Gnats, birds, and other wildlife.

[Ranger107]

For several months we had field mice on the rock berm bordering our property. I would set traps near our patio to keep them out of the house. Would routinely catch 2 or 3 every night. Always saw them scurrying on the berm after dark when I took the dogs out to pee. Then a week or so went by without catching a single mouse. Yesterday I found out why. Saw one of these slithering through the rocks. A sonoran desert kingsnake about 4 ft long. Happy he is keeping the mice population down and eating well, lol.

 

[ftrplt]

Give'em a food supply and they will come!! FTRPLT

 

[Brewdude]

Better that than a rattler!


Cheers,

RR

 

[Ranger107]

Better that than a rattler!


Cheers,

RR

Was reading up on them and found out they will attack and eat rattlers. Double bonus.

 

[peanubutter]

Groovy

 

[Natch]

She's a beauty! They also eat smaller snakes. Last month I had a somewhat different snake situation. I have a lot of English ivy growing as ground cover along my drive and up to my house. It also makes a perfect, protected pathway for mice to move near the house. But I always have a variety of snakes that also make their home in the ivy, including this Eastern Hognose. I would see him just about every morning, sunning himself near my rock wall, getting ready for the day. The great thing about a Hognose is if you mess with them, they can rear up, hiss, and flatten their neck, just like a cobra. Poke at them a bit more and they throw themselves on the ground and roll over to their backs, playing dead. If you roll them onto their belly, they roll right back again. Worst dead possum imitation I've ever seen.

It's been over a month now and I've not seen any trace of him, and last week I think I found out why. The second pix is a Black Rat Snake in my woodpile, I measured him at about 6'7". He was very lethargic as if he had recently had a major meal (perhaps the Hognose?) and he was probably ready to moult, note the cloudy blue eye, or he's of the Norwegen Subspecies?

 

[Ranger107]

Interesting. Checking the web found out that AZ has no less than 8 or 9 different rattlers. One, the banded black rattler looks a lot like your guy.

 

[Corncobcon]

I don't mind the non-poisonous snakes, rat snakes, king, black, etc., but those darn copperheads are terrible. That's why I always have
my rifle handy.

 

[Ranger107]

Yep, when the wife and I are hiking around here, I carry a Ruger 357 with 2 rounds of birdshot and 4 lwc.

 

[Natch]

Corncob, we have lots of copperheads around us as well. When my daughter was a toddler and played in the woods a lot, I did kill a few. But today I just capture them and drive them to a wild area not far from here. Fortunately, my experience with copperheads is they are not very aggressive and will avoid humans if possible. I've had no problem "nudging" them away from our campsite or picnic area. Now a Cotton Mouth that decides it would be more fun to ride in our canoe through a set of rapids on the Buffalo NR, is a different matter. We made it to the bottom of the rapids without the snake, but also without the canoe, tent, backpacks, cooler, etc. We all "gathered" together in an eddy, loaded up, and took off with a good laugh. My wife that was in the front of the canoe, for some odd reason, didn't see the humor of it all. Go figure?

The only Elapidae we have in Central Arkansas is the Texas subspecies of the Eastern Coral Snake. I've only seen a couple in the wild here, down by the Louisiana border, they seem rather shy. When I worked in Central America, their subspecies were moderately common. Their jaws are rather weak and don't open very wide, so combining with their smaller heads, they pretty much have to catch a toe or finger to get a good bite. A good friend I worked with in Belize worked in the emergency ward of the national hospital and he said that he knew of a few people that were struck in the leg or back of the hand or arm by a Coral snake, but they couldn't get their mouths open enough so they just kind of bounced off without breaking the skin. Or, perhaps they were younger, smaller snakes, or just uninterested in biting someone that day? I'm sure it scared the hell out of them, but it gave them something to talk about.

 

[GtrSmoker]

Gah, I hate snakes!

I moved down here to the Tampa Bay area back in ’17, and I’m still not used to all the little lizards scurrying about everywhere outside.

Sometimes they’re so abundant, they give the illusion of my peripheral vision doing that sort of moving spots thing that I presume is a precursor to a stroke… or at least passing out.

As if I wasn’t neurotic enough… now I have lizards to contend with.

 

[Ranger107]

Gtr, you will get used to them in time, maybe, lol. As a kid growing up in N Fla I was used to seeing lizards, snakes, and the occasional alligator. Never bothered me. What I hated was the damn flying roaches, some of them 5/6 inches long. They would dive bomb you and smack into your hair or face. One time they built a colony in the top of one of our palm trees. My dad went up on a ladder, poured a couple of gallons of gas into the nest then came down waited about an hour till sunset and threw a lit rag into the nest. Roaches dropping like rain for about 5 minutes. My job was to go rake them up and toss them into our burn barrel behind the shed. Nasty little suckers and ugly. The joys of living in a hot humid climate close to a swamp, lol.

 

[Ranger107]

Gah, I hate snakes!

I moved down here to the Tampa Bay area back in ’17, and I’m still not used to all the little lizards scurrying about everywhere outside.

Sometimes they’re so abundant, they give the illusion of my peripheral vision doing that sort of moving spots thing that I presume is a precursor to a stroke… or at least passing out.

As if I wasn’t neurotic enough… now I have lizards to contend with.

PS, Gtr, look at the bright side. If it wasn't for the lizards and frogs the mosquitos in Fl would carry you away, lol.

 

[GtrSmoker]

PS, Gtr, look at the bright side. If it wasn't for the lizards and frogs the mosquitos in Fl would carry you away, lol.

I don’t think I’m going to stay here long enough to get used to ‘em. The fiancé and I are looking at moving a little closer to my kids in WV. Not all the way into WV, though.

We’re thinking somewhere in the hills of TN or Virginia west of Charlottesville. You know, somewhere where the lizards know their proper place: under a rock!!!

But you know, it’s not the lizards that make this a bad place to live. It’s the people. There’s too many of them

 

[Ranger107]

I don’t think I’m going to stay here long enough to get used to ‘em. The fiancé and I are looking at moving a little closer to my kids in WV. Not all the way into WV, though.

We’re thinking somewhere in the hills of TN or Virginia west of Charlottesville. You know, somewhere where the lizards know their proper place: under a rock!!!

But you know, it’s not the lizards that make this a bad place to live. It’s the people. There’s too many of them

You got that right. Tennessee has some nice areas. My nephew lives in Clarksville. Although it's a bit farther away, you might consider Kentucky also. We have some friends who just moved to Gilbertsville, Pop 3100. Close to Greenville, pop 4K. Instead of lizards you have to be careful not to get run over by a horse, lol.

 

[GtrSmoker]

You got that right. Tennessee has some nice areas. My nephew lives in Clarksville. Although it's a bit farther away, you might consider Kentucky also. We have some friends who just moved to Gilbertsville, Pop 3100. Close to Greenville, pop 4K. Instead of lizards you have to be careful not to get run over by a horse, lol.

If I was making the decision 100% for me, I’d look at Kentucky first. Before moving down here in ‘17, I lived in the Louisville metro area for about five years. That was truly the only place I’ve ever lived that felt like home to me. I don’t know if I’d move back into Louisville though.

A few years back, I befriended a community of artists, free thinkers and just straight up hippies who live in an area just outside Berea, Kentucky. Their community is called Clear Creek. They’ve basically got the “holler” to themselves. It’s pristine, quiet... I heard my first real-life whippoorwill there. Saturday evening they gather together at the restored one-room schoolhouse for a potluck dinner, community activities and performances.

Yep, if money wasn’t a concern, I think I’d look into joining up with that bunch. Buy myself just enough land for some serious gardening, and live out my life nearly off the grid.

 

[Ranger107]

Sounds like a nice plan. Might look into it myself, lol.

 

[GtrSmoker]

Sounds like a nice plan. Might look into it myself, lol.

Do it! That way, at least I can live vicariously through you.

http://www.clearcreekschoolhouse.org/

 

[Ranger107]

I would do it in a NY minute. I don't like that many people anyway. Not so sure about the wife though, lol. Absolutely couldn't go without her.

 

[GtrSmoker]

I understand that completely.

my visit there was just a one-evening thing with my most recent ex. We’d befriended a really talented native Kentuckian singer-songwriter who was somehow involved with the group, at least early on.

But the place definitely left an impression. I’m sure there are plenty of other great communities that aren’t quite as commune-y. I kind of dug that though.