Friday, October 16, 2009

poisonous snakes of upstate New York


**shiver**
When we moved into this house there was a snakeskin in the basement (the basement consisting of piled river rocks) and in April on a sunny day I came face to face with a HUGE spotted snake. I calmed down and got a rake and carried it to a distant woodsy area and never saw it around the house again (probably a milk snake). Going back a ways, when I was young and lived in western NY I played with snakes every day, mostly garter snakes. One big one bit me and I am SCARED now. As a person should be. They mind their business, you mind yours.
So, you figure you live up and endure the snow, there are NO poisonous snakes in upstate NY. But there ARE, 3 types, and supposedly even timber rattlers in my county. Mississauga rattlers in a couple of spots upstate (not nearby) and copper heads, also not near. OK, I am not an outdoorsy person, and I will continue to love it here and happily say we have snow, but (virtually) no snakes :)
Awesome resource here.

9 comments:

denis said...

snakes are cool because they eat a lot of insects. i'ts a pity they don't like to be petted.

Anonymous said...

Funny, we were just talking about Rabies and there's been one case about 25 miles from us. Not for 30 some yrs but apparently the skunks are making a come back with rabies. So horses now are being vacinated for rabies. Weird....I don't know any rabied SNAKES though so I think you might be safe!

DirtKicker Pottery said...

I get totally weirded out by snakes. Being in Northern Nevada we have lots of Diamond Back Rattlers. On Spring mornings you are likely to see Rattlers on the roads trying to get warmed up on the back top.

cindy shake said...

Lucky Alaska, absolutely NO snakes up here -thank goodness... the only things that crawl are us, crawling home from First Tap at Bear Tooth Pub & Grille...

Farmer*swife a/k/a Glass_Half_Full said...

My brother, the bachelor, has a severe fear of snakes. Cruel, I know, but every oh....I dunno, ten years or so... Something comes up (like a great toy the kids have) and I just have to 'snake him.'

He loves me anyway. :-)

Wendy McNally said...

I grew up with scores of garter snakes in the grass, in the gardens, on the roads and in the ditches.

I stayed clear of them, but had many close views from above, while riding my horse.

Years later, I had the most fun incorporating handmade, clay snakes on my husband's wheel-thrown, clay plates. Then, Jim's carefully formulated glazes took over. It was a clever love affair!

Unknown said...

Far as I'm concerned, snakes don't bother me, I just avoid 'em much as I can. In Texas they have those very deadly but very beautiful coral snakes and a little jingle to remember whether it's a coral or a something else quite harmless. I just avoided 'em all. Can you tell? Snakes are NOT my favorite people?

Emily SIL said...

I don't much care for snakes, but I have to admit, they do a good job ridding us of the excess insect population. I'll stay away from them as long as they stay away from me.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I don't want them around my feet, but a rat snake is a very useful animal: it eats mice (and unlike my cat, it won't barf the mouse back up again).

PS: Love the pic you found for this one!!