Sting and slither
July 23rd, 2013, 08:34 PM
#1
Oldsdruid
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Southside Vajenya
Posts: 10,358
Sting and slither
Today was critter day for sure out at the country house.
I keep glue pad mousetraps in the house and garage out there as I find them effective. Had one in the house pantry and hadn't seen sign of mouse since winter. Today I looked at it and it had moved, and I saw a tail in it. Figured mouse so I picked it up and there was one of those little blue-striped house lizards stuck in it, dead. That lizard had gotten himself in a predicament- three feet stuck to the pad, his head stuck to the top of it, and his tail curled around and stuck to the top of the trap too. Ended up throwing out the whole trap since he wouldn't shake loose.
We've had rain out the wazoo here the past month, as in an inch or more almost every day. You can imagine what kind of havoc that's wreaking keeping grass cut.
I cut about 2/3 of it last Friday, couldn't get back out there Saturday to finish, it rained 4" in an hour Sunday afternoon. So I finally got going on it again yesterday, only to find it had grown an inch and a half, so I ended up cutting the whole 2-1/2 acres again. Finished it today and got the weedeater out to clean up around the buildings and trees.
Started trimming around the Amish building and walked thru a spiderweb. Stopped to brush that off and looked up and saw a wasp nest under the eave of the building. Bee Bopper took care of the wastses.
Started around the house. I have automatic foundation vents out there and two of them are in wells with metal surrounds. I had noticed some dead leaves in them earlier but when the weedeater whapped against the metal the leaves moved. That's when I realised there was a damn little copperhead in there
and he was entirely too close to the house. I'm just glad the screens on the vent were in place so he couldn't get under the house.
Went to get a hoe and grabbed the Bee Bopper as insurance. He poked his little copper head over the edge of the well and I let him have the wasp spray- blinded him. He turned to go out the other side and I went waling on his hide with the hoe, but the ground was so soft from all the rain I wasn't making much dent in him.
Finally did a sideswipe on him and whacked him against the house foundation, which dumped out some of his guts, but the devil was still trying to crawl away. I hooked him with the hoe and dragged him out to the hard-packed driveway and that's when I let him have it. Slashed him in half and then beat his head in with the butt of the hoe. Looked to be about 18" long.
I'll let a blacksnake live if it's not too close to the house or buildings since they keep rodents down and other snakes away, but a copperhead's gotta go. I am truly my Mama's son when it comes to dispatching a copperhead- she was death on two legs for any snake, no matter what kind. Far as she was concerned they were all moccasins- even a green snake.
And amazingly it was only the second snake I've seen this year. I had seen one big blacksnake smashed in the road about 3 weeks ago.
Now I just hope I don't find his mate, since most snakes travel in pairs. I find that one, it will get the same hoe.
I keep glue pad mousetraps in the house and garage out there as I find them effective. Had one in the house pantry and hadn't seen sign of mouse since winter. Today I looked at it and it had moved, and I saw a tail in it. Figured mouse so I picked it up and there was one of those little blue-striped house lizards stuck in it, dead. That lizard had gotten himself in a predicament- three feet stuck to the pad, his head stuck to the top of it, and his tail curled around and stuck to the top of the trap too. Ended up throwing out the whole trap since he wouldn't shake loose.
We've had rain out the wazoo here the past month, as in an inch or more almost every day. You can imagine what kind of havoc that's wreaking keeping grass cut.
I cut about 2/3 of it last Friday, couldn't get back out there Saturday to finish, it rained 4" in an hour Sunday afternoon. So I finally got going on it again yesterday, only to find it had grown an inch and a half, so I ended up cutting the whole 2-1/2 acres again. Finished it today and got the weedeater out to clean up around the buildings and trees.
Started trimming around the Amish building and walked thru a spiderweb. Stopped to brush that off and looked up and saw a wasp nest under the eave of the building. Bee Bopper took care of the wastses.
Started around the house. I have automatic foundation vents out there and two of them are in wells with metal surrounds. I had noticed some dead leaves in them earlier but when the weedeater whapped against the metal the leaves moved. That's when I realised there was a damn little copperhead in there
and he was entirely too close to the house. I'm just glad the screens on the vent were in place so he couldn't get under the house.Went to get a hoe and grabbed the Bee Bopper as insurance. He poked his little copper head over the edge of the well and I let him have the wasp spray- blinded him. He turned to go out the other side and I went waling on his hide with the hoe, but the ground was so soft from all the rain I wasn't making much dent in him.
Finally did a sideswipe on him and whacked him against the house foundation, which dumped out some of his guts, but the devil was still trying to crawl away. I hooked him with the hoe and dragged him out to the hard-packed driveway and that's when I let him have it. Slashed him in half and then beat his head in with the butt of the hoe. Looked to be about 18" long.
I'll let a blacksnake live if it's not too close to the house or buildings since they keep rodents down and other snakes away, but a copperhead's gotta go. I am truly my Mama's son when it comes to dispatching a copperhead- she was death on two legs for any snake, no matter what kind. Far as she was concerned they were all moccasins- even a green snake.
And amazingly it was only the second snake I've seen this year. I had seen one big blacksnake smashed in the road about 3 weeks ago.
Now I just hope I don't find his mate, since most snakes travel in pairs. I find that one, it will get the same hoe.
July 24th, 2013, 05:32 AM
#2
Past Administrator
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Rural Waxahachie Texas
Posts: 10,060
Wow! what a day for critters eh? Keeping in control of those snakes would be of highest priority. It sounds like you have some acreage that is kind of out and away so that will be an ongoing quest I bet. A hoe works pretty good on snakes but if the ground is soft like it was in your situation they don't work too well do they? Good luck searching for the other one.
July 24th, 2013, 07:02 AM
#4
Oldsdruid
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Southside Vajenya
Posts: 10,358
The wasp nest was right over top of the Amish building's door, and the web was within a foot of it. Wasps may not have been interested in the spider, but I didn't want to risk disturbing them going in and out of the Amish building.
Yah, the place is about 20 miles out in the country. It's where I grew up and hope to someday return to full time, critters notwithstanding. Just before I left out there last night a big fat doe was browsing my crabapple and damson trees- wondered why the damson plums were disappearing. There's a pair of big brown rabbits out there too, and I heard some bobwhite quail on the place last week so at least I know no coyotes close by. Some people out there have seen bears.
Yah, the place is about 20 miles out in the country. It's where I grew up and hope to someday return to full time, critters notwithstanding. Just before I left out there last night a big fat doe was browsing my crabapple and damson trees- wondered why the damson plums were disappearing. There's a pair of big brown rabbits out there too, and I heard some bobwhite quail on the place last week so at least I know no coyotes close by. Some people out there have seen bears.
