Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

B

Bubba1235

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She was down by the pond yesterday feeding the catfish when I seen her drop the food, jump in the golf cart and made a bee line for the house. She came up and told me she had just seen a "huge" snake in the pond. I laughed it off becasue she has a near phobia about snakes and I went into my spiel that snakes are a good thing and keep the mouse population under control and not to worry about it. I honestly figured it was a Garter snake because they are so common in the area.

She wasn't buying it and insisted I come with her and see it. We go to the pond and I see it coming across the surface, it wasn't any garter snake! It was almost all black except the belly. About 3 foot long and as big around as Mrs. Bubba's wrist. Back to the house and get on line and it turns out its a Water Moccasin which are in fact venomous. Guess I'll be sitting by the pond with the .22 waiting for it to make another appearance. Sorry but can't have them in our pond when its used so much by us and the grand kids.

Oh yeah, I'm still hearing the "I told you so" from Mrs. Bubba... :redface:
 
Bob_VT

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Probably swimming East...... towards my wife Jennifer who is positive all the snakes are out to get her :rolleyes:
 
J

joewithaboat

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Bubba1235 said:
She was down by the pond yesterday feeding the catfish when I seen her drop the food, jump in the golf cart and made a bee line for the house. She came up and told me she had just seen a "huge" snake in the pond. I laughed it off becasue she has a near phobia about snakes and I went into my spiel that snakes are a good thing and keep the mouse population under control and not to worry about it. I honestly figured it was a Garter snake because they are so common in the area.

She wasn't buying it and insisted I come with her and see it. We go to the pond and I see it coming across the surface, it wasn't any garter snake! It was almost all black except the belly. About 3 foot long and as big around as Mrs. Bubba's wrist. Back to the house and get on line and it turns out its a Water Moccasin which are in fact venomous. Guess I'll be sitting by the pond with the .22 waiting for it to make another appearance. Sorry but can't have them in our pond when its used so much by us and the grand kids.

Oh yeah, I'm still hearing the "I told you so" from Mrs. Bubba... :redface:
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They are nasty critters. Its the small ones you have to worry about. The venom is more concentrated. I kill everyone i find at the lake if it is near a swimming area.
 
erwinner

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

We've got a bunch of those here, too! It's like they're attracted to boats, too! When I see one, I just power up and GTFO!
 
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rbh

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Bob_VT said:
Probably swimming East...... towards my wife Jennifer who is positive all the snakes are out to get her :rolleyes:
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Your wife to HUH!! :D

Thank god we only got rattlers and they are 30 miles to the south, mind ya the garter snakes in the yard are pretty vicious according to the wifey;) :)
 
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mommicked

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

joewithaboat said:
They are nasty critters. Its the small ones you have to worry about. The venom is more concentrated. I kill everyone i find at the lake if it is near a swimming area.
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I would worry about any size of venomous snake. A bite from any will cause all kinds of pain and distress and damage tissue forever. It might not kill you but you might wish it did before all of the suffering is over. They love to eat fish so i'd expect it to stick around until you get rid of it. They like to bask in the sun after a meal so you may find it w binoculars scanning the edge of the lake or on logs/rocks etc. Be carefull around the pond.
 
JB

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Sounds like what you have is a cottonmouth moccasin, Bubba. They are often called water moccasins, but water moccasins are a very slender, harmless snake. The cottonmouth is fat and bad tempered, named for it's white insides of its mouth.

I stepped on a cottonmouth when I was a boy, got a glancing nick from one fang right on my shinbone. Don't think I got any venom, because it was sore for a few days but showed no toxic symptoms. It is not a critter to take lightly or to challenge.
 
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joewithaboat

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

JB said:
Sounds like what you have is a cottonmouth moccasin, Bubba. They are often called water moccasins, but water moccasins are a very slender, harmless snake. The cottonmouth is fat and bad tempered, named for it's white insides of its mouth.

I stepped on a cottonmouth when I was a boy, got a glancing nick from one fang right on my shinbone. Don't think I got any venom, because it was sore for a few days but showed no toxic symptoms. It is not a critter to take lightly or to challenge.
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I'm no snake expert but as far as i know the water moccasin and the cotton mouth are the same snake. The skinny water snakes are not poisonous as far as i know.
The water moc has a very naturally buoyant body and floats rather than swims. Has a very distinct triangular head and are fairly aggressive unless they are very sure they can flee. They are in the viper family and not to be messed with.

some good and identifying descriptions and pictures here.
I wouldn't recommend getting close enough to see the pupils... LOL
http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml
 
JB

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

I'm no snake expert but as far as i know the water moccasin and the cotton mouth are the same snake. The skinny water snakes are not poisonous as far as i know.
The water moc has a very naturally buoyant body and floats rather than swims. Has a very distinct triangular head and are fairly aggressive unless they are very sure they can flee. They are in the viper family and not to be messed with.
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It really depends on where you are, Joe. You are mostly correct for many parts of the country. Where I grew up (NC Sandhills) we weren't allowed to call cottonmouths water moccasins in order to distinguish the viper from the harmless varieties.
 
chriscraft254

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Be careful, it is a very aggressive snake and will not back down from you. I have seen them chase people. Also this time of year look out for lots of little ones around, its hatching time. By the way, cotton mouths like living in crawl spaces and in walls of your home also. They also will get up in your attic if there are mice or roddents preasent. Probably don't want the kids playing around the pond until you know its clear. Unlike water snakes, cotton mouths will be on top of the water when swimming. Water snakes have just there head out usually.
 
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joewithaboat

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Bubba1235 said:
I think yiu are right JB. Seems to depend what part of the country you are in.
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If you check i think you will see they are the same thing regardless of where you live. Like i say, I'm no expert but like to teach my kids what is what around the water, so Ive looked into this previously.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6710448_difference-between-cottonmouth-water-moccasin.html

http://www.coastalplainsreptiles.com/articles/Everyone/ReallyMoccasin.html
 
coastalrichard

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Those are bad boys Bubba...don't mess around. You do need to get rid of it as, yes, they are very aggresive and your little ones don't need it around.
 
WIMUSKY

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

If my wife saw that, she would "never" go down to that pond again! She can't even watch them on tv. She even refuses to go down to the shed and get a rake because there "might" be a critter down there. Mind you, there hasn't been one yet. I can thank my dad for that. He had a snake coiled up in his shed one time(or 3)......... Of course nothing up here is venemous..... We do have Hissing Adders that will coil up and hiss at you while flaring out like a cobra. They're kinda cool.......
 
oops!

oops!

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

uh.....wouldnt a good scatter gun be a far more effective management tool?
 
NYBo

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Watch out for ricochets if you are shooting near water.:eek:

joewithaboat said:
Its the small ones you have to worry about. The venom is more concentrated.
Click to expand...
I'm fairly sure that's not true. In addition, the larger the snake and longer it's been since it has eaten, the more venom it can inject.

joewithaboat said:
They are in the viper family...]
Click to expand...
More correctly, they are PIT vipers, a different subfamily of beasties from "regular" vipers
 
fat fanny

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Blast it and once you got it blast it again! I hate snakes just a phobia I guess. When I was young my aunt who lived in Georgetown West Virginia (middle of absolutly nowhere) would go off the road in my uncles truck to confirm a kill no matter what speed. Rest in peace Erma Mackey.
 
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joewithaboat

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

NYBo said:
Watch out for ricochets if you are shooting near water.:eek:

I'm fairly sure that's not true. In addition, the larger the snake and longer it's been since it has eaten, the more venom it can inject.

More correctly, they are PIT vipers, a different subfamily of beasties from "regular" vipers
Click to expand...

Like i said im no expert...

My brother in law just lost his dog to a small rattler. He said he wasn't that worried about killing it himself as it was small and he figured the dog would kill it as he had in the past. The vet that looked at his dog told him that the smaller snakes have more concentrated venom, less control over the delivery of it and that they were more likely to strike out of fear. He also said adult snakes are more apt to "dry bite" as they know to save their venom. The dog had been bitten before by an adult and didn't have any problems. Likely a dry bite??
 
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joewithaboat

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Re: Mrs. Bubba is married to a fool!

Bubba1235 said:
Yeah but I hate putting all that shot into the pond. One clean shot with the .22 should do the trick.
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From a bit of a distance id try the .22. I'm a big .22 fan, more of a challenge as well. However, up close, id be reaching for the shot gun.

There are numerous environmentally friendly loads out these days. Tungsten, paper wads etc.

Keep us posted on this menace, happy hunting!:)
 
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