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Najakcharmer -> RE: Weal Doms, Twue Subs, Natuwal Slaves, and Actual Switches... (1/12/2008 11:02:36 AM)
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ORIGINAL: CalifChick
Najakcharmer: I realize this response was not to me, although I'm standing in the "guilty" pit as well, because I have killed rattlesnakes. Real rattlesnakes, vibrating the rattle. I know what a rattlesnake is.
That's just the thing - misidentifications are still fairly common even with rattlesnakes because Lampropeltis, Pituophis and Pantherophis (kings, gophers/bulls and rat/corn snakes) are all vigorous tail vibrators as well. I can't tell you how many of those have ended up beaten to death because they buzzed their tails. It's fundamental snake behavior; only Crotalus and Sistrurus evolved a more complex sound-off mechanism that doesn't need dry leaves or brush to be really audible. Sistrurus miliarius, our pygmy rattlesnake, has a rattle that is not audible at all if your ear isn't six inches away - and sometimes even when it is, it's tough to hear.
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In my case, when a huge colony of rattlesnakes took up residence in an abandoned animal burrow, just up an incline behind our house, something had to be done. We called everyone we could find. When we told the closest university herp department about this large colony, we were told (on more than one occasion, because we kept checking back), if they are intruding, then dispose of them, we don't need them.
Not the best place to ask, unfortunately. A herpetological society would have been better, or an Internet forum. "Free rattlesnakes" is generally an irresistable call for either a hobbyist keeper or a commercial breeder/dealer, unless you're a very long drive from civilization and the species is exclusively Western diamondbacks, which are the hardest to find homes for. This would be mean as hell, but if you claimed to have seen a color aberrant animal in the lot, eg an albino or striped pattern, you'd have people descending in droves to take away the entire breeding group no matter how far from town you lived.
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Yes, that's what they said. Finding rattlesnakes right outside your door, well, not fun, and yes, intrusive.
Well, you and I have different definitions of fun, but I see what you mean. Chances are quite good you could have fixed the problem without killing any snakes; it would have involved spending a few hundred bucks making minor modifications to your property and probably to the denning area to make it far less attractive for the snakes and to encourage them to move on. It's not that you would have never seen a snake again, but you wouldn't have had any great concentrations of them thereafter. There was a specific reason they were congregating on your porch. I'd have to see the area and know some specifics about it to definitively tell you the reason, but there was one. Remove that reason and the snakes quit liking your porch.
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I appreciate your passion about the issue. I just wish we could have found someone as equally passionate back when this was going on.
Yeah, me too. These days there isn't much of an excuse as there is the Internet. With thorough video and photo imaging of the property and the den area, those sorts of modifications can be assessed and suggested long distance. Some species respond well to relocation, and it's not like it's hard to pick up and move a little buzzworm. The buggers are slow as dirt. When cleaning their cages in a safely enclosed reptile room, it's not unusual to gently lay them on the floor and ignore them since it's not like they're going anywhere or going to be any bother to a keeper working in the same room. Stepping on them or over them is inadvisable, but walking around them is no biggie.
You know all that dumb shit people do, locking themselves in a tiny room with a bunch of venomous snakes, or sitting in a tub full of rattlers, and nothing happens to them? That's not anything special. That's normal snake behavior. Stupid human behavior, but normal snake behavior.
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