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Only In Florida - Picture Added


Calamity Kris

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Uno called me over to the bed of his truck yesterday afternoon to show me a juvenile black racer snake sunning itself on the bed rail.  We giggled and laughed, thinking it was really cute, until it felt threatened and reversed itself back into the hole in the sidewall it came out of. 

 

We don't want to kill it because they are really helpful at keeping the rodent population down.  We would like to help it "voluntarily" leave.  Any ideas on how to safely extricate this little guy from the truck bed would be greatly appreciated.  As soon as he leaves, we're going to get a cover for the bed.

 

Thanks,

CK

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Build a fire under the truck. He’ll leave on his own. 
 

(edit for a serious answer :rolleyes:)

 

I’d suppose some kind of snake repellant scattered around in the truck bed would get him to relocate; the problem would be knowing for certain the little guy was gone. 
 

I’d do the same — I prefer to keep beneficial snakes around — just not underfoot. 

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Where I live we use mothballs for snakes and scorpions

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To get rid of the snake, you have to eliminate it's food source. That's going to be hard to do since the lizards it eats are everywhere. That leaves you with factory snake repellent (Home Depot/Lowes/Etc), mothballs or a mongoose. The next time that the snake is sunning itself, grab the garden hose sprayer and spray it off of your truck and chase the snake as far as possible away from the area. That may work.

 

I don't suggest filling in any "hole" in the bed rail if it is a factory installed opening. The hole is probably for drainage or moisture control of some type. Filling it in make create a standing water problem and with it....rust.

 

If you can't get rid of the snake, at least you won't have mice or lizards in your truck.

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On the lighter side....

Weather is only going to get hotter. 

Might a well makes life better for your new boarder and add a pool! :blush:

 

41YIRK-zwtL._AC_SY580_.jpg.df8363b666ab86bdcb78aabef37f7b2c.jpg

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In high school a friend had that exact same problem. Black snake in the bed. We took a pneumatic sander hooked up to an airline (an electric sander might do), draped a towel over the bed rail and put the body of the sander (not the sanding pad) against the towel resting against the side of the bed and turned it on. The snake exited within seconds and made its way into the bushes next to the shop building. It didn’t like that vibration at all. 
 

Apparently it had been in his truck bed for a few days. 

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Last time somebody around the neighborhood had a snake on their truck like that, it was a water moccasin. 

 

(For those that aren't familiar, the water moccasin is venomous, aggressive and pretty much needs killin' on general principles. Contrary to popular misconceptions, they can bite underwater, too.)

 

They asked me what they should do- but weren't amused when I asked if they had a .22 and how good of a shot they were.  They didn't like my second suggestion of 2 person operation involving a really long pole and a shotgun either.

 

That's when I suggested that they go old school and offered to let them borrow Grandpa's old cotton hoe.  All they had to say was, "No."  The profanity wasn't really necessary.

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10 minutes ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

(For those that aren't familiar, the water moccasin is venomous, aggressive and pretty much needs killin' on general principles

Damn straight.

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Speaking of water moccasins (and remembering crap that happened when you were young that scares the living hell out of you when you think about it).

 

My friend and I are dove hunting. For those that have never dove hunted, what you do is you find you a big field, and you crouch down in the bushes and wait for the doves to come in at night for a landing. It works better if, if you are with somebody, the two of you are widely separated. It gives you both a better chance.

 

So I pick my spot, and Cary heads off down the field. Couple hours later and I hear a single shotgun blast. Hour or so later and I decide I've had enough, so I start down the field to where he is.

 

There's a ditch you have to cross. {And} IN the bottom of the ditch is a trickle of water - maybe six inches wide. There's a piece of one by six lying in {a} THE ditch crossing the water. There is a muddy boot print on the piece of one by six.

 

{And} IN the bottom of the ditch, underneath the board, is a water moccasin. There's about 2 feet of it sticking out on the right side, and maybe 6" sticking out the left. The end of its tail has been blown off with a shotgun.

 

I look at this obviously dead snake for a little bit. Bend down in the ditch so my face is maybe six inches away from the obviously dead snake and look at it from nose to what's left of tail. Then I straighten up and holler.

 

CARY!

 

What?

 

DID YOU SHOOT THIS SNAKE?

 

What snake?

 

THIS DAMN WATER MOCCASIN LAYING IN THE DITCH!

 

Has it got a head?

 

YES.

 

Then shoot it!!

 

I {put} POINT my gun in the general direction of the snake's head (because everybody knows you don't really have to aim with A shotgun) and put a load of 7 1/2s about 2 inches away from its head. It comes too, or wakes up, or quits playing possum, or whatever the hell it was doing, and scoots down that ditch like he's trying to break the land speed record.

 

I think about that occasionally. How if I hadn't wondered, I would have stepped on that board, which would have pushed down on that snake's tail, which would have encouraged it to bite the hell out of me. That possibly would have been survival. But when I was bent over, nose to nose so to speak, if he had decided to bite me in the face I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here. And if I had survived being bitten in the face, I don't believe I would be as pretty as I am. I've been told that pit viper venom is fairly destructive on tissue.

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Pat Riot has the right idea.  Vibration of some kind is a good option.  Maybe play music on your truck’s sound system real loud with the bass boosted to maximum?

 

 

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1 hour ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Pat Riot has the right idea.  Vibration of some kind is a good option.  Maybe play music on your truck’s sound system real loud with the bass boosted to maximum?

 

 

Maybe that's what my rental neighbor is doing....

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I had a friend in Florida who didn’t mind snakes. But when he saw a huge soifder I the cab of his truck twice, he sold the truck. He said it was a muck spider. I knew my tropical spiders and had never heard of that one. I asked him about it.

”It’s one of them spiders that when you see em it makes you run a muck”, he said.:lol::lol:

 

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  • Calamity Kris changed the title to Only In Florida - Picture Added

For snakes I recommend Dynamite. Lots of it.

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26 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Uh, that’s not a little guy...

 

:mellow:

 

Not too big but not a little 3 footer either. Go down to the pet store and get a large feeder mouse. Tie it up and put it in the bed of the truck. When the snake takes the bait and eats it, it won't be able to get back into the hole in the truck bed wall. You can capture it and relocate the snake. Use a brass picker upper, they work well for snakes.

 

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I found this black snake sunning on the seat of one of our loaders twice. It slipped under the seat before I could capture it.

 

193910618_BlacksnakeJune2021.jpg.d32a23a714082fe431bd4ef3a1318f6b.jpg

 

I started looking closely,  then reaching in and starting the engine and watching for any movement around the seat.  

 

Sawmill Mary had a black snake slather out from under the seat and down her bare leg. 

 

We put up with black snakes around the farm because they are some use in displacing poisonous snakes.  

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2 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

In this land of Downwundermint all snakes are protected(venomous or not); ...

......... they are not,however, armour-plated.   :unsure:

Then their security detail best keep them away from me.;)

 

See snake.

 

Kill snake.

 

Good snake!

 

It's so simple that even Dick and Jane could understand it.

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Copperheads, and water-moccasins, and coral snakes, are all fair game for my shotgun.

I may possibly cut some slack to a rattlesnake, IF he rattles and warns me. But I have found out that they don't always rattle before they strike. 

I don't think these are a protected species, in Texas anyway, but that would make zero difference to me.

I am the priority protected species. 

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We have apparently had an archive dump. Jack was puzzled by Hardpan's comment, so I was going to link to the original story. I did a search on snike. Nothing. Search on super beetle. Maybe five posts going back a year. Search on argyle. This thread only.


Very puzzling.

 

 

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6 hours ago, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said:

Copperheads, and water-moccasins, and coral snakes, are all fair game for my shotgun.

I may possibly cut some slack to a rattlesnake, IF he rattles and warns me. But I have found out that they don't always rattle before they strike. 

I don't think these are a protected species, in Texas anyway, but that would make zero difference to me.

I am the priority protected species. 

Oddly we have selected for non rattling snakes by killing off the ones that rattle before they bite.

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=216924322

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16 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Pat Riot has the right idea.  Vibration of some kind is a good option.  Maybe play music on your truck’s sound system real loud with the bass boosted to maximum?

 

 

 

Well, first ya gotta find out what kind of music 'IT' don't like.  

If ya start playing music it likes, ya might find yeself more little friends slithering around.

:D

 

I understand they hate Booker T and the MG's singing "Shotgun"..... ;)

 

..........Widder

 

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I'm not afraid of snakes, but I do respect the poisonous ones and will kill them wheneverI find them.  Pre-emptive self defense for people and dogs.  I'm told that of the many varieties of twenty some venomous snakes in the United States all but two or three live in Arizona, yet I have not seen any since moving here.

 

I encourage the other snakes in the vicinity, dozens of them, tarantulas (I hate other spiders and we have both black widows and fiddle backs in this area and tarantulas eat the other spiders), and lizards (I seem be be breeding central for horned toads).

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2 hours ago, Alpo said:

We have apparently had an archive dump. Jack was puzzled by Hardpan's comment, so I was going to link to the original story. I did a search on snike. Nothing. Search on super beetle. Maybe five posts going back a year. Search on argyle. This thread only.


Very puzzling.

 

 

Dang, Alpo ~ I'm impressed as heck that you remembered!  :lol:

 

I'll re-post, for Wallaby's sake.  :rolleyes:

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Snakes of all kinds were very common in our area.  Lots of tree snakes, rattle snakes, copperheads, cotton mouth,  spread head.  While we still see black snakes as most common,  I've not seen a rattlesnake in years.  See one or two copperhead a year.  I've not seen a tree snake in may years with the exception of one a couple of years back.  

 

My thinking is the introduction of wild turkey has driven them to near extinction. I've seen domestic turkey gang up on a snake and in a few minutes it's a skeleton.  

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