| Thread Number: 41556
EWWW!!! OMG, EWWW!! I'll never be the same again!!! |
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Post# 613330 7/29/2012 at 21:52 (297 days old) by vintagekitchen  (columbia ky) |
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  Ok, time for kerosene and a match, I realize now that all the little home repairs and remodeling over the years were just a bandaid, time to torch it and start over!
Why you ask? Well due to our lovely super hot drought conditions, they have been mentioning on the local radio that people needed to be very watchful, that reptiles have begun invading local homes seeking relief from the heat. I have only listened with half an ear, up until today. Being surrounded by ACRES of corn, there are always mousetraps and poison about, since the little buggers want to invade year round, so I figured any snakes around here would eat a poison mouse, and boom, bye bye snake... I was so very very wrong... I came home this afternoon from a family get together, and started to walk down the hall, when I noticed something sticking out from under the hall closet door. Now thats not right. I would never put the vacuum away with the door closed on the cord. Oh wait, the cord is white, thats not white. OMG SWEET JESUS AND MOTHER MARY IT'S THE BACK HALF OF A SNAKE!!!! My first instinct of course was to wet myself and cry hysterically, fortunately I was able to overcome that urge before either event happened. I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest butcher knife, intending to chop the beast in half, and got back just in time to see the tip of its tail disappear under the door.. OMG NOOOOO!! THAT CLOSET IS HUGE AND FULL! All the Christmas decorations are stored in the depths of that huge closet that once housed an ancient and dangerous furnace prone to suicide attempts. Plenty of places for it to hide. This is bad, very very bad.. Luckily my aunt and her boyfriend had just pulled into the driveway, so I leaned out the door and shouted some semi-coherent panicked gibberish, that after a few moments they realized must be a sign of distress, or insanity, but in either case they should come right over. Once I was able to explain what had happened, the aunt's boyfriend went outside and got the hoe from the shed, and then stood ready, while I began grabbing box after box, and literally THROWING them out the back door at the end of the hall. He attempted to get me to slow down and be careful, stating that some of the items may be irreplaceable, at which point I said everything is replaceable, I want that thing DEAD! We finally spotted the hideous slithering beast, at the back of the closet, next to the artificial tree box. Of course the tree is huge, so its box is huge, and weighs approximately the same amount of pounds as a volkswagon Beetle. I grabbed the box, which I can normally barely drag, and thanks to all that lovely adreneline, pulled it from the closet and hurled it out the back door in one fluid movement. This unnacustomed air travel apparently rattled the creeping foul things wits enough to slow it down, as the aunt's boyfriend was able to knock the box open and kill the snake before it could finish crawling away. I will be spending tommorrow fully snake proofing and hopefully in the process mouseproofing the house, however I beleiveI will spend tonight doing my best to crawl into a large bottle of gin, dragging my frazzled nerves behind me.. Ewww! | ||
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Post# 613333 , Reply# 1 7/29/2012 at 22:11 (297 days old) by DADoES ( ) |
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Post# 613334 , Reply# 2 7/29/2012 at 22:22 (297 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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I hate hate hate snakes, and the fact that one was in my house creeeps me out to no end, just the idea that I could have picked it up in an armful of laundry or that it could have crawled into the bed at night, eww.. Never ever had one in the house before, got to make sure I never ever see one in the house again.. | ||
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Post# 613342 , Reply# 4 7/29/2012 at 22:50 (297 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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Post# 613349 , Reply# 6 7/29/2012 at 23:39 (297 days old) by Frigilux (the open prairie of Minnesota) |
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Post# 613351 , Reply# 7 7/30/2012 at 00:05 (297 days old) by alr2903 (Memphis Tennessee) |
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 If your a gardener or a clothesliner, it easy to carry a reptile in, in either clothing or your garden harvest basket. Its good to have the girls (feline). they hear the smallest noise, knock on wood never had a snake. but we have carried in the those big old outside roaches, you could put a saddle on. They ferret out the tiniest noise and investigate. Their behaviour usually dictates what weapon you need to do the job. alr | ||
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Post# 613354 , Reply# 8 7/30/2012 at 00:23 (297 days old) by westingman123 (st louis,mo) |
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 Snakes--not a fan. My intrepid brother had one of those big, ugly snakes in a cage as a pet. No kidding, a pet! Who in their right mind wants to have a reptile nearby? At any rate, the &**&^%* escaped its cage and promptly went into a hole in the bathroom wall that I was, naturally, retiling!!
After a lot of thought, I captured an end of the the thing (I still don't know which end) with the shop vac, flung it across the room, and hacked it to death with my garden hoe. To this day, I've not been forgiven. I didn't care--Keith ain't sleepin' in a house with a loose snake!! He stuck to dogs from then on. | ||
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Post# 613384 , Reply# 12 7/30/2012 at 06:36 (297 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc) |
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I try to leaves snakes alone-they are beneficial animals-best mousers out there.Its just when the toxic ones are in the wrong place...They pose a hazard to folks at the site. | ||
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Post# 613385 , Reply# 13 7/30/2012 at 06:40 (297 days old) by westie2 (Siloam Springs, Arkansas) |
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 Everyone needs to go to one of these. A rattlesnake Hunt. This is from my hometown started in 1966. Kevin you should have gotten a picture of you with the snake like this one.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO westie2's LINK | ||
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Post# 613387 , Reply# 14 7/30/2012 at 06:58 (297 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c ) |
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It was not a rattler or copperhead, I would just grab it firmly behind the head and carry it out side, im terrified of wasps ETC, not at all scared of snakes. | ||
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Post# 613393 , Reply# 15 7/30/2012 at 07:21 (297 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey) |
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 Yeah, a snake would have me running for the hills screaming like a little girl, and thats the only time you will see that!...lol,...can't stand spiders either!...
and yet I wear a spiderman outfit and undies....still in therapy over that one!.....lol NOW, if it was a snake in someones....wait, were in SUPER....if there was a so called snake hidden behind a zipper, thats another story!...and another forum | ||
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Post# 613395 , Reply# 16 7/30/2012 at 07:40 (297 days old) by washer111 (Australia) |
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I'm terried of the Black Widow's Cousin, the Redback spider. I've had them come dancing out of behind stuff we I've walked into their webs. Queue up the loudest Ned Flander's scream you ever heard. Same applies if I see a Wasp/Hornet/flying beetle thing! | ||
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Post# 613412 , Reply# 17 7/30/2012 at 09:06 (297 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) |
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 We have a lot of copperheads around here.
One of my neighbors brought home a flat of flowering plants a few years ago and left them on her driveway overnight. The next morning she went to put the plants in the ground and sure enough, overnight a copperhead crawled in the flat and she got bit. We've never seen a snake on our yard, but our neighbors have. They usually like to hang out in the landscaping near the a/c unit. Our vet said that if you have a lot of dog urine in your yard it will keep the snakes away. We have 4 large dogs so maybe that's why we never see them. Then there was a woman at the front of our subdivision that had a coral snake come in the dryer vent which was next to the gravel landscaping in her house and came out the bottom of the dryer. Coral snakes are pretty small but very poisonous. Her husband was even more scared of snakes than she was. She was unloading some laundry when the snake came out of the bottom of the dryer. The screaming between her and her husband triggered the neighbors to call the police as they thought something was going on inside the house. It was 11pm on a Sunday night when this happened. The police came and basically laughed at her and her husband and told them "it's only a snake" and told them to call a snake removal service and they left. So at 3am a snake removal guy shows up and takes the snake away. This post was last edited 07/30/2012 at 09:25 | ||
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Post# 613413 , Reply# 18 7/30/2012 at 09:09 (297 days old) by washerboy (Arkansas) |
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 You all will probably report me to PETA...there's a natural stream across the street from my house...in the dry part of the summer the copper heads and water mosicians come out of the creek to my yard to enjoy the water sprinkler. One summer I was weeding the flower bed and one of the little darlings struck at me, then last summer my lab who was 11 at the time got bit in the leg..it was very painful and she was really sick for a few days..leg was huge for about a week..did I say that I live in town..not the country. So...I keep a can of Raid Roach spray handy..give them a good spray..it kills them fairly fast. If I found a snake in my house I'd probably have a can of Raid in every room and sleep with a can under my pillow!!! I've leared that where there's one...it has a partner some where close by. I also have 2 out door cats that bring at least one half eaten snake up to the front porch every week.
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Post# 613420 , Reply# 19 7/30/2012 at 09:22 (297 days old) by franksdad (Greenville, South Carolina) |
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 what kind of snake it was? About 10 years ago I reached into my Mama's cabinet for a baking sheet and found a shed snake skin. Turned out a four foot black snake had managed to crawl into Mama's house and was hiding in the kitchen cabinet. We were able to take the thing out then I took everything out of the kitchen and either scrubbed it, put it in the dishwasher with sani-rinse on, or placed everything in the washer on hot water with clorox. Mama's cabinets were also scrubbed with hot water and clorox. That was one heck of a weekend. On the advise of a good friend who is a snake lover I went to the store and bought a bunch of steel wool pads (not SOS pads but regular steel wool you use when sanding furniture or cabinets with when refinishing) and crammed steel wool into every opening I could find. No more snakes. My friend said snakes hate steel wool. Oh, BTW, had that been a rattler or copperhead I would probably have soiled in my pants! Black and king snakes don't bother me but I'm not keen of poisionous snakes. Back in 1982 a friend and I were hiking on and around Grandfather Mountain, NC. I picked up my leg and for some reason stopped and just happened to look down just in time to see a timber rattler slither under my boot where my boot had just been. He was a young rattler not very long but just as poisionous as a fully grown adult. Needless to say after I watched him slither out of sight I had to stop and have a snort of Wild Turkey and a smoke. Hope you find no more surprises! | ||
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Post# 613422 , Reply# 20 7/30/2012 at 09:29 (297 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) |
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More people are bitten by snakes in North Carolina than anywhere else in the country.
If your dog gets bit by a snake, take it to the vet. The vet will administer a steroid shot which will relieve the pain as well as the swelling very quickly. There is always a chance of a limb infection in dogs when they get bit by snakes. You can also "de snake" a dog. This is specialized training where dogs are taught to avoid snakes at all costs. | ||
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Post# 613450 , Reply# 21 7/30/2012 at 12:03 (297 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) |
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 Having lived in California my entire life, the only really dangerous snakes I've ever been around are rattlers which generally have a built-in "back off" audible warning system. It's scary stuff to hear about the venomous snakes some of you find lurking in your yards...Copperheads and Water Moccasins and more, yikes! I think I'd be affraid to let my Springers out. Snakes don't really bother me having caught a few small Gopher and Garter snakes as a kid. My mom had no fear either. Once when we were at my Aunt & Uncle's cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains we cornered a little yellow and black ribbon snake in a bush, she on one side and me on the other. After convincing her it was not poisonous she grabbed with her hands, what a trouper! Reptiles are interesting but I wouldn't have one as a "pet" today.
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Post# 613550 , Reply# 23 7/30/2012 at 19:04 (296 days old) by danemodsandy (West Lanford) |
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Post# 613569 , Reply# 24 7/30/2012 at 20:36 (296 days old) by rapunzel (Sydney) |
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Don't you have a wildlife service that will come out to catch and collect stray wildlife without harming it? | ||
| Post# 613620 , Reply# 26 7/31/2012 at 00:45 (296 days old) by stan (Napa CA) | ||
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figure out how it got in! I've heard of using steel wool for mice (guess they don't like chewing thru it) if all this could have been caught on tape ...may have one first place on "funniest home vidio's | ||
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Post# 613627 , Reply# 27 7/31/2012 at 01:08 (296 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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Post# 613629 , Reply# 29 7/31/2012 at 01:10 (296 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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I spent the day going through the house looking for any small opening it or the mice could have been using, and each one I found was jammed full of steel wool, then either had a board nailed over it or was finished being filled in with that "great stuff" expanding foam in a can, depending on the locatin and circumstance. Was actually suprised how many spots I found. You dont really realize how many gaps, cracks, and openings there are in an average home..
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Post# 613631 , Reply# 30 7/31/2012 at 01:16 (296 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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When I was 5, My mom complained that every time she used her stove there was a weird burning smell, and some of the burners weren't working correctly. So dad pulled the stove ut to the porch, (tiny tiny kitchen, no space to work. when the oven door was open it took up almost all the open floor space.) He took off the back, and there was a snake coiled through the back of the knobs, very very dead. Apparently it had crawled in where the wire for the stove outlet cam through the floor, and crawled along the cord into the stove, and then got fried when mom went turned the stove on.
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Post# 613646 , Reply# 31 7/31/2012 at 06:08 (296 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) |
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Post# 613647 , Reply# 32 7/31/2012 at 06:14 (296 days old) by danemodsandy (West Lanford) |
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Post# 613657 , Reply# 33 7/31/2012 at 07:14 (296 days old) by chuffle (West-central PA) |
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...I've heard that placing moth balls around the foundation of the house discourages snakes. Don't know if it works or not, if it is an old wive's tale, but I thought that I would pass it on. Joe | ||
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Post# 613674 , Reply# 34 7/31/2012 at 09:14 (296 days old) by washerboy (Arkansas) |
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this post gives me the willies but for some reason I have to keep reading it...LOL!!...I hate snakes..period. I was telling one of my coworker about this and she said she and her husband lived close to creek for several years...she said they spread lime around the foundation of their home and that took care of the snake problme...she says a snake will not cross a trail of lime. Not sure if it would/will work..but that's what she says
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Post# 613678 , Reply# 35 7/31/2012 at 09:52 (296 days old) by westie2 (Siloam Springs, Arkansas) |
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Post# 613702 , Reply# 36 7/31/2012 at 11:25 (296 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) |
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Post# 613703 , Reply# 37 7/31/2012 at 11:26 (296 days old) by franksdad (Greenville, South Carolina) |
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Having previously lived at the lake and now next to the woods I've used moth balls for years and have satisfied with the results. I have never heard of lime but I'll try it. I had one baby copperhead in the carport this summer but I've not seen any others or snakes of any kind slithering around my house since. I don't know if the mothballs have kept them away but I'm satisfied with the results. You can also buy snake-away pellets at most home and garden shops. I have never tried this product either. | ||
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Post# 613725 , Reply# 38 7/31/2012 at 12:51 (295 days old) by akronman (Akron/Cleveland Ohio) |
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Post# 614077 , Reply# 40 8/1/2012 at 20:05 (294 days old) by AutoWasherFreak (Davenport, Iowa) |
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| Post# 614102 , Reply# 43 8/1/2012 at 21:53 (294 days old) by Northwesty (Renton, WA) | ||
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I would suggest a little plastic snake in that gin and tonic. | ||
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Comes to the Rescue!
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