EWWW!!! OMG, EWWW!! I'll never be the same again!!!

[franksdad]

Do you know

what kind of snake it was?  About 10 years ago I reached into my Mama's cabinet for a baking sheet and found a shed snake skin.  Turned out a four foot black snake had managed to crawl into Mama's house and was hiding in the kitchen cabinet.  We were able to take the thing out then I took everything out of the kitchen and either scrubbed it, put it in the dishwasher with sani-rinse on, or placed everything in the washer on hot water with clorox.  Mama's cabinets were also scrubbed with hot water and clorox.  That was one heck of a weekend.  On the advise of a good friend who is a snake lover I went to the store and bought a bunch of steel wool pads (not SOS pads but regular steel wool you use when sanding furniture or cabinets with when refinishing) and crammed steel wool into every opening I could find.  No more snakes.  My friend said snakes hate steel wool.  Oh, BTW, had that been a rattler or copperhead I would probably have soiled in my pants!  Black and king snakes don't bother me but I'm not keen of poisionous snakes.    Back in 1982 a friend and I were hiking on and around Grandfather Mountain, NC.  I picked up my leg and for some reason stopped and just happened to look down just in time to see a timber rattler slither under my boot where my boot had just been.  He was a young rattler not very long but just as poisionous as a fully grown adult. Needless to say after I watched him slither out of sight I had to stop and have a snort of Wild Turkey and a smoke.  Hope you find no more surprises! 

 

[whirlcool]

More people are bitten by snakes in North Carolina than anywhere else in the country.

If your dog gets bit by a snake, take it to the vet. The vet will administer a steroid shot which will relieve the pain as well as the swelling very quickly. There is always a chance of a limb infection in dogs when they get bit by snakes.

You can also "de snake" a dog. This is specialized training where dogs are taught to avoid snakes at all costs.

 

[twintubdexter]

Having lived in California my entire life, the only really dangerous snakes I've ever been around are rattlers which generally have a built-in "back off" audible warning system. It's scary stuff to hear about the venomous snakes some of you find lurking in your yards...Copperheads and Water Moccasins and more, yikes! I think I'd be affraid to let my Springers out. Snakes don't really bother me having caught a few small Gopher and Garter snakes as a kid. My mom had no fear either. Once when we were at my Aunt & Uncle's cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains we cornered a little yellow and black ribbon snake in a bush, she on one side and me on the other. After convincing her it was not poisonous she grabbed with her hands, what a trouper! Reptiles are interesting but I wouldn't have one as a "pet" today.

 

[chuffle]

My house...

...an old farmhouse, sat vacant (with heat) for twenty years, before I did a lot of work in it and moved in in 2007. The cellar, a dug out affair and all mud, is not my favorite place to be. When I was cleaning out the basement early on, I found a number of molted black snake skins "down there." My electrician was doing work down there, moved an old fruit crate and found a snake in it. I know that black snakes are beneficial in keeping mice under control, but having them in my basement was just too close for comfort. I got a couple of cats when I moved in, and they prowl about outside - between the mousers outside, and the dog and me rattling around in the house, I haven't seen a black snake in the basement or outside ever since.

I've only seen one snake this year, a little garter snake, earlier this summer, while mowing. They're sweet, and I gave it safe passage before mowing on.

Now, just last week, I saw my first wood roach (mentioned above), dead, outside. My goodness, that thing was huge -guesstimation was that it was a good inch and a half long. Ish!

Joe

 

[danemodsandy]

Bah.

"They are more afraid of you then you are of them."

This is patently untrue.

Because if it WERE true, every snake who ever spotted a human would be dead of a heart attack.

;-)

 

[rapunzel]

Don't you have a wildlife service that will come out to catch and collect stray wildlife without harming it?

 

[circlew]

Have only seen two snakes this year; one at the park while hiking, and the other in my back yard.

I don't particularly like them, but my 16 year old neighbor kid is terrified of them. We were moving a crate of stone veneer from the backyard, and there was a little black snake in it. He saw it before me, and he jumped back about 10 feet. He would not go near the crate until he saw the snake crawl away to the flower bed.

 

[stan]

You have to

figure out how it got in!
I've heard of using steel wool for mice (guess they don't like chewing thru it)

if all this could have been caught on tape ...may have one first place on "funniest home vidio's

 

[vintagekitchen]

Wildlife service?

never heard of anything like that around here. The usual response to problem wildlife is fairly simple, shoot it..

 

[tolivac]

Copperheads are common in my area-see a lot of them-One time during a transmitter and antenna change-the antenna switcher did not work from the control room-that means you have to run to the switchbay and activate the switcher valves manually.As I ran out the back door-stepped on a copperhead that was resting there or waiting for mice or whatever.I didn't get bitten-but he was upset and sadly-injured.He could move OK-so I got the site shovel-not to kill him-but move him somewhere else.That worked.He was really a beautiful creature-lovely pink and red colors.I so hope he survived.At another station in this area-their engineer called me to help him with a transmitter problem-was able to tell him how to fix it and what parts he needed.In his transmitter-a 1kw Gates 1F-was a dead snake-long dead-he was wrapped around the transmitters modulation transformer-couldn't tell what kind it was-he must have crawled up from the floor vent near the Tx seeking the transmitters heat.the HV inside zapped him-and that was were he was left.
At another station in Baltimore-5Kw AM a snake coiled himself in the "mother hen" phasor coil and was smoking and burning when I got there-the smell was horrible-the transmitter still going.Had to shut it off a few min to remove the snake.The phasor-component that the transmitter feeds into to divide its power to the towers at the station.The "mother hen" coil does this-taps on it for each tower.a vacuum capacitor is connected in parallel with the coil to tune the circuit to the stations frequency.I hope the snake wasn't trying to retune that circuit!The sparking,smelly snake was something me and my freind couldn't forget and still laugh about today.Again the snake was so cooked couldn't tell what it was.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Steel wool..

I spent the day going through the house looking for any small opening it or the mice could have been using, and each one I found was jammed full of steel wool, then either had a board nailed over it or was finished being filled in with that "great stuff" expanding foam in a can, depending on the locatin and circumstance. Was actually suprised how many spots I found. You dont really realize how many gaps, cracks, and openings there are in an average home..

 

[vintagekitchen]

Cooked snake

When I was 5, My mom complained that every time she used her stove there was a weird burning smell, and some of the burners weren't working correctly. So dad pulled the stove ut to the porch, (tiny tiny kitchen, no space to work. when the oven door was open it took up almost all the open floor space.) He took off the back, and there was a snake coiled through the back of the knobs, very very dead. Apparently it had crawled in where the wire for the stove outlet cam through the floor, and crawled along the cord into the stove, and then got fried when mom went turned the stove on.

 

[whirlcool]

If you live in snake country and your dryer vent is pretty low to the ground always make sure that you have one of those dryer vents with the flap on it. It automatically closes when the dryer turns off and prevents snakes and mice from entering your home.

 

[danemodsandy]

And:

Also make sure the little flap is still doing its job; lint can build up on its hinge and prevent it from working correctly.

Newer dryer vents have a grille on them that prevents entry by rodents even if the flap isn't working right, but I don't think it would keep a small snake out.

 

[chuffle]

I forgot to mention...

...I've heard that placing moth balls around the foundation of the house discourages snakes. Don't know if it works or not, if it is an old wive's tale, but I thought that I would pass it on.

Joe

 

[washerboy]

lime

this post gives me the willies but for some reason I have to keep reading it...LOL!!...I hate snakes..period. I was telling one of my coworker about this and she said she and her husband lived close to creek for several years...she said they spread lime around the foundation of their home and that took care of the snake problme...she says a snake will not cross a trail of lime. Not sure if it would/will work..but that's what she says

 

[westie2]

The lime is supposed to work never tried it but have heard like you washerboy/Mark that it does.

 

[whirlcool]

They also make prepared snake repellent you can put down to keep snakes away. You can find this kind of product at most home improvement/hardware stores in snake country.

 

[franksdad]

Firm believer in moth balls!

Having previously lived at the lake and now next to the woods I've used moth balls for years and have satisfied with the results.  I have never heard of lime but I'll try it.  I had one baby copperhead in the carport this summer but I've not seen any others or snakes of any kind slithering around my house since.  I don't know if the mothballs have kept them away but I'm satisfied with the results.  You can also buy snake-away pellets at most home and garden shops.  I have never tried this product either.  

 

[akronman]

Hey Mr Vintage

you write a pretty good short story!! Send something to a publisher someday