Look at This Big F'er

[F.U.IRS]

Not a rattler, but still startles you when get out of the golf cart and almost step on it

 

[WYRD]

Keep that guy around he will fend off the Rattlers

 

[RitcheyRch]

I'd be running and screaming like a little girl.

 

[bilz]

What type? Might have been to late before I figured it out.

 

[F.U.IRS]

I'd be running and screaming like a little girl.

That's my usual M.O.

 

[TITTIES AND BEER]

King or gopher

 

[TITTIES AND BEER]

Not a rattler, but still startles you when get out of the golf cart and almost step on it View attachment 986584

He’s a big one , I was building a tank at White Sands found one about 7’ he did not like me Fuckn with him

 

[Taboma]

He’s a big one , I was building a tank at White Sands found one about 7’ he did not like me Fuckn with him

Gopher snakes and I have had a few chats.
I remind them, if they're going to flatten their head, then shake their tails, rattles or not, and act like a rattler, I might just choose to treat them like one.
Now that is one big friggin gopher snake right there !!!

 

[Jed-O]

Did it taste good?

 

[wzuber]

he certainly appears well fed. He's looks to be at least 6' long. I'm not fond of snakes myself.

 

[RiverDave]

I'd be running and screaming like a little girl.

this.. lol. And then throwing rocks at it lol

 

[spectra3279]

this.. lol. And then throwing rocks at it lol

Fuck the rocks. Get the weedeater or the mower

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[rrrr]

I've never been afraid of snakes. They're just a part of life in the desert. When I was five I caught my first snake, a 5' black racer. It was a beautiful animal.

Over the years, I brought home more than a few reptiles. The biggest one I can recall was a bullsnake that was almost 8' long. My Mom didn't like having a snake around, but she tolerated it.

Um, that is, until I caught a rattler and walked into her kitchen with it. It had to go.

Butcha know, she was always supportive of me doing stuff I liked. When I was 13, she made my Dad lay off me when I decided going to Albuquerque Dragway was more important than attending church. She understood those things I wanted to do would create interest and knowledge in other parts of life.

The tenth anniversary of her passing is coming up later this year. I sure do miss her.

 

[Jed-O]

this.. lol. And then throwing rocks at it lol

I use my 1911 loaded with shot. Works like charm.

 

[stephenkatsea]

We also acquired a large bull snake in our backyard in LHC. Grand kids were coming so I bought one of those quail seed blocks. It worked great. We quickly had quail, doves, road runners, rabbits, ground squirrels, chipmunks etc. But, with that smorgasbord of good eats, a very large bull snake showed up. My wife wasn't impressed. I wouldn't let her try to kill it. They're not poisonous, but can strike with a nasty bite. Simple removal of the seed block and he disappeared. Haven't seen him since, and that was a few years ago. Don't know how far they travel. Maybe hanging out in a neighbor's yard, if someone didn't kill it

.

 

[HB2Havasu]

Keep that guy around he will fend off the Rattlers

Pretty sure based on his size he ate them all, lol . Kings and Gophers are good to have around even if they scare the out of you !

 

[sintax]

Trust me, don’t kill the good ones, my buddy killed a 4’ snake at his place in riverside, 8 mo later he was infested with gophers! Ruined his back lawn and took him 2 years to get rid of them

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Not a rattler, but still startles you when get out of the golf cart and almost step on it View attachment 986584

He just showed up to read the “Gopher Eradication” thread.

 

[DC-88]

My wife was clipping her stand up to its mooring when this big gopher in the pic swam across the river and she almost walked on water beating it to shore thinking it was a rattler. We’ve had a couple nice black and white kings swim across during the daytime over the years as well. Last summer at the end of the evening/ cocktail hour this fast moving rattler came across the lawn and I was in no condition for the shovel or small caliber snake shot , so with nothing down range had to resort to the old faithful 12 gauge birdshot .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[185EZ]

 

[havasuhusker]

We had a small, maybe 12" of unknown type swim up into our Playcraft years ago at Cattail. Well, I immediately pooped my pants and vacated the drivers seat and ran to the front of the boat, ready to jump off. Meanwhile, my wife, obviously disappointed in my lack of chivalry and manliness, simply grabbed a life jacket and shooed it off the boat. It took me a long time to get my man card back from her!

 

[Community]

I believe King Snakes are the best for Rattler eradication. They can eat them up, immunity to the poison. However in Nor Cal I saw a baby King in the road. Stopped to pick it up to move it and boy can they bite....

 

[Taboma]

This is a bit graphic --- so fair warning !!

We get our fair share of rattlers and other assorted snake critters here at home in San Diego. Far more than I've ever seen in our 1/4 century at Lake Havasu, or our AZ mountain ranch. Goes with being backed up to a "From the Mountains to the Sea" nature conservancy.

Early one morning I headed out for my morning constitutional lap around the place, and find this rather nasty looking large slimy thing on my concrete pad area just behind the gate. Closer inspection reveals it's a fully grown rabbit, yet it looks covered in slime and it's deformed.
Then a few feet away I spot a large Red Rattler, and the trail of slime where he'd spend God knows how many hours during the night dragging the rabbit back out of his throat by using the edge of the rocks on the column. The dumb fuck had tried to swallow the rabbit and got it all the way to it's hind legs and that was it, wasn't going any further. Then came the problem of getting it back out.
The snake was exhausted and didn't seem in a hurry to leave, he also wasn't rattling with my presence. So off I head down to my shop to grab my snake shootin rifle.
Problem is my snake shootin rifle is a Ruger 10/22 and won't cycle snake shot --- yeah I know, wtf good is a snake shootin rifle that won't cycle --- not much, actually.
Anyway, I get my first shot off, but not a good one, Red Rattler isn't amused, isn't dead, and is now righteously pissed off. Also this time, the round refuses to eject (This time, go figure), so the Rattler is ahead on points at the end of round # 1.
I haul ass back down the hill to my shop to retrieve a shovel and my hoe, I need to score big now and my adrenaline is reaching defcon 2 levels.
By the time I get back from running back UP the fucking hill, my aging ass is huffing and puffing and the rattler is now 3/4 of the way under the hedge hell bent on leaving. Thankfully I reach him with the hoe, drag his ass back and just started chopping, I'm chopping snake, I'm chopping my hedge, I'm chopping fucking rocks, I'm chopping everything and anything in front of me, fuck this snake, I'll destroy my landscaping if need be, but he'd going to die.
So please excuse the mess I made, I'm usually better than this. Despite appearances, I've killed a lot of these bastards and I'm normally far more professional about it.
I've since acquired an inexpensive single action 22 cal. 6 shooter, solely dedicated to snake shooting and it works awesome. I did target testing and found that revolvers work better than rifles for shooting a tighter pattern of snake shot. I use 22 cal because it's much quieter, a pop or two and the job's done. I even shot one curled up against my neighbor's front door with glass in it and didn't kill the door.

OK, So fore warned, it ain't pretty, but this bunny was a big fucker and I found it amazing that rattler got that damned thing down it's throat so far.

 

[buck35]

Growing up in rattler territory , never really had one leap or jump at me.... Was I wary, hell yeah , never very scared if I wasn't bitten on the first encounter.YMMV...
6 footer gets 3 feet and that's generous.

 

[Havaduner]

If I had seen that I probably would have burned the park to the ground

 

[Taboma]

Growing up in rattler territory , never really had one leap or jump at me.... Was I wary, hell yeah , never very scared if I wasn't bitten on the first encounter.YMMV...
6 footer gets 3 feet and that's generous.

My problem is my eyes ain't what they used to be and they're almost impossible to spot in the leaves under my avocado trees. I intentionally trim the trees and my landscaping up off the ground now, so I can see under them easier. Usually spring and fall I find more, they seem to be passing through, so if I'm checking sprinklers in the grove, I'll take a rake and use it to push around the leaves a bit looking for any movement before I get my hands down there. I've been surprised a few times, nothing like an unexpected rattle to get your heart pumping.

 

[Rvrluvr]

Saw one on my back porch so i lit the house on fire to kill it.

May my wife & kids R.I.P.

 

[buck35]

My problem is my eyes ain't what they used to be and they're almost impossible to spot in the leaves under my avocado trees. I intentionally trim the trees and my landscaping up off the ground now, so I can see under them easier. Usually spring and fall I find more, they seem to be passing through, so if I'm checking sprinklers in the grove, I'll take a rake and use it to push around the leaves a bit looking for any movement before I get my hands down there. I've been surprised a few times, nothing like an unexpected rattle to get your heart pumping.

Sititen on the ground fixing a broken riser once a 5 foot bull snake comes by my feetses , I went from sitting with legs.splayed to upright in a quarter second!

 

[Happy Smitty]

Two types of people in this world...

Those afraid of snakes and thoes not afraid of snakes.

I've never been afraid. Don't know what the fuss is all about.

 

[4Waters]

Two types of people in this world...

Those afraid of snakes and thoes not afraid of snakes.

I've never been afraid. Don't know what the fuss is all about.

What about spiders?

 

[Happy Smitty]

What about spiders?

As long as the spider is not crawling on me them I'm okay. I guess the same would be true for a snakes. At a distance they pose no threat.

 

[Taboma]

As long as the spider is not crawling on me them I'm okay. I guess the same would be true for a snakes. At a distance they pose no threat.

Certain snake and spider species deserve respect, being aware and avoiding those "Hold my beer and watch this" temptations.

 

[Taboma]

Sititen on the ground fixing a broken riser once a 5 foot bull snake comes by my feetses , I went from sitting with legs.splayed to upright in a quarter second!

First time a rattler lit off on me was when I was reaching down to turn on an irrigation valve, I hadn't looked hard before I reached and my mind was off in la la land --- and then as if by magic, I had relocated at least 10 feet away, wondering, how the fuck did I even get here ???
Hadn't seen him, only heard the sound of the rattle and I'm positive my response was a result of some primeval genetic coding, certainly wasn't a conscious move. Damn lucky he didn't bite me, he was right there, like the saying goes, "If it had been a snake he'd have bitten you" but thankfully he didn't.

The area snake that used to really bug me was a large king snake. He was really cool, but I swear the bastard just liked to sneak up on me when I was working and on several occasions ended up in a bush, head high and when I'd turn around, there he was, eyeball to eyeball. Of course I'd freak for a second, startled to find him right there in my face and I just know he was laughing his ass off --- Gotcha !!!!!!!!!

Non lethal snakes up here on the mountain get treated like royalty, we stop traffic, relocate them out of harms way, we make them welcome, but the rattlers, they best give us a wide berth.

One thing we try to do is teach the newbie young folks who move up here, lose the damned bird seed feeders. The birds have plenty to eat and all you're going to do is attract rats and mice, which will attract more rattlers. Do not feed the wildlife !!!!! It causes problems.