What kind of Florida snake was this

After Mother and Grandmother told me I was supposed to be afraid of snakes I had a couple of encounters that scared the s----- or something out of me.
I was young and went into the Blackberry patch. I walked a little way and here comes a turtle, I think it was, racing across my foot. Wasn't slow at all. Then here comes a snake right over my foot, like it wasn't there, in hot pursuit apparently. I screamed bloody murder. Some time later I was in the back yard near the same patch. There were numerous Garter snakes hooping all over the yard. I mean there were a lot. Told Dad and he didn't believe me until a few minutes later he was looking out the kitchen window and saw them.
Seemed like every time I was in the field or woods I saw snakes so I got over them supposedly going to poison me. Not particularly fond of stepping over a Rattlesnake all coiled up though.

MrWizard wrote:
rattle snakes are a protected species here in Calif

that said, i would not tolerate one on my step or in my garage

the young children, the elderly (and i'm getting there)and pets , are at the most risk
RS bites are very painful, but rarely deadly to a healthy adult
anybody from late teens to 45 , will usully survive a bite
but i wont take any chances at home
in the woods they usually go the other way, away from the noise i'm making

You will have to show me where the law states rattlers are a protect species in California; I don' think they are.

4 days after we moved to our new house, a rattler killed our German Shepard/ Chow mix dog. We were gone for about an hour. Found the dog on the back deck with it's front leg swelled up. Fang marks were 1 1/2" apart. Found the snake in a wood pile after I covered the pile with a tarp and tossed a smoke bomb under there. Hit it with the hoe when it poked it's head out.

My son stepped on one along the path from the house to the garage. It bit him. He was 12 years old and said it felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to his shin, it hit him so hard. He was rushed to the emergency room where tests show he was allergic to the anti venom. He spend a miserable week in the hospital. Thank God the snake did not inject all it's venom or else he probably wouldn't have survived.

My current dog was given an immunization shot for rattle snake bite last year. He swelled up. Seems he allergic to the immunization. It took 3 months for him to heal up from the open wound the shot caused.

We have lost several cats to rattlers, but since the cats were stupid enough to even bring them into the garage, I don't feel bad about them. Cats are my early warning for rattlers. They will bother them into rattling and giving away their location so I can whack them with the hoe!!
Snakes are almost always bad where people are. Even if not venomous, they carry enough bacteria in their mouths to cause serious infection. They are quiet, and don't run. They will bite if you get close and since you usually don't see or hear them, you won't stand a chance. Same with spiders. Nasty bastards and if they are dumb enough to be anywhere around where I'm living, they will be killed. I look at it this way; I'm helping their gene pool by killing off snakes too stupid to avoid humans by nature.

jetboater454 wrote:
. Watched it for a few minutes.... The one Eagle and 3 hawks had a nice dinner,so it went to good use.

Really? Where's the picture of the one eagle, dining along with THREE hawks? Now that would have been a spectacular photo.

MrWizard wrote:
rattle snakes are a protected species here in Calif

No, rattlers are NOT protected in cali. One can hunt rattlesnakes in California WITHOUT a fishing license. Reptiles and amphib collecting in cali requires a current California fishing license. Rattlesnakes DO NOT require a license. Also, "method of take" for rattlers in Cali is "any means."

rattle snakes are a protected species here in Calif

that said, i would not tolerate one on my step or in my garage

the young children, the elderly (and i'm getting there)and pets , are at the most risk
RS bites are very painful, but rarely deadly to a healthy adult
anybody from late teens to 45 , will usully survive a bite
but i wont take any chances at home
in the woods they usually go the other way, away from the noise i'm making

I sure would have killed it as well if it was in the coop and eating eggs. In the woods? fine. Let it be. Around the house and causing trouble? Off with his head!

I kill maybe 3 or 4 rattlers a year around my house or in the garage. I say this so maybe I can take some of the heat off the OP. One was stalking the family dog! A 6.5' rattler under the car in the garage. Dog was barking like mad at it, the snake remained completely quiet and coiled up, waiting for that dog to get juuuuussssttt a little closer.....


Another was at the threshold where my 4 year old grandson called me over to look at it. It stretched across the door opening so nothing could get past it.

In N.central FL.We have a lot of snakes in the yard,just never say one this big.It it wouldn't of been eating the eggs it would still be alive.

If he is in central FL than the #1 poisonous snake I see is the diamondback. That is one snake that is very easy to identify. ;) I see about 15 non poisonous snakes to every 1 poisonous. 99% of the times the snake is trying to get away from us as fast as we are trying to get away from them LOL. I have also seen cottonmouth and coral snakes on the poisonous side. (I am in the woods between 5-15 hours a week)

Actually what scares me more than anything in the woods is the hogs. They seem down right nasty when we come upon them. We see a lot of Alligators also but they seem pretty mellow, but we don't get close enough to make sure.

Jetboater asked about the snake because he didn't know - and it's pretty easy to teach someone a lesson without jumping all over him. Some of you guys could cut a person a little slack.

It's pretty easy to find those answers after the fact ... but not on the spur of the moment, when his family might cause a guy to respond safely first. Lots of you guys would have responded differently because you can ID it. At least he fed it to something, instead of wasting it (like buried or trash).

And Jetboater - if you're around snake area, find a snake book and get to know the tell-tail signs of poisonous vs non-poisonous (head shape is one giveaway). It's not hard, and will at least let you take the proper precautions - all snake benefit the wilderness, so we need to protect them too - but keep the family safe while we do it.

And, correct above. We do have some invasive species that damage our ecosystems, and that need attention, so we should all learn about that as well if we spend any time in the nature reserves.

fla has a bounty on pythons and NON native constrictor species
they are taking over the everglades and marshes

if it was a python you did good
if it was a pine snake you did bad

judging from the markings behind the head it was a pine snake