlesnake because of its retention of layers of its shed skin at the tip of its tail. That is if it has not lost its rattles. If there was a rattling sound and not just a rapid movement movement of the tail then it was a rattlesnake.
Believe me, I've seen rattle snakes- this wasn't one. The sound was more like a stick moving thru dried leaves, but when you're in a tiny (5'x9' filled with fixtures) bathroom with a 5' snake that's making ANY kind of "rattling" noise, you get the stew scared out of you!
We live in Middle Tennessee where every type of poisonous snake found in the US is alive and well (not ever one of them, but every major catagory)... Rule of thumb, unless you're familiar with the snake, get the heck out of dodge & worry about what it is later...
My original post stated that I was most familier with the snakes in California. The only veniomus snake here are the varieties of rattlesnake. And because of the dry climate we don't have the numbers they do in other parts of the country. I would most likely would have ended up in the bath tub if put in the exact same situation. It intrigues me how a non-rattler would imitate that sound. Or maybe it had recently shed its skin and some loose dry remnants still attached and with the echo chamber a bathroom can be it sounded very menancing
Sorry if I sounded abrupt- I was trying to get you a quick response before the remnants of Lilli sent us for cover- as it was, we lost power for 4 hours...
I'm no snake expert, but what I remember from the days I used to do a lot of work around the Ag extension office is that many snakes will imitate the "rattle" sound by hitting leaves or just vibrating their tales... I don't know if it's just in this area, how it works or what... crazy tennessee snakes! Anyway, it's effective- I can just see the annual snake convention - yeah, wanna scare the stew out of humans, pretend you're a rattle snake & watch them jump- kinda like armidillos!
:)
I can easily imagine him tapping the eustation tube at the tank fill line behinf the toilet tank and setting up a pretty good imitation of a rattler. They make a business out of survival by scaring other predators away like that.
Story
A friend told me that when he was a kid in Florida, they lived on top of a hill with a long driveway. Grass and palmetto on both sides. He loved catching snakes, especially kings, to scare the gurls with.
One day he was screwing around on his bike at top of the drive when he saw a BIG king come out from the grass on one side to cross the road. He peddalled like a crazy man to get down there and grab him quick, before it could escape in the grass on the other side. He says he put his bike into a slide to stop atop the snake, grabbed it right behind the head, and came up victorious with a shout of jubilation, which died in his throat - because he was looking eyeball to eyeball with a rattler about six inches from his face.
They can imitate each other until you look close.
I was backpacking through the wilderness area in Idaho in '73? along the Middle fork of the Salmon River when I had to cross a bench that was a boulder-strewn field. Almost every single boulder had holes going under and I could hear rattles constantly the whole time I was crossing through. I went slow, careful, and open eyed. I remember that experience every time I watch Indiana Jones..
Excellence is its own reward!
Funny you mention Indy... I was going to use that reference in my next post on Swarms... you must be reading my mind :o
growing up, we had a crazy neighbor who had a pet rattle snake in his kitchen- whenever he'd let it out, he'd keep his pistol aimed on him. I don't know if I was more impressed with the snake or the pistol & I was only 8 yrs old...
I'm wondering how crazy your parents were - letting you go visit a neighbor with a pistol and a snake loose in the house....
Excellence is its own reward!
Well, this thread has been such a good read that I'm going to have to go read piffin swarms next!
I'm OK with spiders and snakes, although I have a healthy respect for black widows (which we have many of) and rattlers. I'm fine with ants and termites, but prefer them outside my home. But something about rats just unnerves me. One time I dipped a measuring cup into a bag of grass seed in the yard shed, and two rats that had been hiding in/eating in the bag ran up my arm and jumped to the floor. I very nearly died right then and there. Ugh.
"A completed home is a listed home."
Now there's a phobia the be proud of!
I hate rats four or two legged!.
Excellence is its own reward!
oops- it looks like our power was out for only a couple of hours- that's what I get for checking the 'puter before resetting the clocks!
The rattle was probably her teeth chattering in fear!
"my wife is now forever banned from this website"
If so, I'll really cut loose and point out that, in the 19th century, the majority of black widow spider bites were inflicted on male genitalia. Because that, in the days before indoor plumbing, is what projected furtherest into the outdoor privy.
Still, a garter snake can't do much harm. Neither do the vast majority of pit viper bites (about 10 fatalies out of 7,000 annual bites). But there is often local tissue death which is excised surgically. So maybe there is reason to be concerned while on the toilet.
David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
You really know how to hurt a guy!
And from thousands of miles away!
Groan..
Excellence is its own reward!