Miss Tina is meaner than a Snake...

[BrokenolMarine]

... and I can prove it.

Marine Snipers can disappear into the grass and you'll never find them. They just fade into the scenery and freeze.
Years ago, when I was working an evening patrol on a surveillance assignment, I got a call... Miss T had been bitten by a copperhead, four times in the bottom of her foot while working in the garden. She was on the way to the ER. She had stomped the snake into copperhead paste, but the ER was 45 minutes away. I was on the other side of the River... and had to turn in the County Car and switch to my truck, but still beat the Volunteer Squad to the ER by 5 minutes.

I swore I was going to get a T-Shirt that said: My wife is meaner than a snake and I can prove it...
... she was bitten by a copperhead four times... and the SNAKE died.

Her leg looked like an over inflated balloon and they kept her for a day or two, but no permanent damage. She was lucky. It was a baby, and contrary to old wives tales, their poison isn''t more deadly than adult copperheads.

Luckily for us the doc on duty raised snakes and knew all about them. Their poison isn't any more deadly, it's just that unlike an adult, they don't know how to dose their strikes, first strike, they empty the poison sack. Say they have enough poison for ten lethal strikes on mice. An adult would be able to kill ten mice. A baby would overkill ONE mouse, then not be able to kill any for several hours while his system regenerated more poison.

The doc's theory was that when Tina stepped on the baby, he lashed out and his first strike, was into the mulch, not her foot. The next four strikes were into her foot when he rolled over and identified his target, but she only got what was left in the fangs and the path from the sack to the fangs. This kept her from the tissue damage and huge swelling normally associated with multiple strikes.

Check out this picture... there is a copperhead hiding in there. I took it when I saw it moving. (Years ago.) I came across it this morning while changing my Wallpaper. Took me three or four minutes to find it again..... Sheesh, they are good at hiding.

SnakeCopperheadinGrass_zpsa6f3d7f1.jpg (363.63 KiB) Viewed 2435 times

PM me if you find it, or just grin and yell, "There it is...!" But don't ruin it right away for everyone.

[The Wiz]

Got it!

[PT7]

Yup, there it is! Always have liked these "Waldo-type" challenges.

[BrokenolMarine]

The funny thing is... Country Girls don't wear shoes in the summer. She was back out in the garden barefoot again a few days after getting home from the hospital. Stubborn ol' gal.

(I think she was a bit more careful where she stepped.)
I know she was a lot more careful where she parked her butt.

[CT_Shooter]

I THINK I've found it, too. I hope you confirm it for me in a follow-up post.

[Abnermal]

FOUND HIM! Well most of him! I squirrel hunt in copperhead country. Often walk into the woods in the dark of a morning. Wonder how many creepy crawlies I've walked past. I try not to think about it but I still watch my step.

[BrokenolMarine]

I will give it a couple days, so those who want to can try and find waldo. Then I will post his position.

[BrokenolMarine]

Raking leaves years ago... reached down to pick up a pile and put them in the garden cart and almost grabbed a big handful of copperhead. I used a pitchfork after that and wore canvas gloves. We also welcome those huge black snakes. Six to eight feet long... they consider copperheads scoobys snacks.

Don't get me wrong, coming across a huge non poisonous snake unexpectedly can still get the heart rate up... But, we just send them on their way.

[dave77]

Only poisonous snakes around here are rattlesnakes. They can be numerous in some areas but in the 35 years I've been on my property I've only seen them a few times, bull snakes are a lot more common. I wasn't paying attention once and stepped on one, it didn't even try to strike, it just wanted to get away but it sure got my heart rate up.

Only time one coiled up and rattled at me was one alongside a road I was riding Ruby on. I guess the cowboy movies that show horses rearing up and panicking when they see a rattlesnake is a old wive's tale, she paid no attention to it.

[dave77]

I finally definitely see part of his body and think I see his head, they sure blend in more than our rattle and bull snakes.

[Yornoc3]

I found 'im, but he sure is hard to see. Just Snow Snakes up here , and a few Garter snakes and Pine snakes in the summer. Edited to add Hog Nosed snaes. They flare their neck like a Cobra, and if that doesn't work, play dead. Great defensive strategy instead of biting .

[RetiredSeabee]

Yep it's a purty one. I see them from time to time here. My neighbors seem to attract snakes. They will call me over for a post mortem identification. They called me once to identify one live. After I scooped it up with a rake and threw it back in the woods I told them it was a copperhead. Now they just bludgeon the poor critters before calling. I wish they would just leave them alone to do what snakes do.
Now spiders..... That's a different story.

[Bugs]

You can find him by looking for his head. A couple of weeks ago my wife had her first encounter with a baby copperhead while we we out bass fishing. We were fishing some old pond farms where they are building a deed restricted community. When we came back to the truck I had to pull her back as he was coiled up on the road right in front of the passenger door near the front tire. I had her wait a safe distance away while I got in the drivers side and backed up the truck. She said the snake struck the front tire several time as I backed away. Aggressive little buggers.

[Henry88]

I see him, but I knew he was there, amazing camo on that guy, great pic.

[BrokenolMarine]

Here is the snake for those who wanted to make sure they were right.

Snake Revealed.jpg (369.3 KiB) Viewed 2611 times

The tail is at the bottom of the pic on the left, and the head is pretty much centered but buried in the grass, it's hard to see. You'll see it when it pops out and attaches itself to your ankle.

[BrokenolMarine]

When I spotted this thing, I took the pic, then used a stick to move it along. It popped up and attacked the stick. Too bad for the copperhead. When it popped up and attacked the stick, Tina's big rooster spotted it. Unfortunate. Scooby snack.

[dave77]

I saw the body but it's a lot smaller than I thought. I thought more of the body was buried in the leaves and it's head was that shape over by the right edge of the photo.

That must be one tough, fast rooster. My neighbor once had a small, mean rooster, you had to have a stick with you when you got close to the chickens because he would attack your legs until you swatted him a few times.

[BrokenolMarine]

I saw the body but it's a lot smaller than I thought. I thought more of the body was buried in the leaves and it's head was that shape over by the right edge of the photo.

That must be one tough, fast rooster. My neighbor once had a small, mean rooster, you had to have a stick with you when you got close to the chickens because he would attack your legs until you swatted him a few times.

It's been a couple years since I took the picture, and my eyes are old... it could be longer than I remember.

As for the roosters... Tina's roosters learned as little guys NOT to peck or flog in Tina's direction. Those that did... ended up in the dumplins.

[Vaquero]

I found it pretty quick, but yes he is hard to see.
Glad you told me he was there, or

I might have stepped right on him.

cool pic.

RP

[BrokenolMarine]

Yeah, their camo is really good.