Snake ID Please

[Goldseeker]

When you were bitten, what did you do? wash with dishwashing soap or what? Because last friday a young racer came toward me after I evicted it from my freshly planted juniper blue points with a garden hose. It was very fast, but the high water pressure turned it. They dont like to be hosed It even headed toward the front door, but the hose changed its mind. It dis-appeared under the car in the driveway, hopefully he left sooner or later. I would just worry about infection.

Thats the 7th sob I have seen here since Feb, its starting to get old, really

None of the neighbors have had any (29 palms) but I have a lot of shrubbery, that I am trimming away from being close to the walls of the house.

I just wonder what to clean a bite with just in case. I dont harm non rattlers, but if one of those things bite me, all bets are off.

[reptilist]

Hose water works for all snakes most of the time.

Sounds like you should have stayed up north, Bill!


Soap and water, antiseptic...just like a cat scratch.

[Catclaw]

Goldseeker asked:

When you were bitten, what did you do? wash with dishwashing soap or what?

Well, Reptillis' advice is the best - treat as any wound - but I was...I dunno...10 or 12-ish at the time, (when I could still handle snakes without fright - they smell fright, you know , and I just ran around and forgot about each separate episode in less than an hour. If any treatment was ever applied, it would have only been because mom or some other adult might have noticed the bite marks and then insisted on some antibiotic salve of some sort or other. Never got infected, never lost any limbs. Them racer's got clean teeth.

Cc

[Desert Cruiser]

As many times as I've been bitten, never even thought about it, maybe some neosporin on it. Back East we had a lot of black snakes and some got pretty big. They had teeth that were razor sharp but small. It was like getting hit real hard in the hand with a wire brush. So I started wearing leather gloves to catch them. I used to bring them back to the farm and let them go. We had more than our share of mice and they really helped to control them.

Don....

[Goldseeker]

Hose water works for all snakes most of the time.

Sounds like you should have stayed up north, Bill!


Soap and water, antiseptic...just like a cat scratch.

No, its they who better keep away, I have a bigger bat....

[Goldseeker]

As many times as I've been bitten, never even thought about it, maybe some neosporin on it. Back East we had a lot of black snakes and some got pretty big. They had teeth that were razor sharp but small. It was like getting hit real hard in the hand with a wire brush. So I started wearing leather gloves to catch them. I used to bring them back to the farm and let them go. We had more than our share of mice and they really helped to control them.

Don....

Just how in the hell do you guys manage to get bit so much?

[Desert Cruiser]

Goldseeker: I knew they weren't poisonous and I wanted them at the farm to take care of the mouse problem. They did just that and liked it there very much. One year there were about 50 of them in an old seed spreader near the woods in the back 40. They were mating and wouldn't even pay any attention to us. Other than that, I've never been bitten by a snake, other than a large garter snake once. Now with rattlesnakes, I'm very careful. Snakes are really good to have around.

Don....

[Goldseeker]

Goldseeker: I knew they weren't poisonous and I wanted them at the farm to take care of the mouse problem. They did just that and liked it there very much. One year there were about 50 of them in an old seed spreader near the woods in the back 40. They were mating and wouldn't even pay any attention to us. Other than that, I've never been bitten by a snake, other than a large garter snake once. Now with rattlesnakes, I'm very careful. Snakes are really good to have around.

Don....

Maybe if you live on a large spread, but on a half acre, I dont need that many, and certainly not near the house. 7 this year since feb....


I think someone who knows how to find these things could have quite a field day here. I am not looking for them. I just wonder how many I have NOT seen, esp at night. I would guess 10x as much, at least.

[Goldseeker]

And now today #8 this year, young racer maybe the same one as the other day they all look the same, except now its in the back by the pool, it disappeared somewhere in one of the flower beds. This is no longer amusing. If it does not leave I will kill it; its just too close to the house. Of course I will have to see it first, and its fast. I have pets.

[reptilist]

A young racer poses no danger to you or your pets.
Killing harmless snakes is not the act of a higher being.