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Post by rockyraccoon on May 22, 2005 0:26:07 GMT -5
Eliza is the speckled kingsnake we named last year after watching her now for 3 years. she's about 4' long. have no idea how old she is but they can live 20 yrs and lay 12-30 eggs in the spring. so maybe i have more than 1 and call them all eliza    I have not seen her yet this year but here is proof she made it. She shed her skin either last night or this morning and i found it near my flowers, then a little further out in the yard, then the longest piece in the center of the driveway gravel. i put all the pieces that i found together for the pic. She is beautiful and I will get a pic of her as soon as I see her out. I actually like this one - not poisonous and glistens in the sun when she moves. here is a pic off the net of what she looks like www.kingsnake.com/king/getula/holbrooki.htmlkim |
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Post by krazydiamond on May 22, 2005 7:44:58 GMT -5
i'm sure Eliza is a very fine snake, but used snake skin is kinda creepy.
KD
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Post by sandsman1 on May 22, 2005 11:32:42 GMT -5
i checked out the pic and as much as im a city boy and dont like snakes thats a cool lookin snake and it said they get tame when you make them a pet and there not poisonous so i could say hi to it every now and then in the yard hahaha
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Post by rockyraccoon on May 22, 2005 11:35:54 GMT -5
kd i have a friend who has one that lives inside his house (uninvited i might add). he never sees the snake but every spring he finds the growing skin inside his house. as long as eliza stays outside i'm good lol. i had to move her several times with a broom a couple of yrs ago and block the clean out plug outside the kitchen sink. she badly wanted to go in this hole beside the bricks there. seems to me that might lead to the cabinet under my sink and i don't want her there. she might cause me to hurt myself. kingsnakes eat venomous snakes and are immune to their bite. i want her to stay and lay eggs all over the place!
kim
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Post by krazydiamond on May 22, 2005 12:06:22 GMT -5
i'm sure they are good snakes to have around as opposed to the poisonous variety, but i sure couldn't have them living inside. i don't appreciate any critter or insectoid life form inside, especially wasps and earwigs.
i was grinding some stones the other day in the basement. it was fairly cool still down there, so i had a shirt, sweater and denim apron on. as i was inspecting my progess of this particular rock i was working on in the sunlight, i noticed a wasp on the arm of my sweater. well my first reaction of course is to whack at it to try and knock it off, which i did, nearing uncontrolled panic level stage one. but i didn't see the nasty creature on the floor to squish him and so investigating my person again i see he is about up to my armpit! (enter uncontrolled panic level stage two). the next urge is to take off the sweater, BUT it's tied in back by the apron. it took ALL the presence of mind i had to untie the apron so i could get the sweater off before entering uncontolled panic stage three. then picked through the pile of clothes on the floor to find the little creature so i could REALLY squish it. i had to take a little break after that.
if i could communicate with all the other things that really insist on trying to live indoors i'd make a deal with them, free food if they'd just poop outside and not get ON me.
haha,
KD
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flowoxsgarden
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2005
Posts: 196
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Post by flowoxsgarden on May 22, 2005 12:33:44 GMT -5
KD, that's got to be the funniest discription of an insect encounter I've ever read. But I would have probably done exactly the same thing (especially the uncontrolled panic stages). I panic everytime a bee or wasp gets near me. Don't like spiders either, but I don't mind snakes........LOL
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Post by krazydiamond on May 22, 2005 16:40:45 GMT -5
i'm OK with snakes unless they are under my bare foot, then i tend to jump straight up in the air. especially if they have rattles going. up here in the middle of Yankee land, we don't have many poisonous snakes, just grass snakes and water snakes for the most part. we do have the occasional water mocassin but you really need to seek them out instead of vice versa. i lived in Florida for a short time and came very close to stepping on a rattler in a national park, luckily it had just eaten and was being lazy in a foot path, all i remember is the recoil and i was 5 foot back from where i started. have you ever seen dogs do that? well, humans can too!  we don't have real nasty spiders here either, but what we call a Wood Spider can give you a painful bite, nothing like those really BAD ones like the brown recluse but nothing to mess with either. as much as i moan and complain about the winter months up here, at least those times are relatively bug free!!  KD |
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WyckedWyre
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2007
Posts: 1,391
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Post by WyckedWyre on May 22, 2005 19:22:15 GMT -5
Snakes are some of God's most beautiful creatures. Although I have possessed snakes in the past, we now have a mutual agreement to admire each other from afar. S
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Post by Cher on May 22, 2005 21:21:25 GMT -5
I'd totally freak out finding a snakeskin that long. I'm glad all we have up here is little bitty snake, that stay under two feet long. Bugs, ish!
Cher
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Post by cookie3rocks on May 23, 2005 18:59:54 GMT -5
I used to catch and keep snakes when I was little. From 6 to about 14. My mom found a coral snake I had caught in an aquarium in the garage and made me stop. Me brother and I would put snakes in pillow cases and bring them home, Then I.D. them, poisonus or not.
As an adult, I had a 6 foot reticulated python named Baby. Someone broke in my apt. and stole her. She was hungry, (I was trying to switch her from mice to rabbits, and she'd just curl up with the rabbits and not eat them) so I hope she bit the poop out of whoever got her!
Kingsnakes are good to have around. All hail Eliza!
cookie
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Post by Tweetiepy on May 23, 2005 19:45:10 GMT -5
My son used to hold bees in his fingers (not sleepy ones from early spring or late fall, but full summer bees) He'd hold them and they'd buzz in his fingers. He caught a few house flies in flight too - not sure how he does that - he doesn't smell like crap - maybe they're attracted to him???
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Post by krazydiamond on May 23, 2005 20:05:06 GMT -5
As an adult, I had a 6 foot reticulated python named Baby. Someone broke in my apt. and stole her. She was hungry, (I was trying to switch her from mice to rabbits, and she'd just curl up with the rabbits and not eat them) so I hope she bit the poop out of whoever got her! Baby should have been named Bambii maybe. now WHO would steal a snake that slept with rabbits? deserves to be bit. sorry you lost your pet, Cookie. KD |
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stefan
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on May 24, 2005 9:52:29 GMT -5
SNakes are ok in these parts- We do have a few Timber Rattlers in the back country but they are pretty shy- Wasps, Hornets, Yellow jackets, and pretty much bees all get shot with hornet spray (I buy hte stuff by the case) I hate em!!!!! Spiders creep me out- But my all time favorite Creppy has to be ants- those dang things just make my skin crawl (pun whatever) I hate hate hate em! I poisen them, dump Hot water down there mounds, burn em with gas, spray em, Terro Em KILL EM!!! I once had a dream that ants were talking to me and telling me about how they were gonna take over the world- When I woke up there was the biggest damn Carpenter Ant on my bed post! The tought of it still gives me the jeebees! I swear the little *%&^#*%^##&&$# was talking to me in my dream!
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Post by Tweetiepy on May 24, 2005 10:33:11 GMT -5
Don't suppose you watched the final episode of CSI did you Stefan? We have a garter snake under our front porch - I don't really mind him but he scares the /$%& out of me when I'm not expecting to find him there - he must have moved as I saw a bunch of field mice holes under the porch this spring - unless he's enticing them in for a bite...
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Rose
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2004
Posts: 875
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Post by Rose on May 25, 2005 3:49:42 GMT -5
Yikes - One good thing about the UK - you don't get snakes living in your garden !!! I would be a nervous wreck poisonus or not they freak me out |
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Post by krazydiamond on May 25, 2005 18:57:44 GMT -5
annntsszzz...
we used to get the "big ants" in the house every year but the past few years we have been lucky. i spray for earwigs, so maybe that helps with ants too.
talking dream ants, Stefan, that is right up there with barking spiders. lovely.
(you will be EX-TERM-I-NATED! ((Said the ant in his best imitation of Dalek)))
KD
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Post by Tweetiepy on May 25, 2005 19:25:46 GMT -5
Stefan: Ants won,t cross over a line of chalk (maybe because it leaves track marks in the house and they're easier to find by following the footprints? ;D) Try putting a line of chalk at your entrances.... can't hurt!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on May 27, 2005 11:57:07 GMT -5
Tweet no I don't do that reality tv stuff- I watched one episode of one of those crime shows and was too heebed out- any TV I watch is mindless sitcom crap-
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