Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake
(Sistrurus miliarius barbouri)
It’s Wednesday again, and that means time for my weekly post on the St. Johns River Eco Tours blog. This one finishes off the last of four posts dealing with the only dangerous snakes in central Florida. Hope some of you will enjoy checking it out and maybe sharing it here and there. Next week’s post will probably involve something of the feathered persuasion. 🙂 In the meantime, here’s the link to this one:
I had one of those in my back yard years ago. I noticed him as I was cutting the grass,. Scary little critter.
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Little but tough! And if you were scared, think how HE felt, with a giant, half metal, very noisy creature roaring his way. (I’m assuming you do use a power motor to cut the grass?) Glad you lived to tell the tale, and hope he did, as well, but I won’t ask. (Sometimes if they show up in an urban yard, options are limited.)
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Not knowing that he was a very poisonous snake, I picked him up with a rake and threw him in the woods. We both survived.
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Since you were so kind as to spare his life–and a rake for picking up is so much better than a rake for bashing–I’m not even going to point out that snakes aren’t poisonous (which would mean you couldn’t EAT them), but are actually venomous. Poison is ingested, venom is injected. (Look how carefully I did NOT point any of that out. Hahahaha.)
Seriously, I’m happy to hear your first instinct was to rescue him. Since he’s helping keep your property and possibly your house free from mice, that’s an especially good thing. 🙂 And with a snake that small, you can reach him with a long-handled implement without fear of him being able to reach YOU with a strike. And that’s an even better thing. 😀
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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Thanks for sharing, Viv! 🙂 ❤
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Always a pleasure, Marcia! Hugz on owl wings! @v@ ❤
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Wow, you are the snake whisperer. I’d heard there were many snakes in Arizona. I’ve been there quite a few times and happy to report I never had to encounter one. Lol 🙂 x
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Just goes to prove my theory: snakes don’t like US, either, and stay well away when they have the option 🙂 I thought about you when I found that statistic about Arizona. If you don’t run into snakes while visiting a place that has NINETEEN different venomous species, you are not likely to run into them in Florida. At least, not on most typical vacations. And snakes have something in common with me. They don’t do beaches! 😀
Also, in all the many, many times I’ve been out on the eco tour boat, I have seen exactly TWO snakes, even though there are plenty of them in residence along the river. Both were harmless, and one was clear on the other side of a large, open area, giving his last few wiggles as a great blue heron swallowed him. I’ve seen a couple more than that while canoeing silently along in years past, but even then, only one was venomous, and it was ignoring me while it was eating a fish.
It’s really not the reptilian nightmare down here that some people envision. 😀
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Well I’m sure we are more apt to run into snakes on nature walks and hikes and such – so I’m safe there cuz I’d rather be on the beach LOL 🙂
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Exactly. 😀 ❤
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