Oh my! Scary. Glad the dog will be ok.

That is scary!

I cannot imagine. We have no poisonous snakes here on this side of the mountains in Washington. I've never lived anywhere they were present and would just as soon not. Little garter snakes are all we see, and even those will make DH shriek and jump if startled by one. We used to catch them as kids but its been a very long time since I've picked one up or had reason to ;)

We don't have snakes here either. I'm just north of Washington.
ravencajun - where do you live? I won't be visiting.

We have prairie rattlesnakes and bull snakes here. Rattlers are poisonous. All snakes here are protected and you can be fined for killing one. This sign is on the road to the park by my yard. It won't be long and they will be leaving their haberneculums for the season. DH is terrified of all snakes. They don't bother me at all. I encounter them almost daily during the summer at work.

Prairie rattlesnakes might be poisonous, but their venom is not near as potent as snakes down south. I know quite a few people who have been bit. All have lived to tell the story. I might have a different view if they were as poisonous as what you have down your way, raven. Stay safe.

Great. We had snakes in our school last year. Not looking forward to them waking up and coming back out again.

I live in the north Houston Texas area. Down home in Louisiana on the bayou where I was born and raised we had lots of water moccasins, cottonmouths. The Copperhead and rattlers are new to me.

My state has rattlesnakes but it's rare to encounter them in "civilization" - meaning, in any urban area or suburban neighborhood. Except in those immediately adjacent to wild areas, where it's possible but not that common. They're mostly found in the boondocks - in the mountains and deserts and undeveloped hills and plains. I've never seen one except in zoos.

I wouldn't live anywhere snakes were prevalent, even if only seasonally. Nor anywhere close to such an area. It's not a decision I need to think about. To others, good luck.

Here in southern California, we have rattle snakes. I have seen only a few of them, one on my front porch. A 4 feet long gopher snake tried to come in our patio door this week. I knew it was not a rattler, so figured it was something rather benign. Looked up his markings to be sure. Luckily the screen and door were locked, so we had fun watching him safely from inside. We could use lots of gopher snakes here since we have lots of ground squirrels, rats and mice in the area.

I've heard they are out. Haven't seen any yet.

We went on a nature hike with a kid group a few years ago. For some reason, the nature guide decided to take us on a snake hunt. We were actively picking up rocks towards us to look for snakes, I found a small worm snake and one of my sons found a nonpoisonous water snake. The guide picked up the water snake and started messing with it. It bit him. I probably wasn't supposed to laugh, but I found it funny. We still laugh about that trip.

I posted I picture of Mr Bitey climbing a tree a couple of days ago:

Our dogs have been bitten multiple times by snakes. Keep the Benedryl and antibiotics on hand. They also get the snakebite vaccine.

It has been observed that rattle snake bites may vary in intensity by a wide margin. At one time, it was supposed the reason was that some individuals may have more tolerance/resistance to the venom, and this lead researchers to look for the X-factor that certain individuals may have, but met with little success and mixed results.

And then the aha moment came: The largest factor was the amount of venom injected, and the amount was not necessarily tied to the largest snake. A youthful, inexperienced rattler is more inclined to inject everything he has while a more experienced snake may meter out only what it feels is needed saving back venom for emergencies. After a rattler's venom sac is emptied, he is without ammunition until his glands makes more.

I spent my last birthday in the hospital from a rattlesnake bite. Very painful and takes a long time to heal!

Be careful!

I've lived and worked in locations where snakes were very common and very large. I've had countless meetings with all kinds of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes and am not afraid of them at all.

The most unexpected experiences had to do with snakes in trees.....even big snakes! That I found unnerving. And the size of snakes in undisturbed environments along the coast of SC.....aiyiyi!

Living where snakes are common is not intimidating nor is it dangerous. I do appreciate that people have phobias, but that type of irrational fear is the easiest to overcome.

I've not seen one snake since moving to this home in northern Alabama, sadly. I would love a resident snake or snakes in my gardens.

I agree with you rhizo......snakes take care of all sorts of pests, mice, gophers, voles, and (not that Alberta has them), rats. In my experience, they are only aggressive when startled or threatened. Jemdandy is correct about the amount of venom a snake will inject. Baby rattlers are far more dangerous than a four foot one. Just leave them alone, they will leave you alone. They don't want to be around people anymore than we want to be around them.

I am so grateful to live where there are few snakes, none large & none poisonous!

Yikes! I do not like snakes of any kind. bleh!

My thoughts turn to a competent pest control service should a vermin problem appear. No need for snakes to do the job. It reminds me of the childrens story of the palace that had mice, so the king got cats, the cats became a problem, so he got dogs, and the dogs became a problem so he got .....and on and on.

Rhizo, I think of my view of snakes as not quite a "phobia" and also not irrational. They're an avoidable inconvenience that I choose to avoid. Recent posts about bears in neighborhoods triggered similar thoughts in my mind, that I would never live someplace where the wild animal population made it potentially unsafe for my family or my pets.

I was saddened by the above story of the lab that was bitten by a copperhead. Its owner wasn't fulfilling his/her responsibility to keep their dog safe and out of danger. Our pets rely on us for that.

I live in the country and I am sure snakes are all around us. We have only seen one large one and I saw a couple of baby ones in my garden. They generally avoid people areas and we have a family of roadrunners that help a lot as well....Rattlesnakes and copperheads are really what we have to worry about but I've been lucky.

Sorry to hear about the about the dog's injury, but I am glad she will be ok. MIL has had dogs get bitten by rattlesnakes. There are classes available now where I live where they train dogs to avoid rattlesnakes to lower the risk.

That juvenile rat snake has pretty markings. I only have the opportunity to see rat snakes while vacationing, and am not familiar enough with them to have recognized the youngster as a rat snake.

Not to be nit-picky, but the proper term is venomous, not poisonous. Venom is injected (snake's fangs); poisonous would be the toxins ingested or touched (poison dart frogs). Saying poisonous is widespread, but since it is inaccurate, it is encouraged that the proper, venomous snakes, begin to get widespread use.

So far here on our property since we moved here my husband has seen one non venomous in the back yard. I haven't seen any on the property. I have seen the smashed ones on the road. I saw a small dead coral snake on the road in front of the house. We don't have a deck which helps. Snakes like to get under the decks it's a good environment for them and protected. We don't have a pool here either. At my house in the Dallas area we had a few come to the pool for water in the drought of summer.

For this being a very forested area with water ways near by we have been pretty lucky.

My husband has had the unpleasant experience of running over a big snake hiding in the grass with the John Deere lawn mower in Dallas . You don't know where the thing will go flying to. The mower doesn't necessarily kill them it can just fling them. They have very thick tough skin. He learned that you wear tall steal toe boots this time of the year doing yard work. Even though our back yard has had so much water lately we haven't seen any. I did warn the Att guy to be careful back there when he was working on the pedestal out at the property line. One of my neighbors said that they saw one going into the culvert at the driveway which is next to ours.

The news showed several pictures from water works service people who found big snakes down in the water meter connection boxes which are dug into the ground. Nice cool damp place.

I miss my roadrunner! I had one at the Dallas house, he loved hanging out around my pool. I had a wall of floor to ceiling windows that looked out of the living room onto the pool patio area. He would come to the window and tap it with his beak till I came to see, then he would drop a gift for me. Usually a dead grasshopper lol. This happened almost daily. I have no idea why. I had never even seen one before other than the cartoons.

I wouldn't say the dog's environment is safe if it was attacked "right outside the back door", but if you think so, fine.

Yes, everyone has their own tastes. Hopefully most ultimately have the opportunity to be where they want to be, although job moves and life events can get in the way. I'm well travelled in the South, and I've spent more than a year's worth of days on dozens of trips to many places in Texas. I'll just say these areas are not to my liking but they certainly ring the bell for many.

The mention of earthquakes in this way as a bit of a red herring. In 60 years I've experienced three major ones that are worth talking about. One caused me some minor inconvenience, the others nothing at all. Compared to the number of tornado watches, violent lightning storms, sub-zero weather, torrential rains, hurricanes, blizzards, ice and snow storms that so many people experience ANNUALLY, to me something that happens perhaps once every 20 years or even less frequently is nothing.

I absolutely HATE snakes...My cat has brought in 3 or 4 babies and thankfully she's not been bitten...our newest collie was not so lucky...she spent a day and night at the Vet last summer due to a copperhead bite...we caught it in time and got her to the vet in time...Our dogs are in a fenced and locked yard...we didn't invite the snakes but here in Georgia they come!

I grew up in a rural area and my sister and I developed a certain fear of snakes. We were not afraid of a snake IF we knew where it was. It was the surprises that made us fearful. Snakes are good at hiding, Many of the snakes in Southern Illinois were non-venous, but the venous ones were very dangerous and a few were cantankerous. We had no rattlers. Our dangerous ones were cotton mouths and water moccasins. The water moccasins were the worst for rather than slink away and hide, they tended to stand their ground and prepare to strike when approached. We developed a habit of watching the ground when we went walking, and then even with caution, one did not always detect the snake until dangerously close. Those were the frightful moments. Walking through knee high grass on a warm day was dangerous.

We did not have a snake problem around our house. When raising my sister and me, Mom kept one or two yard dogs outside. She chose dogs that were "snakers". Those dogs kept the yard cleared and made it safe for a pair of toddlers to play outside.

We found it best to wear boots when working a hay field. In the early '40s, the combine was on its way, but many farmers still harvested grain crops the way it was done ca 1900. Wheat and oats wer popular. After the grain stalk had died and before it became completely dry, it was time to begin the harvest. Several farmers would band together to form a harvest crew. naturally, one of the group had to have a binder and tractor. On cutting day, a binder would cut and gently lay the grain stalks on it moving belt. The stalks were gathered and when it became large enough, it was automatically tied into a bundle with 'binder twine' and kicked out. I was part of the 'shocking crew'. We'd gather 4 to 5 bundles, upend those and arrange those into a teepee shaped shock. Another bundle would be spread out like a fan and laid on top of the shock. The function of this top piece was a rain hat to help shed rains that might fall before threshing day.

After the grain was shocked, it might stay in the field a week or more while the grain heads continued to dry. Finally, threshing day arrived and the big threshing machine would be moved into the field. It was time to gather move the shocks to the thresher for the final part of harvesting; separating the grain from the stems and bagging the same. The stray was blown to a stack and would be used later in the winter for animal bedding and roughage food. Pne crew member had the dirty job of standing on the stack and arranging the straw into a tight and interlaced stack as it came out of the blower. Occasionally, the stacker would get a load of straw blown down his shirt collar. He soon learned to turn his hat to place the widest part of the brim over the nape of his neck.

And on threshing day, I might meet mister snake again! Recall those grain shocks had been sitting undisturbed for maybe a couple of weeks. Snakes liked to hide under there. On my first day as part of the pickup crew, my mentor warned me about this and taught me how I should pick up a shock to avoid snake bite. You did not pick up the shock as this was an invitation for snake bite. First, one tips the shock toward you keeping its edge on the ground while exposing the ground underneath. If there was snake under there, you had the edge of the grain bundle on the ground and between you and the snake. I uncovered 2 snakes on my first day; one was a moccasin. Other critters you might find on rare occasion were mice and young rabbits.

This harvesting method was labor intensive. Shortly after my first harvest season, the farmers began to use push-rakes to gather and bring the bundles to the thresher. One man with a push rake mounted on a tractor could do the work of many field hands. From there, it was a short step to the 'combine'. Inventors 'combined' the grain cutter and threshing function into one machine and now one man could do the work of an entire threshing crew and cram a two to three week process into one day. The final development was to make the combine self propelled. This machine was many more times the cost of machines it replaced and only a few could afford one. Thus began the business of custom harvesting and specialization down on the farm. Farming had turned into a business operation and massive crops were required to support the business. The way of the small farmer was gone. Anyone who tires small cropping today goes broke. The small farming you see today that remain are hobby farms or specialists in compact and desirable crops such as spices and greenhouse supplies.

In Argentina I came across these two signs warning you to to stay on the path due to snakes.

Jem...you are the best story teller!! I grew up on a farm in Southern Indiana and we encountered mostly black snakes...thank god for no poisonous ones! My Dad taught me at a very early age to watch where I was walking and avoid them at all costs...any snake will bit if threatened...I found this out moving logs about 20 years ago...it was harmless but it hurt!!

Great story Jem! My dad was a rice farmer for many years and he really encountered a lot of snakes out in the fields especially during the times when they had to flood the rice fields. He also had the pump station that would pump the water from the bayou near by into his fields. The screen down in the water inlet would get stopped up and he would have to dive down in the muddy water and reach down in there and pull out what ever was blocking the inlet screen. He never knew what he would be grabbing! Could be a water moccasin or cotton mouth, a snapping turtle, a big fish or just a wad of water lilies. Thank goodness he never once was bitten doing that. He had several venomous snakes bite and stick into his big heavy boots. Walking around in the fields in water was a dangerous job.
He would come home often with something in his shirt pocket for me. A little turtle quite often. I had an aquarium with a collection of the little turtles he would bring to me. I would keep them for a while and then return them to the fields when they were a little bigger.
The life of a farmer is a very difficult life in so many way!

We live in the woods and have a fenced yard to contain the dogs but snakes go wherever they please. We have seen them in the backyard and out front and down the driveway/road to the highway. Sometimes they're venomous snakes and sometimes they aren't. I trapped a snake in a bucket when I couldn't ID it, for DH to look at later. It was a pygmy rattler. Ish..... The cats and one dog have all been bitten by copperheads and after an uncomfortable day, they recuperated nicely. Rattlesnake bites are much trickier and costlier and more deadly.

I've seen snakes climb straight up a tree and even the wall of our house, the lower level. I don't know any way to stop that from happening.

I'm so lucky I live in the North (Long Island NY) - we may get nine feet of snow but I haven't actually seen a snake in years. And the only snakes I've ever seen in the wild were non-venomous garter snakes.

I would rather live in Massachusetts where we have 9 feet of snow and the occasional hurricane. I'm now spending my winters in FL and boa constrictors are overrunning the Everglades and moving to the suburbs.

From now on if you're going to post a picture of a snake please post a "Snake Alert" sign first. Ewwww. Thank-you. :)

It wasn't me! Lol

We live on a bayou and used to see a lot of cottonmouths but with so many cats around, don't see any snakes much any more. When I do see a snake it is almost always a broad banded water snake or a yellow bellied water snake...neither of which are poisonous. I have seen only one snake so far this year...a yellow bellied water snake. Personally, I am not afraid of snakes. I never kill them...not even poisonous ones. If I see them before they see me, I walk around them. If they see me before I see them, they go around me. I've heard how aggressive cottonmouths are, but I have found that if you don't mess with them, they don't bother you. There were two big ones that lived in my yard for years. Mister Twister and Ten Dogs. They are very easy to identify by their facial markings...sort of a white V near their eyes. They are a very heavy bodied snake too. Mister Twister used to hide in leaves under the bird feeder and catch birds. I do like birds better than snakes but it didn't bother me that he had a bird once in awhile.

I'm sorry the dog got bitten. Glad to hear he will (probably) recover, as far as it sounds. Sounds very much like an accident to me. It is impossible to keep our pets, our children, and ourselves 100% safe 100% of the time. We'd have to live in bubbles of over protection, which is also very unsafe and takes the joy out of living. We wouldn't get the exercise or experiences we need to keep ourselves healthy and otherwise protected. I don't see how the owner is to blame at all, here. I do let my kids climb trees and otherwise be active outside as I believe it's healthy for them, but there are always risks involved. To always tell them no to every activity that could have a small potential of danger would hurt them. Same for our pets.

Jemdandy, it was interesting to read what you had to say about young vs adult snakes and amount of injected venom. That makes a lot of sense. I have heard that baby snakes are "more venomous" than adult ones, but it might be for the reasons you described; amount rather than potency.

The black lab is doing well, she has been quiet and subdued and sleeping more which was probably partly from the medication. I am sure she will bounce back since she is young and healthy. I would bet she will not be so quick to sniff a snake.

The only one at fault in this situation was the snake for trespassing on private property, sneaking past a fence and locked gate. As we know snakes can and do get in where ever they want.