[Thor]

I live on a small farm, and my studio and gallery are here as well. We have chickens running loose all of the time.

One of our little bantam hens wound up on a nest of eggs right out in front of my office in the lillies and we thought it was a pretty safe place, so we let her set. Well, long story short, my husband heard some bumping around out there, went to look, hollared at me to come help, and we found the little hen with a big black rat snake wrapped around her.

My husband reached into the lillies and pulled out the tangled mess of hen and snake, and I just reached down and grabbed the snake behind it's head and pulled it off the little hen's face! Poor little thing had a snake on her FACE! My husband tended to the hen and her one remaining egg (apparently her eggs were the snake's first priority) and I went for a walk with the 6 foot long snake into the back of the property to show him his new home. Momma hen and her one hatchling are both doing remarkably well now.

Two days later......we had customers in the gallery, and the chicken population went crazy outside the back door squawking and screaming! I ran out there expecting a hawk attack.
Another hen (a big game hen this time) had been on her nest of about a dozen eggs when another snake had come calling. This one was a King snake about 5 feet long, and was in the nest swallowing an egg. Neither one of these snakes are poisonous or these would be very different stories. My husband just turned and walked away not wanting to touch it. Apparently I'm the official snake handler now. I waited until it had the egg all of the way in his mouth, and reached into the nest and grabbed him behind the neck and pushed the egg back out of his mouth.
Then he and I went for a walk into the woods to show him his new home. Meanwhile, my city-dwelling customers are snapping photos like I'm wrestling an alligator.
This has all been in the past few days. I'm getting pretty tired of snakes.
Thor

[Irish]

I love the snake stories, Thor! Especially that you chose to 'just find them a new home."

We also live on a small farm, here in Maryland they are called farmettes when they are more than 3 but less than 10 acres.

Because much of our land that is not in woods is in flower gardens I always have a compost pile going. This is the time of year that I can't just stick the pitch fork into that pile. The pile is nice and hot from all the spring water so that's where our black snakes go to lay their eggs.

I did that once, stuck a pitch fork into the compost pile in early spring, way back when we first moved here. What came out on the fork was this leathery long oval egg shell and this tiny-tiny-tiny black snake!

Snakes have never bothered me ... rats do ... but luckily the black snakes eat the rats. So black snake eggs are precious gems around our place.

Susan

[AlArchie]

Can't say that we have much for snakes around here.....a bit too far north I think. Some garter and red-bellied snakes, but thats about it.

As a kid down in Iron Mountain, though (only a hundred miles away) I remember some HUGE pine snakes, that were well over six feet long. They'd bite if you aggravated them, but were not venemous, so most of us survived the snake bites.

Neat to hear "big" snake stories again!

Al

[Kenny_S]

You all wouldn't like the Rattlers and Copperheads we have in this area. Friends of ours live in a heavily populated Copperhead area, The do no go outside without boots and at night, heavily lighted area also. They even Inspect their vehicles every day. Maybe that is why no one visits them.

[Kenny_S]

Reminds me of a dear aunt that lived out on the Hula lake and miles from nowhere.
On this evening, she had been visiting relatives and was returning home. Since she had been on the road awhile and had been drinking coffee( several cups), she had to go really bad.
On arival home, she dashed into the house and on in to the bath room, fliped on the litght and there sticking it's head out of the stool was a big back snake.
She grab the broom she had in the bath room and knocked the lid down on top of the snake and flush and flushed.
Well by the time she lifted the seat up, No snake and she didn't have to go any more.
You have to realize how proper this dear aunt is and to tell that on herself, well, Just made it all that much more funny.

[Nancy_G]

Thanks for wonderful story Thor

Here, when husband is riding lawn mower he hates to turn it off and deal with anything. So when he comes near any sort of snake he just yells and screams until I come out and carry it off - out of his way. He'd rather bother ME than the snake.

[jillsy]

WOW! You farm women are tough! I wouldn't wanna meet any of you in a dark alley... with a snake in my hand!

[Paul_Guraedy]

We live in a remote holllow of the Ozarks where rattlesnakes and copperheads are common. Most folks around here kill any snake when the opportunity arises. Shortly after retiring and relocating here, I spread the word that people can hike, fish, and do some limited hunting. But, nothing can be killed on the place that is not to be eaten.

I did this from long-held personal belief and to protect my colony of blacksnakes and kingsnakes that live around the old buildings. I have not seen a copperhead around the house in quite a few years and the rodent population (rabbits to rats) are kept in check by my slinky friends.

My wife, not fond of snakes but also holding the same philosophical view of harvesting animals, became skeptical of my tolerance a couple of years ago. I had gone out onto the front porch for my morning coffee and found a wad of blacksnakes. I sat down to watch nature take its course and someone get eaten. However, I soon realized that the snakes were not hungry they were simply insuring survival of the species.

Thinking it would be nice to share this moment of wonder, I woke up my wife. Diana is not a morning person. She is not a snake person. I found that two negatives do not make a positive. Fortunately the snakes have found some more welcome location for their mating rituals and I did not have to "DO SOMETHING!"

[Mitchell]

When I was a teenager, I would keep a couple of snakes as "pets". Black, King, corn, garter, green, Etc - all non-posionous. I was often called to catch snakes in or around people's home.

When we bought our new home about 4 years ago, the neighbors mentioned that the owners had a "pest" problem with droppings in the basement. They were not sure what the animal was..... I found out quickly that it was a black snake(s). I have caught 4 - none this year - and believe that I have sealed all the entry points.

[Anthony Filetti]

...snake stories are the best and here's another...

...a few years back I received a package from my Dad in Nebraska with whom I had traveled and hunted quite often on a ranch near Valentine, NE...I opened the package to find a letter and a small plastic snap case, upon opening I found the rattle from a diamondback that looked to be about 4-5 yrs old...the letter went on to say that my father and two friends decided to go bird hunting on the ranch one day and were trudging through the field trying to see if they could flush some birds. My father being the southpaw was located on the rightside of the line with his two buddies on the left. All of a sudden the guy on the extreme left starts hollering that he's been bit by a rattler, the guy in the middle goes to check on him while my father is hollering for the middle guy to shoot the rattler so he won't bite again. The gentlemen obliges and then the two of them go to check on the guy who was bit...after inspecting the guy they can find no bite marks or even holes in the gents clothes and he's fine, a good thing since the closest medical help is about an hour away...still puzzled by his reaction they check on the snake to see the puzzle resolved. The snake had in fact attacked the hunter but because it still had a mouse it was eating in its mouth he couldn't sink his fangs into him...

...now thats lucky!!!