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Tina was down at the old barn, cleaning up around the outside and preparing to move the shelving unit to the feed room in the new barn. She had three or four rolls of heavy rubberized belt that came off a conveyer at the gravel pit she had been cutting to length and using in the stalls as stall mat stacked along the outside wall. When she went to roll the first away from the wall, part of the inside of the roll moved. Turned out that part of the rubberized roll was a five foot long three inch thick cottonmouth water moccasin hiding from the heat. It crawled thru the rolls and under the edge of the barn wall, she ran around into the barn and trapped it, so it couldn't hide and surprise her later. (More importantly, one of the grandkids.) When she put it down, babies, live babies spilled out. She put them all in the pond, food for the turtles and panfish and bass. The water boiled.

We don't put down the regular snakes, they keep down the rat, mice, and vermin population. But just last week we had grandchildren here. They aren't allowed to play in the barns, but the older one had ducked in a stall to ... ... um .. Tinkle? A cotton mouth attached to your butt would put a damper on your day. It's dark in the stalls at various points in the day... not smart.

Tina has talked to the Granddaughter ...

She went online and checked, she didn't know Cottonmouths gave birth to live babies. Yup.
It's also copperhead birthing season... Oh No... Keep a sharp eye out. They are like Snipers, masters at camoflauge.

I've lived in snake country (meaning rattlesnake country) most of my life and we were taught early the basic rules of how to avoid being bitten. Can't start too early with the kids.

No poisonous snakes up here in the north woods, but I did see a water snake out on the road this week. Water snakes are often mis-identified as cottonmouths.

When I was walking the property with the (city) son in law and six year old Granddaughter last week, she started up the side of the berm (pond dam) and I told her "No." Her daddy doesn't like for his Little Cutie to be told no, and made a princess face. He asked me why, he had walked all around it the day before. I started to give the standard dad answer of, "Because I told her NO."

But... I told him the top of the dam was filled with holes made by turtles and other things, and she could trip and fall in the pond. More importantly, copperheads liked to sun themselves on the top of the berm, and their camo was really good, making them hard to see. He looked a little green, but he was good after that.

Yes, there really IS a copperhead in the picture.

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:56 am

Keep a sharp eye out. They are like Snipers, masters at camoflauge.

copperhead.jpg

I guess so. I don't see it.

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:10 pm

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:56 am

Keep a sharp eye out. They are like Snipers, masters at camoflauge.

copperhead.jpg

I guess so. I don't see it.

I put this up every couple years as a PSA... they really are GREAT at hiding....
His tail is at the bottom of the pic, follow the line to the top and the head is just below the top of the red line. You'll see the wrinkles where the neck is bunched up.

Ah ha! Now I see that sneaky #%$@.

50 some years ago I was bitten by a large black snake .... I haven't forgotten it and still hold a grudge .... in short, when it comes to snakes I take no prisoners

Tina leaves the non poisonous snakes as they eat vermin, but if they crawl into the coop to eat chicks or eggs, present a striking posture... So sorry.

Glad she didn't get bit. The copperheads are the hardest to see for sure. Any poisonous snake has to be taken care of. My son almost didn't make it when bit by rattlesnake as a teenager. He also was bit later while working by a moccasin, but it wasn't as bad as the rattlesnake bite. I got bit by a baby rattler on top of my foot, but luckily it didn't break the skin. I had on flip flops. Do you see very many moccasins around your pond?