Dovey
Arachnobaron
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2016
- Messages
- 541
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.
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.