Re: Are you afraid of snakes?
I grew up in Florida, so I was taught to have a healthy respect for them and to wear appropriate attire (high boots mostly) and be wary during "Dog Days". The hottest part of the summer when they are deaf and blind (not really, but that's how it was explained to me) and are not apt to notice you till you have stepped on them.
At other times rattle snakes and coral snakes are quick to watch out for other large animals and avoid them.
Moccassins can be nasty. While not as deadly they can leave a person deformed from their poison which rots flesh.
Usually rattle snakes warn you unless they are in the process of growing new rattles.
A coral snake's venom attacks the nervous system and there really is not much hope unless you are in a hospital parking lot when bitten.
The ribbon snake looks a lot like a coral, but is harmless and you can tell the difference this way: Red and yellow-kill a fellow. If the stripes of yellow are next to the red stripes, look out! The best plan is to avoid any "pretty" snakes including diamond backs!
Green snakes eat garden vermin as do big big black snakes. The huge black snakes are scary looking (often called a hog-nossed), but they eat rattle snakes. One used to lay along an extention of our porch all summer as a welcomed guest. He also ate rats.
If you live where there are snakes or are thinking of moving someplace like that, you might consider buying a hog or even a pot bellied pig. Pigs love to eat snakes and thier skin is too tough and thick for the venom to get through. Rattle snakes avoid them like the plague!
So...as paul Harvey says...now you know...
To make a few promises
And them always keep
Leave something for fishes and
Protect the snakes sleep;
These are the things I would wish for my son
These are my dreams when the day is done
from Prayer of Little Crow/L.L.Armstrong
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