I want to hear about being treed by gators! Tell Doris to find her way to the Texas Forum asap and introduce herself.
BEWARE
Yeah, you may be one of only a few people chased by a gator to actually find a tree they could climb fast enough ;-). I want to read the story to!
-Julie
A while back, I taught classes for a year at an ecology education center on Jekyll Island, GA. We'd get busloads of kids from all over and run them around the island for a couple of days -- into the marsh, through the maritime forest, onto the beach, down by the dock, etc -- it was a great way to learn, and a fun way to teach!
There was a small pond near the causeway. A young gator had claimed the pond as his own, and we used to stop by on our way to the historic district for a virtually guaranteed gator-sighting. I was driving to the center one morning, and I decided to quickly stop by the pond to see where the gator was hanging out that day. Also, mating season was due to begin soon, and I wanted to make sure the little guy didn't seem too agitated. Well, I was looking around, and I walked over a small rise, and I suddenly discovered that my young gator buddy had been run out of town. He'd been replaced by a MUCH larger bull gator, who was not at ALL pleased to have me disturb his rest! He roared, sounding like a badly tuned Harley trying (and failing) to start, I backpedaled, and he charged!!!
Now, here's the thing about gators. Their teeth are very fierce, but their brains are very small. They get mad, and they think, "I am going to run right over there and BITE that thing!" Their charge is very swift (faster than a man can run, on flat ground), but they will just run straight at you without turning and without checking to see if their target is still where they last saw it. If you leap to one side, they tend to whoosh right past, eventually slowing down and looking around as if to say, "huh? but it was right here! in front of me! that thing I wanted to bite! where did it go, eh?!?"
Needless to say, I lept to one side more quickly than I'd ever moved in my life, and I scurried up into a (thankfully) nearby pine tree. This big gator whooshed past, tried to figure out where I'd gone, then gave a mental shrug of his tiny reptilian brain and headed for a small patch of sunshine to continue his interrupted nap. Unfortunately for me, that small patch of sun was just a few feet from my tree! Well, at least I was safe from his jaws (this isn't the kind of story where the branch I'm sitting on begins to bend or break), but I had a class starting shortly, so I was stymied. I started plucking pinecones that were within reach and tossing them at him, hoping to make him uncomfortable so that he would move. I plunked him on the head repeatedly (picture that for a moment, if you would), and finally he'd either had enough of my barrage or (more likely) had become too hot, and he moved off to his pond for a swim. Whew! I climbed back down *very* carefully and *very* quietly and retreated.
I was a few minutes late for my class, but I did have an excellent story to tell! Needless to say, we did not take any kids back to that pond for a while! After mating season, we did take some groups back to see the "monster" that had charged me, but we gave him plenty of space. I am glad I didn't discover his ownership of the pond with 18 fourth grade students in tow!!
Now, since people reading this thread might actually encounter gators, I'd like to add a note. The bigger gators do tend to charge in a straight line, so moving sidewise or running in a zig zag path will let you avoid them. Smaller gators, however, are sometimes more agile of body &/or mind, and they will zig zag right after you! However, they move fastest when they run in a straight line, so your best chance of outrunning them is still to change directions repeatedly. I don't know what Steve Irwin would advise, but this is what I've been told by several people who've had far more gator-encounter experience than I.
Yikes!
I'm glad, too, that you didn't have all the kiddos with you when you discovered that guy!
I enjoyed that story very much. After showing it to dw this morning, I forgot to say that!
Yup, great story....and great reflexes! I'm sure youre students enjoyed the story immensely too! I was ROTFL at the part where you were chunking pinecones at his head. Definitely a comic scene even if you were in a pickle.
-Julie
Great story!
That makes sense, Stever Irwin is always jumping from one side to the other. I just lovee his movie, but don't recall the name.
My kids may not need life jackets or fishing licenses, they may not get that close to the water LOL
Thought I would post this on here since this is a snake thread. Found this in Google Images. I was looking for King Snakes and found a two headed snake photo. http://www.dimijianimages.com/More-page1/king-snake.htm
We are lucky enough to have a HUGE black King Snake on our property. So far I haven't seen any other snakes, but I'm sure that will change sooner or later. Maybe he's keeping them cleaned out?
This message was edited Mar 12, 2005 10:56 AM
One (two?) of the good guys.
I was down at the edge of the earth yesterday, out in the middle of nowhere, delivering some drilling equipment and when I got out of my truck to put up my gear this thread popped into my head.
Having lived in the country for 17 years I am VERY aware of snakes and how they can be. So yesterday, while standing in mid-calf deep brush, it was a beast rolling up straps, putting up timbers and squaring away the rest of my gear all the time watching out for rattle bugs.
Thanks for the reminder!!!
GRacious! Maybe your big truck scared them away ;-)
"The two heads search and feed independently of each other"
Now, come on, they are joined at the neck. I would say they have to take turns eating. It may be easy to corner the prey, if one head misses the other one wins~!
I saw another story about a two headed snake. Seems they would fight over some morsel. Their keeper had to put an index card between them so at least one of them could eat.
You know, some twins learn how to get along and help one another, and some are constantly at each others' throats!
(No one pounce on me here, I have twin sisters)
Isn't that the truth? DH has twin cousins like that. They aren't necessarily constantly fighting, but they definately talk about each other.... to me.......and I do my best to stay out of the middle of it. I'm friends with both of them and I get to hear it every now and then. Thank goodness they both live in TEXAS. LOL Don't jump on me for that, I love Texas. I just couldn't resist.
As far as the siamese snakes go.... I guess it wouldn't matter if only one got to eat all the time and the other never got to eat, unless they have two stomachs, but that's not likely. Weird concept. Never having to eat but your stomach gets full when you need it.
critterologist
San Jacinto County where I live has alligators most every where.
I actually live on Hwy 59 north of a little town called Shepherd, which is appx 55 from Houston Tx.
Texas is called the (Friendship State) as ya can tell from this forum we believe it. Welcome all!
I was conceived in Ok but mom rushed over to Dallas so I could be born a Texican lol. Much of my younger life was in south east Oklahoma. I edited a post I had made in Jan this year talking about some of my experiences there. http://heycharlieblog.blogspot.com/2005/01/gardening-selling-produce.html
I really enjoyed all my many Uncles and Aunts. We take care of the only Aunt I have left from the family of 11. She is 93 has her own house on our property.
I mentioned talking about snakes here, tha stories started. I remembered some of them. Especially the one where a big rattler struck the side of tha one Uncles Model A Ford.
A Son and family jus came in from Az to stay a while.
Close to where they parked their trailer there was a big, large, bigger than that pile of brush and limbs cut from an oak tree I had done 8 months ago. WHY was it still there?
Samual Clemmons aka Mark Twain said it best.
[Never put off till tomarrow what you can put off forever] One of my many heros lol.
I usually have a number of copperheads each year and yes as of dark thirty tonight it was gone.
I took the tagboard off the heycharlie blog, but I might add a guest book tonight if I hold out long enough.
Should you go there, if you're from___? Brag about it!
________________
Thanks brendabloomer Center, TX for the topic "Beware"
I used to know some Livingston's and Wiggins from your town. Back about 1980 something.
This message was edited Mar 13, 2005 1:11 AM
I have twin brothers six years younger than me! They are as different as night and day. :-)
I have a pair of 2nd cousins Identical twins. If I can find a picture I'll scan it. They play the same guitar, at tha same time. one standing behind the other. Looks like one with 4 arms. Lol they plan at their local church once in a while. Other than that its all rock & roll. mostly 70's. Never could tell them apart!
heycharlie...you're welcome....I still know some Livingstons and Wiggins here. Was in my yard all day yesterday and didn't see any snakes! Lots of lizzards and frogs but no snakes. Had to rescue a tree frog from my round up spraying. Last year I started seeing tree frogs around my plants. Always have toad frogs but usually not tree ones. One of the tree frogs followed my plants to my front make shift GH on my porch and has stayed all winter. I love frogs and have watched him all winter. I've started planting seeds so I hope we don't get any more cold weather!
The Center Tx area is beautiful.
I used to live in the Nacogdoches area. All lf that part of ET was my favorite on a line from Hwy 19 to tha La border lol.
I believe we've had our last frost, here and there. Famous last words huh!
Anything that helps our gardens I respect and protect.
I teach our grandkids that same. Tell them, they're grandpa's helpers.
They think that's great!
Happy gardening to ya
Do we need to start a thread on twins? LOL Hope the rest of ya'll are still keepin gan eye out for those snakes!
If we start one on twins I'll have to join in on it too. My mom had a twin brother. He had - a boy and two girls...My mom had two girls and a boy. Moms brothers son and youngest girl both had twins. None of us had twins!
This morning my boys were play fighting over who got the bathroom first. My mother ocntributed her usual "which on edo you want to be twins?" She likes to tease me, because all my life, I wanted to have twins, and since neither of my twin sisters had any, I thought it would be me. I FINALLY had a good response to her teasing--- "Since twins tend to be opposites, I guess I would want them both to be twins!"
Of course, I stay so busy and multitask, my mother swares I MUST be twins secretly (boy I wish).
While I was deligently digging up nutgrass in my front flowerbed yesterday, I moved a container of snapdragons that I had just moved 2 days ago. Curled up beneath it was a young (about 18 inch) snake which was like none I had ever seen before. I didn't take the time to try to look at it close enough to ID it because I didn't want to put the pot back on top of it and I knew it would take off pretty fast. I went to find a box to put it in, but by the time I got back it was gone. I should have taken more time to observe it because now I don't know what kind of snake it is. If I don't know the iD of a snake that is inhabiting my yard, I usually capture it until I can make an ID. If it is harmless, I place it back where I found it.
I recognize most poisonous snakes. I capture them and then release them on our deer lease. I have killed only one rattlesnake. It was in August one year and we hadn't had any rain for quite some time. I was watering a flowerbed in my backyard and I glanced down to see what was moving. It was a small rattlesnake swimming in the water. By reflex, I grabbed a hoe that just happened to be against the fence and chopped it's little head off. I felt bad after I had killed it.
I went on pulling nutgrass and never saw the critter again. I'll check under the pot again today to see if it went back there to keep warm last night.
We used to have 2 large and 1 small "pet" alligators when I was growing up. They were not very cuddley. They hibernate in cold weather and are in a deep "sleep". When it was going to freeze, my brothers hogtied them and put them in the bathtub in our house. The warmth would cause them to start coming out of hibernation a bit. We used to really have fun with our friends. We would send them into the bathroom to retrieve a towel for us or they would go in to use the restroom and the alligators would hiss very loudly. Of course, we would be waiting outside the bathroom door laughing as our scared friends ran out.
One night there was going to be a hard freeze. The alligators had become too large to put in the bathtub. My brothers put them in our old cadillac and covered them with blankets. Unfortunatley, it was a lot colder than it was supposed to be so the poor things froze. The 2 foot long baby one was frozen solid like a popsickle so we knew it was a goner. We waited to see if the other 2 would survive and come out of hibernation. The female never did and the large male's tail had frostbite which turned into gangrene. He had to be put to sleep. We were very sad that we let this happen to them.
:-) and :-(
Haha [ :-) and :-( ]
Hey htop
Use to be stationed at Camp Bullis http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-bullis.htm in 1951.
On those 12,000 acres you could, probably still find Rattle Snakes to your hearts content. Big dens of them!
Many deer also and centipedes, which we dreaded cause we lived in 4 man tents. They came visiting in tha dark of night!
______
A friend kept alligators as pets. Had a few to many one night and kissed one. Once!
John
shaved to close, should have know better:
Well, last week I saw one of those snakes that came out of hibernation... Yikes!
See this thread for the story...
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/495161/
I get the same scowl if I shave too often!
heycharlie, I bet there are still lots of rattlesnakes at Camp Bullis. I haven't seen a centipede in so many years that I can't remember the last time I saw one. All those legs must have tickled a lot. I never kissed my alligators ... not even once. I guess it was because I never partook of alcholic beverages. :o) Better be careful with that shaving too close ... you don't look like a happy camper.
Sweezel, a copperhead is venomous, but its venom is not as deadly as a rattlesnake's nor coral snake's. But, it can still cause some serious side affects. I love its color and patterning. The photo you posted show it very nicely.
Zone 8b, Broaddus, near Nacogdoches, southeast TX
Thanks to all for sharing your experiences in Thread titled, TEXAS GARDNERS B E W A R E H! I'm convienced, after reading your comments, that I will definately have an add-on plant room to my home on the shores of Lake Sam Rayburn. I have seen snakes, alligators, spiders.......Oh and every kind of bug and fungi.
Turkey Hill Wilderness is a Government owned/managed piece of property in Angelina National Forest, very near my home. They recently released a huge number of young Timber Rattlers there! There is also a "walking/bike trail" in the same area! IMAGINE!
I agree with Brenda Bloomer, Zone 8b, Center, TX that "the only good snake, is a DEAD snake"
In Genises God said nature was created for Adam to manage. He did not say Adam was created for nature to manage. Go figure.
Can anyone identify the 2-headed, black & white snake? Also, does anyone have a pic of the Kingsnake?
As a small child (9 years old), I encountered this one big snake which had another snake half swallowed!! I had a pitchfork in hand; I was using it to make a "playhouse from leaves" under a big tree canapy. I jammed the pitch fork prongs through the snakes. I ran about 200 yards to get GrandPa to help me deal with this trauma. When we arrived on the scene, minutes later, both snakes were gone. I can only assume, one was a "King Snake"?????
I will do a thorough study, with pictures, of each East Texas snake, on my PC.
In the meantime, my pot plants will stay on deck until my Plant Room is complete.
Stay safe!
Stay calm now! Everythings gonna be fine.
Well, maybe snakes were created to help Adam manage an infestation of rodents.....
Keeping safe is mostly a matter of not stepping on them by accident and of giving them their space when you see them. I'm guessing we'd be astonished at the number of people bitten each year while trying to kill a snake.... Let them do their thing.
You may be able to keep alligators & maybe snakes out of your planned plant room, but good luck keeping out the spiders. They have completely invaded our house. Used to be, if I found a spider, I'd carry it carefully outside so it could eat other bugs I didn't like, but I'm not quite as good about that any more since we are just overrun with them.
*LOL* So far I haven't seen snakes..but I can send out several Gator warnings. This is the "pet" my husband has at work. Seems they have several but this one likes to travel more than the others so he's easier to see.
Hey Sudie! We used to live in the Powell Park area on Rayburn. Never ever saw a rattler around there. Lots of copperheads though! Some cottonmouths too. We really miss living on the lake...especially my son. He still has the kids from Broaddus over to visit often. He played basketball with them (of course!). Now he's in Shelbyville & it's just not the same - seems they are much more into football!
Good luck avoiding the snakes! Also watch out around the blackberry bushes. :)
That black and white snake is a King Snake or did someone already say that?
Wasn't the two-headed one also a King? I have heard nothing but "Two headed king snake!" from my kids whenever they talk about killing rattlesnakes ever since I showed them that picture. They just don't believe me that king snakes are supposed to have only one head! LOL
Welcome to DG, araness! Glad your hubby knows the gators are there and stays clear of them. I don't think I could ever live in a place with gators around...
I was feeling pretty good, now I'm afraid to go out. (Shudder!) Gators, rattlers, and spiders. Oh my!
A week ago this last Sunday, in Austin, my sister almost stepped on a snake (area between her deck and driveway.) Boy were we surprised, but I was just upset I didn't have my camera handy to take a pic for this thread! He (or maybe she) seemed to be trying to shed some skin using the gravel area.
After reading these posts today, I rode around our property on the Gator looking for the SERPENTS! Darn, no luck. Don't worry though, I'll have some pics of our East TX Timber rattlers before too long I'm sure!
Set out a piece of plywood with a board under it. Probably be a snake there before you know it!
boy, aren't you the risk taker John.... let's not just hunt for snakes to take pics of, let's invite them over LOL