2023 Urban Bigfoot, Seriously?

[VAfooter]

Had an issue with the Eastern Rat Snake last year. Normally, I rarely see snakes in the yard here. We have woods around us and fields on one side and across the road as well. Anyway, mowing the grass last April, I found a couple of them in love rolling around in the azaleas by the house. They were pretty oblivious to me. They finished up, smoked a cig, and went on their way.   I estimate they were around 4-5 feet in length. A couple of days later, heard the dogs barking like crazy in their run at the back of the house.  They bark frequently, so not a big deal. The wife said that something was up, as this was not their normal barking style. I went and looked and one of our dogs had one cornered in the run. I ran out there and got the dogs back into the house. Eventually, the snake moved off to a hole that allowed it to go under our porch. The porch is attached to the house and is part of the dog run. Not good. This one was probably five feet, if not more. Had a few more encounters with this one over the summer. I was worried as I had read a story last spring about a guy in SC who saved a fawn from being killed by a large rat snake. Our dogs are not tiny, but they are not nearly as large as a fawn, they range from 15-35 pounds. I did not want to plug the hole(s) under porch as I did not want to trap it in there and it die or something. Over the winter I did plug the holes. 

 

Last fall I found one heading along the base of the house. I watched to see where it would go. It headed over to the brick wall of the house and then proceeded to climb straight up the wall, to a window, up the window to the top, over the window, and then back down the wall. Amazing... Nothing to hang on to except the wall. And the area around the window was wood. They are excellent climbers.

 

Only have seen one this spring, a smaller one, maybe three feet or so, heading towards the house. I was looking out a window when I saw it. I do not mind them around, just stay away from the house....   

[Incorrigible1]

33 minutes ago, VAfooter said:

Had an issue with the Eastern Rat Snake last year. Normally, I rarely see snakes in the yard here. We have woods around us and fields on one side and across the road as well. Anyway, mowing the grass last April, I found a couple of them in love rolling around in the azaleas by the house. They were pretty oblivious to me. They finished up, smoked a cig, and went on their way.   I estimate they were around 4-5 feet in length. A couple of days later, heard the dogs barking like crazy in their run at the back of the house.  They bark frequently, so not a big deal. The wife said that something was up, as this was not their normal barking style. I went and looked and one of our dogs had one cornered in the run. I ran out there and got the dogs back into the house. Eventually, the snake moved off to a hole that allowed it to go under our porch. The porch is attached to the house and is part of the dog run. Not good. This one was probably five feet, if not more. Had a few more encounters with this one over the summer. I was worried as I had read a story last spring about a guy in SC who saved a fawn from being killed by a large rat snake. Our dogs are not tiny, but they are not nearly as large as a fawn, they range from 15-35 pounds. I did not want to plug the hole(s) under porch as I did not want to trap it in there and it die or something. Over the winter I did plug the holes. 

 

Last fall I found one heading along the base of the house. I watched to see where it would go. It headed over to the brick wall of the house and then proceeded to climb straight up the wall, to a window, up the window to the top, over the window, and then back down the wall. Amazing... Nothing to hang on to except the wall. And the area around the window was wood. They are excellent climbers.

 

Only have seen one this spring, a smaller one, maybe three feet or so, heading towards the house. I was looking out a window when I saw it. I do not mind them around, just stay away from the house....   

I read your post and at first chuckled a little. I thought more, utilized Duckduckgo, and found the report you'd seen (https://www.fieldandstream.com/survival/snake-attacks-deer-georgia/ .)

 

I guess even with infinitesimal chances something can happen, it can still occur.

 

Birds of prey occasionally succumb to ratsnakes and other large American snakes, but this incident fairly boggles!

 

I kept a Western (black) ratsnake several years, and I'm quite familiar with them. I'm dumbstruck.

[JumboJimJabrony]

When I'm bitten by a venomous snake I typically bite it back to assert dominance. The high concentration of caffeine in my saliva from my daily coffee intake will cause it to become very productive, then shortly succumb to a heart attack and die. 

[norseman]

11 minutes ago, JumboJimJabrony said:

When I'm bitten by a venomous snake I typically bite it back to assert dominance. The high concentration of caffeine in my saliva from my daily coffee intake will cause it to become very productive, then shortly succumb to a heart attack and die. 

Pictures….or it never happened!😉

[JumboJimJabrony]

45 minutes ago, norseman said:

Pictures….or it never happened!😉

This is all I got after I got done. 

 

 

[Catmandoo]

^^^^^ Looks dried out..........needs snake oil to rejuvinate them.

[guyzonthropus]

I was bitten by an 18" cottenmouth when I was 17, it was a pet my folks didn't know about. I went to my girlfriend's place where I soaked my hand in cold water for a couple hours. Went home, couldn't sleep, came up with a plausible story for the folks. Saw my pediatrician around noon the next day. He said it looks like I might have been bitten by a snake! Five hours later I was at the USC medical center speaking to one of the nation's top venomologists, telling him my story, my folks in the room. He asks them to leave and gives me the look! My story was it must have been a southern pacific rattlesnake out side my room, when in fact it was a water moccasin, whose venom is far less virulent. He knew it wasn't a southern pacific. Sent me to the hospital for observation, as it was already too late for antivenin. Still got a funny finger 43 years later 

 

 

Even the biggest rat snake won't eat a dog

[Huntster]

7 minutes ago, guyzonthropus said:

.......Still got a funny finger 43 years later........

 

Joint problem?

[guyzonthropus]

It works differently.... I play bass and it's my right middle finger, the tip points down rather than forward and there's more of a curve to the lines...it's better for tapping than plucking strings!

[ThePhaige]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:04 AM, Lake County Bigfooot said:

So I ask you, do you think that Bigfoot will actually live on the outskirts of large Metropolitans? As I sit here in Dunedin Florida on vacation,

I am reminded of a class A sighting that took place in Clearwater. This was on the bay side of the peninsula, where a little inlet and mangrove area invades the shoreline. The woman was in a early morning dog walking habit, and 

this thing was probably reacting to the dog. I think she heard it at first and eventually saw it, but this is right across the bay from Tampa. I studied the topography and there was a power line easement and the shoreline it could use

to travel... that was too urban for me...freaked me out a bit.

 

 

Clearwater is where a good many things went down in my experience, also in Tarpon Springs up by the Anclote river ... They swim in the Anclote and probably all the water spots in these areas  

 

Take time to track the Pinellas trail... it leads through all of these areas and ends up in Tarpon somewhere... which is not far from Starkey Park

another place where many A accounts happen.  Many years ago I did a very detailed post on this forum showing the travel routes in Florida...where my encounters etc happened and when... Believe it or not they love Golf courses along the Pinellas trail to hang and do what they do back and forth.  In the Golf courses they have huge trees and plenty of a sawgrass like bushy thing they like to burrow under, literally like under a carpet of roots and make a pocket in there and sleep ... anyhoo... imagine during the day when they sleep your golf ball rolls over one sleeping under the ground there and ya might have literally "chipped off a SSq" ... haha

 

 

[georgerm]

On 5/17/2023 at 3:29 PM, JumboJimJabrony said:

This is all I got after I got done. 

 

 

Lots of fine leather work.

[guyzonthropus]

Those boots are actually made from the skin of a reticulated python, from SE Asia. I used to keep them as pets. Had one that reached 12.5' before a winter storm knocked out the power and froze nearly my entire collection. A friend of a friend had a pair of boots like that, after his first visit where I asked him not to wear those to my house again, every time he did I wouldn't let him in (snake keepers! Am I right? Sheesh!) 

 

As for the black rat snakes, while they can reach 7' they're still a relatively slender snake, and even one that size isn't going to try to eat a fawn! what may have happened is that in the act of grazing, it woke the snake who only saw the face, and thinking that the size of something edible, it latched on, only to find the fawn considerably larger than it thought. I once had a 9'  python that lived loose in my reptile room latch onto my foot as I walked past the chair it was behind. I was barefoot so I figure it's heat sensing pits picked up the heat of my foot moving by  But the rest of me was shielded by the chair so what it "saw" was just something foot sized. It wrapped up my leg, and I couldn't get anything under its teeth so I hopped to the bathroom and ran him under cold water, which convinced him to let go. Never even apologized! But that's another example of the snake realizing only after the fact that it grabbed something much larger than it could ever hope to kill, much less swallow!

Edited July 9, 2023 by guyzonthropus

[Twist]

4 hours ago, guyzonthropus said:

Those boots are actually made from the skin of a reticulated python, from SE Asia. I used to keep them as pets. Had one that reached 12.5' before a winter storm knocked out the power and froze nearly my entire collection. A friend of a friend had a pair of boots like that, after his first visit where I asked him not to wear those to my house again, every time he did I wouldn't let him in (snake keepers! Am I right? Sheesh!) 

 

As for the black rat snakes, while they can reach 7' they're still a relatively slender snake, and even one that size isn't going to try to eat a fawn! what may have happened is that in the act of grazing, it woke the snake who only saw the face, and thinking that the size of something edible, it latched on, only to find the fawn considerably larger than it thought. I once had a 9'  python that lived loose in my reptile room latch onto my foot as I walked past the chair it was behind. I was barefoot so I figure it's heat sensing pits picked up the heat of my foot moving by  But the rest of me was shielded by the chair so what it "saw" was just something foot sized. It wrapped up my leg, and I couldn't get anything under its teeth so I hopped to the bathroom and ran him under cold water, which convinced him to let go. Never even apologized! But that's another example of the snake realizing only after the fact that it grabbed something much larger than it could ever hope to kill, much less swallow!

I had a red tail boa latch onto my hand, just a little guy at a bit over 6’.   I must have pulled back hard enough upon bite that he broke a tooth off in my hand.   A few weeks later that tooth was a red spot that upon scratching pushed out of my skin.    There I held a small snake fang in my fingers while at work.   Lol.   They are amazing creatures but they are 100% driven by instinct and natural reaction.     

[Huntster]

On 4/21/2023 at 5:52 AM, Huntster said:

........I was in pretty bad shape when we got to the car, and my girlfriend (never driven before, especially a muscle car with a four speed) almost killed us both on that mountain road in just the very few additional miles to the ranger station........

 

That girlfriend passed away today :(

[guyzonthropus]

Twist...I have a pair of Suriname red tailed boas I've raised from babies born in 2017. The female is approaching 8' now with the male about a foot shorter. When they strike their prey, despite it being frozen/thawed, they hit it like a freight train, always have(though early on it was more like an HO set!) While I've avoided getting bit by either, I wouldn't relish such an experience. But like any creature that interacts with its environment, they are capable of learning and are also subject to operant conditioning. 

I've probably had snake teeth in my hands but I'm sure more often it's the teeth of young (36" or less) monitor lizards, as they seem more apt to catch my fingers! And unlike the snakes, they'll hang on for a few minutes, chomping down more every 30-40 seconds just to remind a monkey of the imminent peril they're in!! Lol