I totally agree with you. Human
Yeah, it's the two legged animal that scares me.
Muffy
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
What Local Animal Are You Most Afraid Of?
- Thread starter Mother Dragon
- Start Date
Muffy
So very true. I have a really nice photo of a 'threatened' Gray Ratsnake (a.k.a. Black Ratsnake) and it is because of humans there is the possibility they will become an endangered species. The snake I photographed is about 5 & 1/2 feet long and they get up to around 8 feet long. The largest snake where I live. They pose no risk to people as they are nonvenomous. I took the photo at the cottage and typically I avoid them so as not to disturb them but it was a really good photo opportunity. I was able to get really close and the lighting was good, you can see the pattern on it. I grew up catching Garter snakes with my older brothers so snakes don't bother me at all. Unfortunately not all people feel that way about snakes and some people kill the Ratsnake because it is a big scary looking black snake. People don't realize when Ratsnakes cross paths with Humans the snake thinks "Oh, oh, predator" not "Yummy, prey".
I would share the photo of the snake on here but I know a lot of people are squeamish when it comes to seeing a snake.
I also have a terrific head shot of a gopher snake that is drinking from where I overfilled my cooler. I was also going to post it, but thought, no...this is a cat site and for some reason people think snakes are evil. I have a night snake of my own and think most snakes are gorgeous.
My friend Ron would most definitely agree with "snakes are gorgeous" as they are his favorite pet. My wife would kill me if I came home with one, she is one of those squeamish people. I had a roommate with a pet iguana back in the early 90s and my wife, girlfriend at the time, hated it. If it's not cute and fluffy she doesn't want to have anything to do with it.
People fear what they don't understand. And instead of learning and getting to know a creature, they kill it or want it gone. Seeing the beauty of something requires understanding, and most people just can't get past the initial 'fear' of it. Mostly learned from things other than actual experience.
And just in case you are wondering...loving snakes is not just a guy thing, since I am most definitely not one.
Snakes are definitely not my cup of tea though I do find them to be fascinating. I will head in the other direction of I see one and you will occasionally hear me screech of one is too close. It's spiders and scorpions that truly send me to the over the edge though. When I see them in my house, I'm ready to set my own house on fire to get away from them.
As for mammals, I have a very healthy fear of chickens. If I had to choose between wrestling a bear or hanging out in a chicken coop, I'll take the dang bear.
As for mammals, I have a very healthy fear of chickens. If I had to choose between wrestling a bear or hanging out in a chicken coop, I'll take the dang bear.
kashmir64
I posted the Ratsnake photo on the company I work for website. That way people have click the link and it won't show on here to make people uncomfortable.
http://www.accessrigging.com/GrayRatsnake1.jpg
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2017
- Messages
- 17,142
- Purraise
- 44,465
Chickens are wonderful! The ones we had were so friendly.
I've met a lot of people that would agree with you
M
maggiedemi
but for some reason chickens seem to have it out for me. I'm on their hit list.
Lol. I'm that way with crickets. Don't ask, I don't get it either.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,891
I'd believe it. I saw a rat snake, don't know the species, solid black, not diamond like your picture. It had been sunning itself on a rock when a family walking a dog saw it. I saw it because I was looking at why some stupid dog was barking its head off. The family had gathered really close to the snake (I guess the kids thought it was cool), including the dog, and I guess the dog saw the snake as a threat and was as close to the snake as it could get on the leash. I was appalled that the family was letting the dog get that close, about 2 or 3 feet away. The snake was clearly freaking out as bad as the dog was. I swear that snake had to be 6 feet long and the forward 1/3 of its body was off the rock, weaved back and forth on itself tightly, and if it had decided to snap forward to bite (which it looked like it was planning, coiled up like that) that dog would have lost a part of its nose.
I do debate the no risk part though. I heard rat snakes are constrictors and an 8 foot long snake can do some serious damage with its muscles.
They look black from a distance but when you get close they are actually dark gray with pattern. I thought they were solid black. That was first and only time I got that close. I wouldn't do it again, one photo is enough I will leave any others I see alone.
As for it constricting on someone, if they are crazy enough to pick one up they deserve it. Shouldn't screw with wild animals, especially one bordering on endangered. If a kid that didn't know better did it I would feel sorry for them.
The simplest and easiest way to move a constrictor, if need be, is by the tail. It will not hurt them at all to drag them a couple hundred feet to a safe area. I have to move gopher snakes all the time away from my home and put them back into the field.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,891
That would be the size (that of a child) for a human to get seriously hurt. There are way too many kids in the 7 year old range that would see one, scoop it up, and carry it home asking if they can keep it since it followed them home.
I'm sorry, but that does sound like it'd hurt the snake. Whimper. Not sure I'd have the guts to carry one the right way though, the snakes I would dare to are used to being handled by humans.
I would feel sorry for the kid but the snake has the right to exist and the kid does not have the right to disturb it.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,891
That's great in an ideal world, but children (of all species) do dumb things. We're just a lot better than other species at keeping our young ones' dumb actions from killing them. Human children think the existence of life is great, which is why they bring home slugs as pets. It's a fine line to encourage that love for life and teaching them that loving life doesn't mean you go up and pet it, and kids do dumb things. I doubt there's a single one of us that didn't do something dumb, and kids have to be a lot older to have the brain capacity (a mature pre-frontal cortex) to understand that loving life can instead mean leave it be rather than pet it. Before that pre-frontal cortex matures, all the philosophical teachings about the right of existence is just words.
Chances are it would bite the kid and that is the most that would happen. We are talking about a huge Ratsnake not a Garter snake. A kid would have a hard time catching it let alone pick it up.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,891
I actually had a bit of fear today from the most gentle of animals - geese.
I ended up not biking to work today, I got my backpack on and realized that I had never practiced with the weight of the backpack on me. I decided a 3 mile trip to work in traffic was probably not the ideal way to practice having a backpack on while cycling. The bus was late, later than usual, and I was marching at a pretty good pace trying to get from the bus stop to work on time.
So I'm walking at a pretty good clip across the parking lot. There is one lone goose pretty far on my right, and a group of geese decently far on my left. They were so chilled one was lying down on the parking lot. But when I passed that invisible line between the lone goose and the rest, they started trying to scare me off. If you haven't seen it, Canadian geese will run towards you flapping their wings in a way that makes them look really big, in order to scare you off. Kinda like a cat puffing up, arching the back and turning sideways.
So they are running towards me, obviously upset, and I remembered the story about the Canadian goose that bit my cousin and didn't let go. So yeah, I was a little scared about them catching up to me before I got clear of the area and inside work.
I ended up not biking to work today, I got my backpack on and realized that I had never practiced with the weight of the backpack on me. I decided a 3 mile trip to work in traffic was probably not the ideal way to practice having a backpack on while cycling. The bus was late, later than usual, and I was marching at a pretty good pace trying to get from the bus stop to work on time.
So I'm walking at a pretty good clip across the parking lot. There is one lone goose pretty far on my right, and a group of geese decently far on my left. They were so chilled one was lying down on the parking lot. But when I passed that invisible line between the lone goose and the rest, they started trying to scare me off. If you haven't seen it, Canadian geese will run towards you flapping their wings in a way that makes them look really big, in order to scare you off. Kinda like a cat puffing up, arching the back and turning sideways.
So they are running towards me, obviously upset, and I remembered the story about the Canadian goose that bit my cousin and didn't let go. So yeah, I was a little scared about them catching up to me before I got clear of the area and inside work.
An 8-foot ratsnake isn't the same as an 8-foot boa constrictor. Much lighter-bodied so I'm pretty sure if they constrict on a kid the kid would be scared but not hurt. The lighter-bodied snakes are much easier to unwind. Besides, most constrictors won't wrap something they know is too big to eat; they just bite defensively, very different from striking prey.
It doesn't hurt a snake to pick it up or drag it by the tail. They're very muscular and even heavy-bodied snakes can support themselves from their tail. I sometimes carry mine (ball pythons) with their tails wrapped around my hand letting the rest of them dangle ---they seem to like it. They don't freak out or try to curl up anyway, and that's about as enthusastic of approval as you'll get from a BP, lol.
Yeah, I really like snakes. I have 3 ball pythons and my brother has a cornsnake. My cousin had a bunch of garter snakes living under her front step and wanted them gone so I got a Tidy Cats bucket with holes punched in the lid and went and caught them for her, took them back to my property. Much better than killing them! I'm glad she didn't make that choice.
It doesn't hurt a snake to pick it up or drag it by the tail. They're very muscular and even heavy-bodied snakes can support themselves from their tail. I sometimes carry mine (ball pythons) with their tails wrapped around my hand letting the rest of them dangle ---they seem to like it. They don't freak out or try to curl up anyway, and that's about as enthusastic of approval as you'll get from a BP, lol.
Yeah, I really like snakes. I have 3 ball pythons and my brother has a cornsnake. My cousin had a bunch of garter snakes living under her front step and wanted them gone so I got a Tidy Cats bucket with holes punched in the lid and went and caught them for her, took them back to my property. Much better than killing them! I'm glad she didn't make that choice.
Nooooo. Geese are not gentle. They're MEAN. People around here keep geese if they've had stuff stolen from sheds---geese won't let any stranger get away with anything, and they won't be bribed like dogs. They're fierce critters.
