Prii's first Kill

Hi A64...,

I was born out there at Turner. My mom used to tell stories about the rattle snakes biting kids, and babies. She had a good fear of them. Luckily, when I was in my basinet out on the porch in Albany, I did not get bit.

 

I absolutely agree - the only snake that ever chased me in the woods in Oklahoma was a Cottonmouth, if we're talking about the same snake (we called them watermoccasins). It chased us in a canoe (we were in the canoe, it wasn't). We also didn't trust Copperheads - bad attitude. Odd about the lack of a rattle on that one...

 

Where I live, I see cottonmouths/water moccasins/congos every time I go fishing. They are extremely plentiful and we have just learned to live with them. I'm a catch and release guy if they're too close to home, but I understand why you did what you felt you had to do.

 

Yup, this is evolution in progress. Rattlers originated in the plains of the Americas, where the biggest threat to their safety was being trampled by herds of large mammals (bison and such). The rattle was a good way of saying "don't tread on me." Not to mention that the 'tstststststsststsss' sound is a universal way for nature to say "don't eff with me" as any cat owner knows.

Lack-of-rattle mutations occasionally happen, and, until relatively recently (in evolutionary terms), that mutation reduced your chances of passing your genes to the next generation. Now, we've offed most of the bison and/or altered their habitat, and the snake's biggest threat is of the two-legged variety. So this mutation can now be advantageous--especially in areas where they have 'rattlesnake roundups.' They've done studies documenting increasing frequency of the rattle-free individuals (sorry, no time to dig up a cite).

Too bad about the snake--I feel compelled to stick up for those who sometimes get a bum rap, and a lot of people kill snakes out of fear or ignorance when it is completely unnecessary. I understand your situation in this case, though--grandchildren and big ol' cranky venomous reptiles don't make for a good mix. Tell us--did it really "taste just like chicken?"


re QUOTE: "BUT, he cautioned me, emphatically, if I were to kill it, he would have my hide if I didn't cut the head off of it and bury the head. He said the bees would pick up the venum and cause problems by spreading it."

- This guy could have been a service manager at my local Toyota dealer. I bet they even use the rest of the snake to make that elusive non-synthetic 0W-20 special Toyota oil!

Peace to all, including the snake

Tim

 

Not to me! I really like rattlesnake, usually cut into bits, breaded and deep fat fried. In Oklahoma (where the rattlesnake roundup at Okeene is one of the biggest) rattlesnake can be found on some restaurant menus, at least those that specialize in local wildlife. Rattlesnake is much less "gamey" than, say, 'gator, which I don't like.

That said, I believe in protecting wildlife, including rattlers. Now aligator snapping turtles, that might be a different matter

 

Mmmmm, tasty! Don't forget the cornbread. Cottonmouth's are bad suckers. I've been chased more than once while fishing farm ponds, and while hunting river bottoms. Over the last two years, the Copperheads have started spreading into many of the northwest OKC housing editions areas. These are relatively new editions that were previously flat wheat pastures, etc. They're very hard to see if there's any leaf litter. I take care to keep everything vacuumed out from under our shrubs just for that reason.

 

We have some trouble with copperheads when we rock climb in Kentucky. You don't want to see one of those at eye level when you are pulling up over the edge of a shelf.

Tom

 

I go rock climbing a lot in the SW part of our state around Mt Scott near Lawton. It's much more dry and arid but in 30+ years climbing there I've never seen a snake. (And that's OK) It's prime rattle habitat but I'm always very careful to make a lot of noise.

 

When my daughter was little and living with her mom in SE Oklahoma, one of her friends was struck by a copperhead. She lived, but it left my daughter with a solid fear of snakes.

I know the part of town you're talking about, and yes, taking over their habitat will only prompt them to want to move in with you. When my parents built their house in Perry in the mid-60's, it was out of town on a highway. We must have built it in the territory of a huge black bull snake, a real beauty. Probably 10 feet, but to us kids he looked as big as an Anaconda! I would see him every two or three days come down off the hill, come up to the house, stop, go around the house up against the foundation to the point on the opposite side where he would have come out had the house not been there, then go on his way. It was like "who put this thing here in my run?" He was our friend for a year or so before he decided to change his location, or was killed. We could walk with him on his rounds and he would just ignore us. "Silly human kids!" I bet he was thinking. But it sure kept the mouse population down! Our cats would run and hide when he was around!

 

YIKES! I can just see someone come into the emergency room with two punctures on the side of the nose!

 

I spent part of my growing up years in the Mojave Desert of southern CA, and also the last few years I was in CA was in the mountains near Hemet.

I was also told to cut off a rattler's head and bury, because "it can still strike until sundown". :shrug:

After the Hanta Virus issue issue in the Four Corners area, people talked about how the indigenous people abhorred mice (their droppings are the source of the Hanta virus), and how they held snakes as sacred (the predator of mice).

I always think that living in balance with nature is good. I also think that a snake in town is just looking for trouble, and will probably find it!

 

Nah. Tastes just like chicken. :hungry:

 

When I was in grade school in Atoka Oklahoma, a bunch of us decided to go skinny dippin' in a local creek. We were having a lot of fun when we noticed a bunch of "V" shaped waves with little black heads headed straight towards us.

Sensible folks even at that young age, we simply lifted ourselves out of the water, ran across the surface and snatching our clothes on the bank decided to get dressed on the other side of nettles and briar patch.

Ditto on the copperheads. As Jerry Clower once asked, "Is there a bad way to kill a rattle snake?"

Bob Wilson

 

You have a smart daughter.

I always tried to be aware of the benificial snakes as well as the bad ones. It doesn't mean I like them though. I grew up in a smaller town east of here but had exposure to my grandmother's farm, so yes, I know which end of a cow gets up from laying down first versus a horse, etc. Her hay barn had multiple bull snakes but not many mice. Seemed like a good trade of back then.

If you haven't been in OKC in the last two years, the housing induistry has exploded in every direction. No clue where all these people are coming from but it probably has something to do with scratch built houses INCLUDING the land for $100 a square foot. We have a herd of 16 whitetail deer coming through the edition and I'm very close to Mercy Hosp. Snakes, possums, skunks, armadillos, deer, and this is no longer a rural area. Hasn't been for years. I love it.

 

You do realize that snakes are deaf? Not only can't they hear, they have no ears. On the other hand, they can feel vibration, so if you make a LOT of noise they might feel it.

Tom

 

We moved back to OKC in 1962 and we lived on N. May Avenue near Pelham Dr. I went to Cassady Middle School and later John Marshall High School. I remember running cross country over to Lake Heffner and back but there was no "Lake Hefner Parkway" back then.

I just checked Google Map and the old house appears to be gone ... no loss. So too the other house we lived in over on 11th Street NW near the Medical Center when Dad was going through medical school. The VA center is still there.

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, I do. What I didn't say was noise as in with my boots on the rocks. This is not like vertical wall climbing. The rocks are house size down to car size like a pile of marbles. Lots of opportunity for heavy foot pounding vibration.

I don't have a good pick off hand. http://www.emporia.edu/socanth/imag...ichita Mountains of Southwestern Oklahoma.jpg

 

Cassidy is the middle of town now. Houses all the way to Piedmont and north to Edmond and east to Choctaw, and SW to Newcastle. Still a few areas of fields but tons of new housing editions. I live here and I'm constantly amazed.

 

OK, you OKC'ers, how many remember Spring Lake and Wedgewood? It's such a shame that most of these old regional, small amusement parks have been torn down. Even the one in Tulsa recently was moved out because they were on city property and the city ran them off. Amazing!

I grew up in Perry and OKC was the Big City we went to for shopping and amusement. I fondly remember going to Penn Square at Christmas. How many can sing the B. C. Clark's Christmas Jingle? It still means Christmas to me.

I saw 2001 A Space Odyssey first-run at the Cooper or Criterion downtown (can't remember which was 70 mm), and all the Bond movies at the Continental. When I was old enough to drive it was a HUGE deal to get to drive the 60 miles to the Big City, without parents, on a double date to go to Mr. Steak and the Continental. We were SO cosmopolitan!

Partly right:

"Contrary to popular myth, rattlesnakes are not deaf. In fact, the structure of their inner ears is very much like that of humans. They do, however, lack external ears. Sound (whether from air or ground vibration) is transmitted to the snake's inner ear via bone and muscle."

Reference: [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattlesnake]Rattlesnake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

Oklahoma City extends to Choctaw?! You astonish me, sir! What industry is soaking up all this labor? I am in aerospace and know there are some new contracts at Tinker, but nothing that big. I'd love to move back if I can find work. Especially for the cheap land/housing (half what it is here in the Denver metro) - that is, assuming I could even sell my 3 year old custom townhome in this economy.