Shame on the snake killer on Camp Creek Road!

[Foodlover]

I fished a black snake out of my pool in Sowal a couple of weeks ago. It seemed very appreciative, and I sat about 10 feet from it, drinking my coffee, and it hung out a while with me. Didn't seem intimidated, no hissing or anything defensive, just stuck it's tongue out a few times immediately after being rescued. I assumed it was exhausted. It was about 3 feet long, very black, no other markings that I could see. I am looking at pictures of the Indigo and the Racer and I can't tell them apart.

Apparently it is not always easy to tell the two snakes apart . . .

Eastern Indigo Snake in Alabama

Smaller indigo snakes are easily mistaken for the common black racer. Close examination is required to tell them apart. The common black racer is a slender, fast moving snake. The indigo snake is a stout, slow-moving snake. A distinct difference between the indigo snake and the black racer is the anal plate which is entire on the indigo and divided on the black racer. Another snake that is sometimes mistaken for the indigo snake is the black pine snake. Black pine snakes inhabit some of the same geographic locations as the indigo, but are easily differentiated. Black pine snakes have keeled scales. The indigo snake has smooth scales.

 

[NoHall]

I used to play with snakes as a little girl. My brother made a house for one (he took Shop Class that year) and every morning before school I would go check on it and feed it. It molted! I was horrified, cried and made my brother set it free. I won't go out of my way to run over one today, but I also won't endanger humans to avoid running over one.

And, yes the black ones take care of the bad ones around........

I have a cousin who used to find dead snakes and drag them around on a string when he was about 4 years old. His mother looked out the window one day and noticed that he had slack in the string...and he had a copperhead...

If you've ever been around copperheads, those bad boys are aggressive. All we can figure is that he surprised it so badly that it didn't know what to do but follow Stuart around. (Stuart was also a mean little kid--maybe the snake was afraid it would get food poisoning if he bit him, or that Stuart would bite back.)

 

[ShallowsNole]

Apparently it is not always easy to tell the two snakes apart . . .

Eastern Indigo Snake in Alabama

That's cool! But I don't see checking a snake's anal plates in my future. ;-)

 

[Lynnie]

No but went to one in Austin Tx when i visited my brother,talk about crazy they would put 40 snakes in a glass booth about 8'x8' and crazy texans would get in there and see how maney they could get in a sack in 2 minutes and not get bit. I saw 4 guy's do it and no one got bit and the winner had about 25 if i remember right (long time ago)

That's just plain idiotic. The Rattlesnake Roundup in these parts started several decades ago because a farmer was struck and almost lost his leg. Word spread and it became a sport. Trappers have come from as far as Texas to this tiny town in S. GA, where they devenom them and send that to the hospitals, use the meat, which is yummy (tastes like chicken!) and the skins for fancy bags, etc.

There is a huge pit in this warehouse that is probably 25' in diameter and hundreds of snakes in there......that noise! Yikes. And, some are huge (those might be the ones from Texas!). It's a weekend festival including a beauty pageant, etc.......

Cheers~~~~~

 

[DD]

That's just plain idiotic. The Rattlesnake Roundup in these parts started several decades ago because a farmer was struck and almost lost his leg. Word spread and it became a sport. Trappers have come from as far as Texas to this tiny town in S. GA, where they devenom them and send that to the hospitals, use the meat, which is yummy (tastes like chicken!) and the skins for fancy bags, etc.

There is a huge pit in this warehouse that is probably 25' in diameter and hundreds of snakes in there......that noise! Yikes. And, some are huge (those might be the ones from Texas!). It's a weekend festival including a beauty pageant, etc.......

Cheers~~~~~

The have one here too--in Sweetwater, TX. I can guarantee that this is one event I will never attend.

 

[ShallowsNole]

There's one in Opp, Alabama as well, or at least there used to be.

 

[ASH]

I got to help a critter cross the road recently so it didn't get run over. I was riding my bike North on 393 and saw something ahead start out into the road. I could see a pickup coming from the North and I thought for sure they would run it over. They ended up stopping and some guy got out of the back of the pickup topper as I was approaching.
It was a huge snapper turtle nearly two feet across. the guy tried to pick it up by grabbing the sides of the shell and when it scratched him, it freaked him out and he dropped it. He started hollering at his friends and they were all laughing at him.
I pulled up and told him to pick it up by the tail. He didn't speak a word of English and he didn't understand. He grabbed my bike and I walked up behind the turtle, grabbed its tail and lifted it as best I could and drug it to the edge of the road.
Ungrateful little bugger hissed at me!

You wouldn't want to run that turtle over. It would probably damage something underneath. It was a monster. As I peddled around the pickup to leave, there was a bunch of kids in the back all saying thank you.
All ended well that day.