OMG my heart is pounding!!!

gingersmom

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OMG I just took a 3-foot long snake off my next door neighbor's front porch and threw it in the woods behind the house---grabbed it just behind the head like the Croc hunter!!!


It tried to bite me but I had it just right, wrapped itself around my arm instead, but I got it off and hurled it into the woods. My heart is POUNDING!!!

I have NO IDEA what kind it was, and I know there are lots of poisonous snakes around here! I have to go look it up, now...oh my head...
 

lynneny

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OMG - you are a MUCH braver woman than I!!! I'm so glad you knew how to grab it - I would have been screaming and in the next county lickety split!!!
 

momofmany

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Chris (Snake_lady) will appreciate this! I had a snake that I scooped up into a wheelbarrow with a shovel then was afraid to touch it. I PM'd Chris and she laughed at me. Deservedly so.

You are much braver than I am. I couldn't bring myself to touch it.

I'd be very interested in what type of snake you found!
 
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gingersmom

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Well, I didn't get a photo of it and can't seem to identify it on any websites, except to verify that it wasn't poisonous because it had a flat and slim head shape, not a wedge or arrow-head shape.

It looks like it could be either a rat snake or a water snake, and my hands DID smell nasty after I tossed it into the woods. So...
 
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gingersmom

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I used to own a ball-python a long time ago, so I'm not scared of snakes in general...I was just worried I wasn't going to grab it right!

Boy did I, though!
That was one seriously ticked off snakie, tried to bite me over and over again - and I wasn't gentle where I had ahold of it!


I knew as soon as it tried to bite me the first time that I had done the right thing - there were no big fangs, thank God!!!
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by GingersMom

It looks like it could be either a rat snake or a water snake, and my hands DID smell nasty after I tossed it into the woods. So...
Describe the snake and where you're at, someone should be able to figure it out.
As for the smell, a lot of snakes do that as a form of defense when they're frightened.
 
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gingersmom

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I'm in NC, right on the line between Eastern and Western Piedmont.

It was between 2-3 feet long, greyish color on top, no sign of a pattern at all, had a whitish underbelly. No apparent banding or spotting, but the belly MAY have had some spots.

I quickly determined by the size and shape of the head (flat head, not triangular, eyes on the side,) that it was nonvenoumous, so when I moved I moved FAST and then rather than inspecting him when I had him I just hauled *ahem* down to the very back of the property line to where the creek bed is, and tossed him with both arms at once as far as I could so I wouldn't get bit in the letting go process.

Now I wish I'd looked at him better, but once I had him the plan was to let go of him ASAP.
 
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gingersmom

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Well, after more research, I'm thinking he was a common rat snake, just a color variation. Wooo, what an adrenaline rush!!!
 
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gingersmom

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Originally Posted by CoolCat

My good ness!..
....

How are you feel right now?...
Oh Rigel, I'm fine!


Just all excited and feeling brave and proud (and a little stupid!)
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by GingersMom

Well, after more research, I'm thinking he was a common rat snake, just a color variation. Wooo, what an adrenaline rush!!!
Sounds like it from your description. Want to know the funny thing? Rat snakes are generally very easy to handle snakes - for a wild snake that is. You probably could have gently picked it up without grabbing the head and it wouldn't have fussed.


DH and I had a black rat snake watching us a couple weeks ago as we were working in the backyard. A very gentle and curious snake.
 
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gingersmom

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Sounds like it from your description. Want to know the funny thing? Rat snakes are generally very easy to handle snakes - for a wild snake that is. You probably could have gently picked it up without grabbing the head and it wouldn't have fussed.


DH and I had a black rat snake watching us a couple weeks ago as we were working in the backyard. A very gentle and curious snake.
Oh sure, now you tell me!


Poor thing - I must have completely freaked it out...sunning itself happily one minute, big scary human got it by the throat the next!

Ah well...better that I got it off their porch than someone else - I know most folks that ARE scared of snakes would have killed it in a heartbeat, and I think that's sad. They really are beneficial to the environment.
 

strange_wings

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Well, now you know.
And yes, thank you for moving it instead of harming it or leaving it for someone else to harm.

I'd take snakes around my house any day to haunta, bubonic plague, and number of dangerous bacteria that mice and rats carry. Even a rattlesnake is better - you can survive a rattlesnake bite, hauntavirus on the other hand....
 
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