# I killed a snake.



## texasgirl (Nov 13, 2005)

I can't believe I did it 
I hate snakes. Noone was home and I saw it slithering and had a choice of a shovel or hubby's gun, since I don't like guns, I grabbed the shovel. It was in the sand pit that used to be my pool under a wild flower shrub. When I found it, it was coiled up and I just slammed it. MY big dog was sniffing after it and I was afraid he would get bit. DH got home and told me it is a copperhead. 
{{{{{SHIVER}}}}} That is why I don't like living out here. Hubby can't believe that I did it 
Anyone else have a snake story?


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## licia (Nov 13, 2005)

A few years ago I'd been to a garden club meeting where our speaker had talked about protecting birds' nests from predators - such as snakes.  As I drove up to the driveway I saw something laying across the driveway with something sticking up and for the life of me could not figure out what it was. When I drove closer I saw it was a rattlesnake with a squirrel in his mouth. He was trying to swallow it and the squirrel was too large. I backed out and yelled for my neighbor to come with a gun.  He killed the snake. We'd never had one that close to the house that we knew about.


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## shannon in KS (Nov 13, 2005)

I have many snake stories growing up on a farm, but this summer, I was lazily basking in the sun, and a snake slithers by. (this is my sunspot, mr. snake!) So, I thought, nah, he is going about his business, and gently shoo him along with my flip flop.  And he was a little baby, maybe a foot long, but suspiciously looked like a rattlesnake- which are more venemous than full grown. He turns around, and coils up and start trying to strike at me!  H#ll no, not gonna work that way, THIS IS MY SUNSPOT! So I do what a typical girl would do, start squealing and jumping around-  HEEELLOOOOO!  HE IS TRYING TO EAT ME!!!!  And no one comes to my rescue. I throw a few yard objects at him, hose, chair, whatever is nearby.  Not budging. So I pick up a hand spade- yeah one of those things that are like 8 inches long, and start swinging at him, and he finally starts to slither the other way, and I am nothing but vengeful at this point, and whack his head off, cowardly when he turned his back, I know, but he was exhibiting some serious cobra tendencies, mind you.  you go Texasgirl, WE ARE WOMEN, HEAR US ROAR (10 minutes later after all the squealing and carrying on)   You would think the way we act would annoy the little critters to a miserable death, wouldn't ya?


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## DampCharcoal (Nov 13, 2005)

Wow! That was a good kill! Copperheads are REAL nasty! When I was a kid, my dad and I would go fishing and camp out at an old log cabin on my Grandpa's farm in the southeastern hills of Ohio and I remember copperhead snakeskins hanging from the rafters. I hated sleeping there, for obvious reasons!


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## texasgirl (Nov 13, 2005)

shannon in KS said:
			
		

> I have many snake stories growing up on a farm, but this summer, I was lazily basking in the sun, and a snake slithers by. (this is my sunspot, mr. snake!) So, I thought, nah, he is going about his business, and gently shoo him along with my flip flop. And he was a little baby, maybe a foot long, but suspiciously looked like a rattlesnake- which are more venemous than full grown. He turns around, and coils up and start trying to strike at me! H#ll no, not gonna work that way, THIS IS MY SUNSPOT! So I do what a typical girl would do, start squealing and jumping around- HEEELLOOOOO! HE IS TRYING TO EAT ME!!!! And no one comes to my rescue. I throw a few yard objects at him, hose, chair, whatever is nearby. Not budging. So I pick up a hand spade- yeah one of those things that are like 8 inches long, and start swinging at him, and he finally starts to slither the other way, and I am nothing but vengeful at this point, and whack his head off, cowardly when he turned his back, I know, but he was exhibiting some serious cobra tendencies, mind you. you go Texasgirl, WE ARE WOMEN, HEAR US ROAR (10 minutes later after all the squealing and carrying on) You would think the way we act would annoy the little critters to a miserable death, wouldn't ya?


 
DH is looking at me like I have gone insane. I am laughing so hard I'm crying just from the visual.
Normally, I yell for him or the boys. The first time I saw one, I was in the garage making my yard art and it was right at the door. They make the most awful scratching sound on concrete, I ran to the house door and the boys came running with the pellet gun, he didn't have the 410 then. I took it and was shaking so bad, the boys both went for it and tried to shoot it. That one got away. I called DH and he came home from down the road. Never found that one. I was walking very slowly for weeks after that.


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## mudbug (Nov 13, 2005)

OH, ick.  Sorry you had to go thru that, tex.

My mom's parents used to have a cabin out in the desert in SoCal.  Every time they went out there for vacation Gramp had to go in first with his gun and kill all the rattlesnakes.


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## Robin (Nov 13, 2005)

Unless they are too close to my house I just leave them alone. They are actually good because they eat small rodents. Most snakes are as afraid of us and we are of them


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## pdswife (Nov 13, 2005)

Good hit Texas.

Once while Paul and I were hiking up a trail to go fishing 
he stopped and said "Hey look, it's a snake" He started poking at
it wish his fishing pole.  It uncoiled and we saw that it was a rattler!!!  Just a small one but big enough to freak me out.  Luckily the snake wasn't in the mood to fight.  It just crawled away.   I tease Paul all the time now about being brave enough to tickle a rattle snake.


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## texasgirl (Nov 13, 2005)

Robin said:
			
		

> Unless they are too close to my house I just leave them alone. They are actually good because they eat small rodents. Most snakes are as afraid of us and we are of them


 
I wouldn't usually go killing it myself, but, it was about 10 feet from my front door. I know that it probably wouldn't be able to get on the porch,but, I wasn't taking a chance on meeting it inside with the doggie door


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## Robin (Nov 13, 2005)

texasgirl said:
			
		

> I wouldn't usually go killing it myself, but, it was about 10 feet from my front door. I know that it probably wouldn't be able to get on the porch,but, I wasn't taking a chance on meeting it inside with the doggie door


 
Yes actually it could have gotten on the porch. A long time ago one got into our covered porch! Thank goodness I just peaked through the window before I opened it. It was coiled right next to the door. I screamed for my mother's boyfriend to take care of it.. It wasn't poisonous though.


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## middie (Nov 13, 2005)

oooh copperheads nasty nasty snakes. a relative of mine in west virginia     cleaning up her yard and picked up an old coffee can that had a copperhead coiled up inside. a fang punctured the skin on one of her fingers and she almost died not once but TWICE ! i think if both fangs got her she would not be around today. my mother almost got bit by one too when she was a little girl... maybe 5 or 6, but her grandfather killed it before it bit my mom's leg.
though i have to admit it's kind of amusing to drive through a state and see the roadkill is chickens and copperheads !


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## buckytom (Nov 14, 2005)

i always tell people that i'm hiking with that in snake country, always make heavy footsteps in grasses or dense brush (they will sense you coming and take off), and always step onto a log then away from it, not directly over as you may startle a snake that will cause it to strike at your heel.
they're nasty but necessary little monsters...


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## AllenOK (Nov 14, 2005)

I have to agree with Robin.  Snakes do benefit the environment.  Granted, I live in a small city, so I'm not really expecting to see any snakes, except maybe a garter snake.

As long as I know a snake is non-venomous, I'll leave it alone.  However, if I ever catch a venomous snake in my yard, it's dead, as I have small children.  Out in the woods, I tend to leave all snakes alone.

Back when I was in New Mexico working for the Boy Scouts, my parents had adopted a stray puppy, a Border Collie - Chow mix.  One day, it was in one corner of the yard, barking like crazy, and wouldn't move.  My sister's boyfriend went out to check it out, and immediately came back in asking for a shovel.  He said there was a nest of baby copperheads on the north side of the house.  He disposed of them all with the shovel.

A few years ago, my MIL was mowing her yard (the next street over) and hit a snake with the mower.  She is deathly afraid of snakes.  Once she realized what she had hit, she became petrified.  A few minutes later, she was able to push the mower over to the window to call PeppA out, but she could not release the mower under her own power.

Something else to remember, is that there are probably more venomous snakes than most people realize.  Many snakes are what are known as "rear-fanged", meaning that their fanges are in the rear of their mouth, and they have to gnaw on you to invenomate you.  If I remember right, there is a variety of garter snake like this!


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## Constance (Nov 14, 2005)

We live in the country and have LOTS of snakes, but they are mostly rat snakes and chicken snakes. Since we also have lots of field mice (bigger and hungrier than house mice), they are welcome here. I used to find them in my greenhouse, and in the back of the shop among the bags of potting mix, both places where the mice liked to burrow and nest. Snakes still like to hang out under my deck, or lay across the hot tub cover. 
We do have rattlesnakes and copperheads down in the Shawnee Forest, but the only poisonous snake we have in this immediate area is the Water Moccasin, also called the "Cottonmouth". He likes ponds and swampy places in the river bottoms.
I've done lots of treking in the woods, and found that if you make plenty of noise tramping through the underbrush, the snakes will get out of your way. I have had a few close calls with Copperheads though...they don't seem as shy as other snakes. 
I guess my worse encounter with a snake was when one crawled in one my wren houses, ate all the baby birds, and was too engorged to get out the little entrance for several days, until he digested his meal. That made me mad...I love my birds, wrens in particular.


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## Barbara L (Nov 14, 2005)

I have a snake story that might bring a tear to your eye---but I have to go take my class to the computer lab!  I'll tell my story when I am off of work.

 Barbara


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## Ken (Nov 14, 2005)

texasgirl said:
			
		

> Anyone else have a snake story?


 
Sort of.  I was kind of half asleep in a dream state....when I spotted what I thought was a snake.
I jump out of bed all panicked....and breathlessly ask Alix, "Did you see that fuzzy snake?!"
It was the cat's tail sticking out from under the bed.   Oops.


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## Alix (Nov 14, 2005)

I notice you don't mention my helpless laughter for some time after. Poor kitty thought you were going to jump out of bed and smack her with a shoe or something.


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## texasgirl (Nov 14, 2005)

> Sort of. I was kind of half asleep in a dream state....when I spotted what I thought was a snake.
> I jump out of bed all panicked....and breathlessly ask Alix, "Did you see that fuzzy snake?!"
> It was the cat's tail sticking out from under the bed. Oops.
> __________________


 



			
				Alix said:
			
		

> I notice you don't mention my helpless laughter for some time after. Poor kitty thought you were going to jump out of bed and smack her with a shoe or something.


 
OMG...
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




That is hilarious. Alix I can just imagine it, big macho man, jumping up and attacking the poor cat. I think the cat may have gotten the better end of that one if he had. LOL


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## Alix (Nov 14, 2005)

No kidding! She looks like a big old lump 'o fur, but do not be mistaken, she is actually a Cuisinart with fur!


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## wasabi (Nov 14, 2005)

*I have a horror story about this blue and black snake that tried to eat my puppy.*








*And then it tried to eat the fishes on my puter.*


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## texasgirl (Nov 14, 2005)

Wasabi, you nut. You are so funny!!


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## MJ (Nov 14, 2005)

texasgirl said:
			
		

> I can't believe I did it


Did you save it for the grill? I always wanted to try snake.


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## kadesma (Nov 14, 2005)

Here where we live the only snakes are little garter snakes..If left alone they can get fairly large, but are shy and stay away from you...One day when my boys were like 6 and 7 I hear them yelling out on our carport..I go see what all the fuss is about and there is this little ol garter snake about 12 inches long..The boys want the snake so I scooped him up in a coffee can and put a lid on him...That night when DH comes home, ol Mr. Nosey has to get into the coffee can to see what I had in there, thinking cookies  I use to hide them that way..Well let me tell you, you think women can scream,shiver, shake and have a fit,???Try an unsuspecting 30 something male hunting for cookies  Needless to say, the poor little thing (snake) did not become a cherished pet..   But I sure had a good laugh 
kadesma


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## licia (Nov 14, 2005)

My dad was always big on practical jokes.  Many times when he came home we would start asking "what did you bring us?". One day when he came home I asked that and he told me my present was in his jacket pocket. I put my hand in his pocket and brought out a king snake. That was enough to stop me asking that.


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## shannon in KS (Nov 14, 2005)

These are hilarious stories!  Well, ok, some are kinda scary!  Some horrific... wasabi!  Did your puppy escape unharmed?


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## texasgirl (Nov 14, 2005)

kadesma said:
			
		

> Here where we live the only snakes are little garter snakes..If left alone they can get fairly large, but are shy and stay away from you...One day when my boys were like 6 and 7 I hear them yelling out on our carport..I go see what all the fuss is about and there is this little ol garter snake about 12 inches long..The boys want the snake so I scooped him up in a coffee can and put a lid on him...That night when DH comes home, ol Mr. Nosey has to get into the coffee can to see what I had in there, thinking cookies I use to hide them that way..Well let me tell you, you think women can scream,shiver, shake and have a fit,???Try an unsuspecting 30 something male hunting for cookies Needless to say, the poor little thing (snake) did not become a cherished pet.. But I sure had a good laugh
> kadesma


 

Isn't it fun to see our macho studs in their real skin??


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## texasgirl (Nov 14, 2005)

I'm glad your back kadesma. I hope everything is going okay with you!


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## kadesma (Nov 14, 2005)

texasgirl said:
			
		

> I'm glad your back kadesma. I hope everything is going okay with you!


I'm okay, had a touch of what ever it was Carson had and also a busy busy weekend with all the kids and grandkids...Still coughing my fool head off, but anti-biotics are kicking in and I feel much better..It's sweet of you to welcome me back.. 
kadesma


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## -DEADLY SUSHI- (Nov 14, 2005)

kas its good to see you!!!!!  

Wasabi!!!! Youre killing me!!!      You goof! I love ya!!!


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## Claire (Nov 15, 2005)

To be honest with you, I'm one of those terrible people who believes in killing them all and let God sort them out.  Well, that makes me sound terrible, especially considering that when I see a snake, I scream "eeek" and run ... never killled one in my life.  Living in Florida, though, we had a lot of snake incidents.  At one time I had a huge rat and a huge black snake living just beyond my back gate.  Food was disappearing from my garden in huge chunks.  A local specialist told me I probably had a gopher turtle eating as well.  Now, I had to ask, shouldn't the rat (who I'd seen) and the snake (who I'd seen often) be incompatible?  They should be, but for some reason were co-habiting.  Black snakes are not poisonous, but this one was huge and creepy.  

The only time it got truly bad was when I had a young neice in the car, and we were getting out of it.  Hubby said, "Claire, keep her in the car and shut the door."  He'd gotten out of the car and almost stepped on a pygmy rattler.  Not fun.  Once we found a nest of some kind of poisonous snakes inside our pool area.  There's a reason people are afraid of snakes.


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## licia (Nov 15, 2005)

We keep an open container of moth balls just inside both sides of the garage as I've heard snakes don't like that. I don't know if it is true or not, but in 35 years we've only seen one snake (a black snake) and he scurried right out.


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## crewsk (Nov 15, 2005)

Licia, my grandma throws mothballs out around her flower beds to keep snakes away from the house. She has an old barn & there has been a black snake living there for as long as I can remember but they won't come near the house. 

I have several snake stories because I grew up in a house with woods on 3 sides & a cow/horse pasture on 1. We would find copperheads, cotton mouths(water moccasins), black snakes, & some I don't know what they were. We never killed the black snakes because their musky smell kept the copperheads & cotton mouths away. 

This summer when I was picking blackberries at my parents house, I had a black snake go slithering between my feet as fast as he could go. I had stepped in some high grass at the edge of a blackberry bush & startled him. 

Snakes don't give me the willies or anything, I actually like them & would love to have one as a pet but hubby's afraid of them.


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## buckytom (Nov 15, 2005)

i woke up in my sleeping bag once with a snake coiled on top of me.

i was hiking on the appalachian trail, and a shelter that i had planned to stay at for the night was full. so i slept al fresco, and woke up with a little body heat thief.
we both awoke at the same time, looked at each other, eyes growing wide, screamed and ran/slithered in different directions...


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## licia (Nov 15, 2005)

I can't say I am totally petrified by snakes - If they are about, I want to see where they are. The first year we lived in the country, My dh decided to take me and our two kids for a ride on his new tractor.  I told my kids (age 10 and 3) we were going snakehunting, just a joke!!!. We came back home and in the ditch was a humongous rattle snake. Dh parked the tractor away and sent me to the house to get a gun and ammo while he kept the snake coiled so he couldn't get away.  The only thing, I got a gun of one type and the ammo of another type. He wasn't pleased, but gave better directions as to how I could find the right combination.  DH is 6 ft without shoes. After he killed the snake he ran a pitchfork through the head of it and held it over his head - the snake's tail was still curled on the ground.  He insisted I take a picture of it for his trophy collection. It still gives me the creeps and I get the mental image I had that day - the way the road was, the way the kids looked.  That is a moment that was frozen in my memory like almost no other.


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## shannon in KS (Nov 15, 2005)

I like snakes, also, as long as they are not poisonous.  If hubby ever consents, I would recommend a ball python.  Very docile, and calm.  A friend has one, and I am kinda attached to the little guy!





			
				crewsk said:
			
		

> Snakes don't give me the willies or anything, I actually like them & would love to have one as a pet but hubby's afraid of them.


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## crewsk (Nov 15, 2005)

Shannon, I'd like an albino corn snake or even a creamcicle corn snake. We had a youth director at our church once who had an albino & she was wonderful! Ball pythons are great too, they can be pretty smart at times also. One of my brother's friends had one that he carried around in a duffle bag & it would unzip the bag & get out.  His name was Mr. Scary but there was nothing scary about him.


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## buckytom (Nov 15, 2005)

an intelligent snake?  i don't know about that, they can only count up to 1...


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## AllenOK (Nov 15, 2005)

licia said:
			
		

> I can't say I am totally petrified by snakes - If they are about, I want to see where they are. The first year we lived in the country, My dh decided to take me and our two kids for a ride on his new tractor.  I told my kids (age 10 and 3) we were going snakehunting, just a joke!!!. We came back home and in the ditch was a humongous rattle snake. Dh parked the tractor away and sent me to the house to get a gun and ammo while he kept the snake coiled so he couldn't get away.  The only thing, I got a gun of one type and the ammo of another type. He wasn't pleased, but gave better directions as to how I could find the right combination.  DH is 6 ft without shoes. After he killed the snake he ran a pitchfork through the head of it and held it over his head - the snake's tail was still curled on the ground.  He insisted I take a picture of it for his trophy collection. It still gives me the creeps and I get the mental image I had that day - the way the road was, the way the kids looked.  That is a moment that was frozen in my memory like almost no other.



Did you eat the rattler?  One that big should have had a lot of meat on it.  I hear they taste like chicken.

My little brother has both a ball python and a corn or milk snake.  Both are babies.  The python is maybe two years old, and I think the other is a year old.  Last year, the python got out of it's aquarium.  Needless to say, my mother was VERY upset, as she is NOT a snake person.


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## licia (Nov 15, 2005)

No, we aren't that adventurous in our cuisine.


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## shannon in KS (Nov 15, 2005)

yeah, the albino's are a nice color, I like them also.  My friend also has one called a tangerine, and it's colors remind of of a sunset, gorgeous!  A little high strung though!





			
				crewsk said:
			
		

> Shannon, I'd like an albino corn snake or even a creamcicle corn snake. We had a youth director at our church once who had an albino & she was wonderful! Ball pythons are great too, they can be pretty smart at times also. One of my brother's friends had one that he carried around in a duffle bag & it would unzip the bag & get out. His name was Mr. Scary but there was nothing scary about him.


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## aussie girl (Nov 17, 2005)

Bravo texasgirl - that takes guts.

I've only killed one in my life, but shook for an hour afterwards.  I was about 18 and on my way out the door for nightshift at 3.45.  No-one else was at home, and a tiger snake greeted me at the doormat.  So I quickly slammed the door and exited via the front door, raced around the house, crept up behind and slammed it with a spade.

My parents lived in a low lying, swampy area for many years.  Dad wisely kept a spade outside of both doors.  He often tells of the drought in 1957, when he would kill a snake almost every morning by the garden tap outside.

Plenty of stories of a snake inside the house too!  Three in my lifetime, but one I remember clearly was a Christmas eve when I was about 10.  Mum was cooking the turkey in the wood stove.  Dad bought in an extra supply of wood for her in a wooden box and sat it on the hearth.  About 20 minutes later a tiger snake slithered out, Mum screamed, Dad raced and got the gun, and there is a .22 bullet hole in the floor still to confirm the story.


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## thumpershere2 (Nov 17, 2005)

Don't see many snakes here in Northern MN. and thats great. Hate snakes.They seem so darn sneaky all the time.


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## buckytom (Nov 17, 2005)

they're not sneaky, or slimy. just misunderstood. they are however, an extremely important part of the food chain.
if not for snakes, then there would be tons more rodents and bugs.
and i wouldn't have nice grey python boots.

an outdoor guide/woodsman in florida in know told me that if you walk across just 1 acre land of of florida scrub brush, you've probably have walked past or scared away dozens of snakes.


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## texasgirl (Nov 17, 2005)

buckytom said:
			
		

> and i wouldn't have nice grey python boots.


 
  I don't mind those snakes at all!


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## Barbara L (Nov 17, 2005)

My story is actually a bird story that ends with a snake.  But I'm getting ahead of myself!

A few years ago my daughter got me a hanging begonia plant for Mother's Day.  I had it out in the carport.  One day I went to water it, and when I tossed a cup of water in the planter, a bird flew out.  I looked, and there were 4 little eggs.  I stopped watering the plant, obviously, and kept an eye on the eggs.  The eggs hatched, and I watched as the mama took care of them.  They were just starting to lose their gray baby feathers as July 4th approached.  July 3rd, I went to check on them, and I saw the mama fluttering around the yard next door.  I looked up at the planter, and what I saw was a snake slithering out of it, with 4 lumps in its middle.  I was so upset I cried!  I couldn't really get mad at the snake because it was just doing it's "snakey thing," but I had really gotten attached to those little babies!

 Barbara


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## texasgirl (Nov 17, 2005)

Barbara, that is so sad! I probably would have killed the snake just for eating them. (


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## Jikoni (Nov 21, 2005)

Yikes, no thanks to snakes, they give me the creeps. Can't ever love them. Freaking scared of them.I doubt it will change.


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## cartwheelmac (Nov 21, 2005)

We were once at the Botanical Gardens over by our house and we saw a snake eating a frog. It _was_ pretty gross.

Grace


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