Holly Shelter, NC

[Sasquatch]

Holding his ground! This goes out to Skirtdude!

DSC00232.JPG

[Since1982]

Sasquach, I think you and I are both here right now responding to each other's comments. Too bad we don't have a chat bar here somewhere.

[Sasquatch]

Neglected to mention, BTW, the snake is a cottonmouth water moccasin.

sasq

[Sasquatch]

Sasquach, I think you and I are both here right now responding to each other's comments. Too bad we don't have a chat bar here somewhere.

We need to do it in person some day!

Sasq

[Since1982]

That's a juvenile water moccasin. Here's pics of both juvenile and adult,...The black one is the adult. Here's the rest of poisonous things to not step on in Florida, starting with the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. There are 2 more less common Rattlers and the Coral Snake and the Copperhead which will be in the next post.

[Since1982]

Red touch black good for Jack, Red touch yellow, kill a fellow. That poem has saved many a life of a person thinking about picking up the colorful Coral snake in Florida.

Here's a Coral snake and a Scarlet King Snake. Look at the snakes and read the poem.

The last one is the highly poisonous Copperhead snake, found mostly in dry forested areas.
THese are the 4 most common poisonous snakes in Florida and a harmless Scarlet King snake that gets killed because folks "think" it's a Coral snake.
Sorry about the off topic posts, I thought you all might be interested.

[Uncle Al]

Red touch black good for Jack, Red touch yellow, kill a fellow.
That poem has saved many a life ....Sorry about the off topic posts,
I thought you all might be interested.

Skip---When is education something to be sorry about?

Good pic's. Did you take them or did someone else?
For myself, I'm not a snake/reptile person while others may keep them as pets.
I'll stick with my aquarium and the other 4 footed critters that roam the house.

Uncle Al
Duncanville, TX

[Sasquatch]

I took the photos of the cottonmouth. This corner of NC has all the other snakes as well, although coral snakes are very rare. I've never encountered one. I did kill a copperhead earlier this summer, and saw a 4 foot rattler last fall. I spared this cottonmouth - he was so far in the woods he wasn't going to hurt anyone. Just soaking up a little warmth from the asphalt road on a cool afternoon.

I have an acquaintance who, as a sideline, extracts critters from places they are not wanted, such as crawl spaces and garages. He was called to a construction site not far from here to remove a rattlesnake that would not leave. It was an eastern diamondback, nine feet and nine inches long! It now resides in The Serpentarium, Wilmington.

A friend of mine was bitten by a cottonmouth on Ocracoke Island. They drove him in an ambulance all the way to Elizabeth City for a hospital, a 3+ hour drive including a ferry trip. This was 25 years ago - I guess today they would have sent a helicopter. He is from Texas, and I thought he would have been aware of snakes. Got to be careful in the woods.

There's one advantage of trousers, I hate to admit. They lessen the severity of snakebites! Maybe we'll learn how to fashion coordinate snake boots, or maybe someone will invent Kevlar tights.

sasq

[Since1982]

If the snake can strike high enough to bypass motorcycle boots, the pants aren't going to protect you. Might as well be in a nice camo skirt and hope the snake thinks it's bushes and hits the boots or crawls away.

By the way, Uncle Al, I've gotten lots of flack in the last 6 months for off topic posts from a certain member or two, I'm trying to be nice and so I apologised.

[crfriend]

I've gotten lots of flack in the last 6 months for off topic posts [...]

Ahem.

[Mod hat on.]

This is the "off topic" area, and as such is allowed to function as a general-purpose "clearing house" of stuff that just doesn't thematically "fit" anywhere else. This includes the occasional divergence into natural history, biology (so long as it doesn't get too graphic ), and other matters in the world around us so long as they're not on the "prohibited list" (e.g. rants on religion, politics, or "unmentionables"). Broad exposure to ideas has historically been considered a "Good Thing", so let's not stomp on that.

[Mod hat off.]

Personally, I happen to like these little tangents. They provide context to who we are as individuals, what our areas of specialisation are, and where our passions lie -- these are the very things that make us human!. And I (at least) find that they offer welcome distractions into things I might not otherwise have learnt. For specific instances, I can offer "eyes on scallops" (Skip), interesting details on geology (through links by Stevie D), and intriguing bits on marine architecture (ChrisM); there are others as well, too numerous to immediately recall, but which have enriched my life nevertheless. This is important stuff; if we're never exposed to anything new, how can we learn? What would happen if none of knew that other blokes like wearing skirts and that it's not as deviant a practise as "society" might deem it?

[Since1982]

I didn't notice this was an "off topic" thread. My bad. Again. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells in here lately. Seems everything I say gets some odd response. I've got something in my permanent record here I never expected, which makes me not say anything about 80% of what I see on here. Good thing I have online poker, those folks like everything I say, as long as I lose. 4 more days until I become really really old. 67 with one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel. arghhhh