Woah! Serious Snake Jump Scare!

[Dovey]

I've been off the boards for a while, and it doesn't escape my attention that it's a non-arachnid situation that's got me back on. Spiders are all doing fine, but it occurs to me that y'all are the folks that can best appreciate this.

I went to fill one of my galvanized water troughs I use for summer fish breeding outside. They breed so much better in natural sunlight with natural prey falling their way pretty regularly--and for whatever reason, the animals here in the Sonoran don't seem to bother them. I don't think they know how to fish!

Anyway, I had lots of huge, bushy artificial plants that the fish can breed in lying in the bottom of this empty trough, along with some rocks and so forth I use to support the pump and fountain. Can't have real plants, cuz our water is too hard and our air is too hot and dry. Can't seem to keep anything botanical alive in the summer tubs here. :-(

Anyway, so I put the hose in the tank, and who should come shooting out from under those plants when the water came on but the single biggest gopher snake I have ever seen in my life! Now I'm a snake person, I stop for snakes on the side of the road, and I've seen a lot of gopher snakes. But brothers and sisters, let me tell you, this girl was like a fire hose! Oh, and she was mad at me. She gave me such a disgusted look.

Once my heart started beating again, I gently lifted her out and moved her on her way and all is well. It is just literally the last thing in the world I expected to come out of a fish tank...

Bless their little hearts, though. Since we've had gopher snakes and bull snakes around, the rattlesnake head count has dropped right off, which is really helpful what with all the dogs on the place and me running around in my flip-flops all the time amongst knee-high weeds. It can get perilous out there!

What's the biggest jump-scare you've ever gotten from an animal? And I totally get it if it's something strange. My niece once fell clean off of a ladder when she lifted her hand above the top rung into the gutter on the roof and her hand came down on a huge slimy slug! Happily, she landed in pine duff. I eventually quit laughing. Someday I know she'll forgive me. That was fifteen years ago. She hasn't yet.

 

[Galapoheros]

I've always been an invert, snake and amphibian person but I've had two scares. Once when I was a teenager, I stuck my hand in part of a some water well equipment and a snake bit me. My skin went cold since I didn't know the sps. I found it and it turned out to only be a little rat snake. I posted this pic before, it was dark and I was watering plants. I went to turn off the water, I reached for the valve but even though it was dark, I could see something looked weird. I turned on my light and there was a copperhead after a cicada sitting there. I also had a Timber rattlesnake loose in my truck for two weeks and didn't know it, found it sitting there on my dash when I got in the truck.

 

[The Snark]

@Galapoheros A one in a million nature pic.

 

[Galapoheros]

@Galapoheros A one in a million nature pic.

I've gotten in the habit of grabbing my camera, still never had one of those Iphones. The Timber rattlesnake pic is almost as crazy, looks staged, it was a big snake. I haven't been able to find that pic. I tried to save it off the road and it got out in my truck. My adrenaline junky days are over.

 

[pannaking22]

I've always been an invert, snake and amphibian person but I've had two scares. Once when I was a teenager, I stuck my hand in part of a some water well equipment and a snake bit me. My skin went cold since I didn't know the sps. I found it and it turned out to only be a little rat snake. I posted this pic before, it was dark and I was watering plants. I went to turn off the water, I reached for the valve but even though it was dark, I could see something looked weird. I turned on my light and there was a copperhead after a cicada sitting there. I also had a Timber rattlesnake loose in my truck for two weeks and didn't know it, found it sitting there on my dash when I got in the truck.

Pretty cool to see them going after one of their preferred food items. Neat pic!

 

[Teal]

Copperheads LOOOOOVE cicadas!

I've had a few funny/startling encounters...

If you live in the country and leave boots outside, you know to tip them over and give the sole a good slap to dump out any creature that may have crawled in. So that is exactly what I was doing one day. First boot, nothing. Second boot, suddenly something cool and smooth was on my face! Turned out, a frog had taken to occupying my boot and instead of falling out, decided to jump on the nearest vertical thing

Then there was the time I was holding a conversation with someone while reaching for the hose to a trough. Inches away, something in my brain pinged and I looked down to see a huge gopher snake laying right along the hose! It took me by surprise. I love them, though... They are so calm and pretty.

 

[Ratmosphere]

I've always been an invert, snake and amphibian person but I've had two scares. Once when I was a teenager, I stuck my hand in part of a some water well equipment and a snake bit me. My skin went cold since I didn't know the sps. I found it and it turned out to only be a little rat snake. I posted this pic before, it was dark and I was watering plants. I went to turn off the water, I reached for the valve but even though it was dark, I could see something looked weird. I turned on my light and there was a copperhead after a cicada sitting there. I also had a Timber rattlesnake loose in my truck for two weeks and didn't know it, found it sitting there on my dash when I got in the truck.

What are the chances you'd see this? This is so cool man!

 

[mantisfan101]

I was once doing yardwork and I lifted up a brick to see a little baby black rat snake coiled up underneath. I simply dropped the brick and high tailed it straight outta there. I kind of regret doing that because I never head a chance to look at it closely or anything...

 

[Galapoheros]

What are the chances you'd see this? This is so cool man!

I had doubts that they eat cicadas for years, it was also hard for me to believe baby coachwhips eat crickets but I watched one chase down a cricket in my backyard, that was funny.

 

[Teal]

I had doubts that they eat cicadas for years

Really? There are plenty of photos that prove it lol

 

[Galapoheros]

Really? There are plenty of photos that prove it lol

I just didn't look on the internet until I saw this one eat one.

 

[The Snark]

I had doubts that they eat cicadas for years, it was also hard for me to believe baby coachwhips eat crickets but I watched one chase down a cricket in my backyard, that was funny.

Or watching an O Hannah putting away tadpoles like a kid in a candy store.

 

[Dovey]

I've gotten in the habit of grabbing my camera, still never had one of those Iphones. The Timber rattlesnake pic is almost as crazy, looks staged, it was a big snake. I haven't been able to find that pic. I tried to save it off the road and it got out in my truck. My adrenaline junky days are over.

I'm not even going to ask how a timber rattlesnake got loose in your truck! That's sort of like asking how an OBT ended up free-ranging in my bedroom for 2 months. Sh** happens, right?

 

[Galapoheros]

I wouldn't have thought those eat tadpoles

I'm not even going to ask how a timber rattlesnake got loose in your truck! That's sort of like asking how an OBT ended up free-ranging in my bedroom for 2 months. Sh** happens, right?

What scared me most while not knowing it was in my truck the whole time(felt like I looked everywhere), was considering the possibility it got out in a neighborhood I had stopped by. So when I saw it in my truck, I was very happy to see it there ironically. I let it go in in a nice rural area for it with a creek. Most awesome looking specimen I'd ever seen but I haven't seen many. It's one of the few rattlesnake sps. that don't tend to strike often, it's usually the one you see those religious people dancing around holding up snakes ...that get sent to the hospital now and then. Some guy told me he had a cousin that had one and she would pick it up all the time and play with it. No thankyouuuuuuuu.

 

[MintyWood826]

When I was a kid, I saw something in the grass. I thought it was a shoelace and for some reason, decided to try to step on it. But it moved and I realized I was so close to accidentally killing a cute, harmless little snake! That was startling. I wish I knew the species.

 

[SonsofArachne]

What's the biggest jump-scare you've ever gotten from an animal?

Welcome back Dovey! I was wondering where you've been. Anyway, I normally don't get scared by animals, in fact I've been within a foot of both wild raccoons and skunks without flinching, but there was one time I got a good scare. When I was a teenager I was walking around a pond on our farm when I saw a big water snake sunning itself on the bank. It saw me too and went into the water but I knew this section of the pond was only a few inches deep so I decided to try and catch him. I was was just about to grab his tail when suddenly the business end shot out of the water, running out of strike a few inches from my face. After that I decided to give it a break and let it go....