johndh1 0 #1 December 18, 2007 So the other evening I was leaving home, and got about 50 yds. away from the driveway on the road, when I saw a snake curled up right in the center of the road. I knew it was already dead by the fluid around it, and didn't have time to stop and examine as I sometimes do - I like to keep up with what types of snakes are roaming the area here by the lake (Logan Martin, Central Alabama), and if it's non-poisonous, (if it's alive) I usually either get it off the road or catch it and play with it a bit or scare some old lady before I let it go. Something about the way the snake looked struck me as weird at first glance, but it didn't hit me until I got back later that night and stopped in the road to examine. It was so oddly out of place, that it took me a second to come to grips that I was looking at a fat, healthy, 5'10" Ball Python. Apparently, someone is missing a pet. A day later, a big Red-Tail Hawk was seen carrying it off. That bird will probably never know what an exotic meal it had that day.Roll Tide Roll Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aprilcat 0 #2 December 18, 2007 Hawks snatch dead prey? I didn't know that! I thought they liked them alive and well and barkin' their little heads off before they take them! I'm not scared of snakes but I'll say 'bleah' anyway. It was dead. ~~April Camelot II, the Electric Boogaloo! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #3 December 18, 2007 I think on these forums, we prefer to say "Argh!, snake" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zing 2 #4 December 18, 2007 There have been a few stories of growing colonies of imported pythons either escaping or intentional released in Florida that have established themselves in the ecosystem. It may have been an escapee, but you may have seen a dead one from that growing population. There's a similiar thing happening with a species of tarantula from South America that someone released. Florida officials claim to have eradicated an established colony, but I've met people who know hwere to look, and they have captured a few of these tarantulas and they are being sold amongst hobbyists. Much of Alabama would provide a very suitable habitat for ball pythons. It remains to be seen what effect the introduced species will have on the local fauna.Zing Lurks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndh1 0 #5 December 18, 2007 I really think this was an escaped pet though, considering its healthy appearance. You're right that they might be able to migrate here, but it does get well below freezing in Winter months - I don't know that it's ingrained in them to find a hole to stay in deep down for a few months. The portion below Montgomery, as you get closer to the Gulf Coast, would be much more feasible. Since the Balls are the most docile and fragile, I don't think they would make it as far North as here (I-20, between Atlanta and Birmingham) - from what I have seen, the majority of the South Florida snakes have been the much-tougher (and way larger) Burmese and Reticulated Pythons. Only in the last 12 or 15 years have I seen an influx of armadillos here, Now that is a nasty little bastard I wouldn't mess with. We did have a major panic a few years ago in a nearby town - this psycho was keeping snakes in his drug house, and some of them got out into the community. The Birmingham Zoo didn't even have the antivenom (antivenin?) on hand for all the different snakes, and it had to be shipped in just in case - not just rattlers and copperheads, but a spitting cobra and some other little monsters like that.Roll Tide Roll Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndh1 0 #6 December 18, 2007 QuoteHawks snatch dead prey? I didn't think so either, but a lot of the little mammals have gone into hibernation because we've had some really cold days, which is probably one of the reasons this snake was in the road to begin with. Plus, it didn't have flies or rot because of the cold, either. Guess the hawk was hungry. Speaking of, I was just talking to someone yesterday about how many of those I have begun to see around here lately.Roll Tide Roll Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2fat2fly 0 #7 December 18, 2007 http://backyardbeasts.wordpress.com/2007/11/10/red-tailed-hawk-on-deer-carcass/ Looks like itI am not the man. But the man knows my name...and he's worried Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumper03 0 #8 December 18, 2007 Quote I think on these forums, we prefer to say "Argh!, snake" that was the FIRST thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.... Scars remind us that the past is real Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndh1 0 #9 December 18, 2007 Yeah, but I've seen many a Tough-Guy make some strange and less-than-brave noises in too-close snake encounters.Roll Tide Roll Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #10 December 18, 2007 I once walked out the front door of my house in tevas, then turn around to go back in because I forgot something, and noticed a Copperhead resting under the front door behind the doormat! A bucket and garden trowels from the garage and I had that sucker in the bucket. Carried it out to the driveway, got the ax, dumped the snake out of the bucket and chop chop. harmless snakes get a free pass. Poisonous snakes don't. "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndh1 0 #11 December 18, 2007 That Billy. He's always ready to take on a snake isn't he? Roll Tide Roll Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #12 December 18, 2007 Quote That Billy. He's always ready to take on a snake isn't he? I've handled a few... That copperhead ain't the only poisonous one I've killed... Killed a water mocassin with my cousins years ago. That one scared me though. We were cleaning out and cutting some high grass on some property they owned by the lagoon, and with one pull of the rake, came the mocassin. Man was it aggressive! "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2fat2fly 0 #13 December 18, 2007 Quote Quote That Billy. He's always ready to take on a snake isn't he? I've handled a few back in my gloryhole days Yep, sounds more like itI am not the man. But the man knows my name...and he's worried Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #14 December 18, 2007 Quote Quote Quote That Billy. He's always ready to take on a snake isn't he? I've handled a few back in my gloryhole days Yep, sounds more like it Asswipe! "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #15 December 18, 2007 Quote Quote Quote Quote That Billy. He's always ready to take on a snake isn't he? I've handled a few back in my gloryhole days Yep, sounds more like it Asswipe! "Wiping" wasn't what it sounds like was happeningI'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #16 December 18, 2007 Yup.... same here Snake Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johndh1 0 #17 December 18, 2007 Oh Billy, I meant the notorious Skyridius Depravitus Cockaroachius Benbutt-holeous species...the most unsavory kind of all.Roll Tide Roll Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #18 December 18, 2007 QuoteOh Billy, I meant the notorious Skyridius Depravitus Cockaroachius Benbutt-holeous species...the most sneaky kind of all. Those are very venomous . . .I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snowwhite 0 #19 December 18, 2007 We were building a wall at a clients lake house this summer. My 6 year old grandson was fishing. He caught a 32 inch water moccasin. It was amazing how friendly that snake was.skydiveTaylorville.org [email protected] Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterrig 1 #20 December 18, 2007 Late last Spring, I went out to put a sack of trash in the trash can and went back in the house. My wife came-in and asked me what kind of snake was coiled-up by the trash cans? I went back outside and sure enough... there was a rock rattler, coiled-up just behind one of the trash cans... where I had just been! I got a hoe and chopped his head off and slung him out into the brush for the buzzards. Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #21 December 18, 2007 Quote Late last Spring, I went out to put a sack of trash in the trash can and went back in the house. My wife came-in and asked me what kind of snake was coiled-up by the trash cans? I went back outside and sure enough... there was a rock rattler, coiled-up just behind one of the trash cans... where I had just been! I got a hoe and chopped his head off and slung him out into the brush for the buzzards. Chuck You threw away good BBQ?I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #22 December 18, 2007 Ok .. you just lost the right to EVER complain about rodents around your house ever again... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterrig 1 #23 December 18, 2007 Quote Quote Late last Spring, I went out to put a sack of trash in the trash can and went back in the house. My wife came-in and asked me what kind of snake was coiled-up by the trash cans? I went back outside and sure enough... there was a rock rattler, coiled-up just behind one of the trash cans... where I had just been! I got a hoe and chopped his head off and slung him out into the brush for the buzzards. Chuck You threw away good BBQ? I've eaten rattlesnake... you're welcome to it!Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterrig 1 #24 December 18, 2007 Quote Ok .. you just lost the right to EVER complain about rodents around your house ever again... I just get rid of the rattlers. I leave that big ol' bullsnake under my porch alone... he's my mouser!Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #25 December 18, 2007 I used to sell all the rattlers to a herpetarium... good money in that ya know. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
