$99, a snake and a eel

[waksupi]

Great to see you educating him on the snakes. Most snakes are beneficial to the ecology, even the poisonous ones. Learning what to do when you encounter them is a very needed skill. Way back when, I used to catch rattlers and take them to the local hospital to be milked for venom to make antivenom. We would get paid 5.00 a snake and the requirements were to bring it in alive and unharmed and to release it after in the same place it was caught. Nowadays the antivenom is synthetic so no more snake venom is needed and people have pushed how bad snakes are all over the internet. Rattlesnakes will always tell you they are there and to not come closer, If you stop and hold still they will usually move off on their own. If they are protecting their home they will not move but if you slowly back off they will not follow. The one thing to be aware of is some rattlers have lost their rattles through a fight with another animal or shedding that did not go well. The tail will still be going like crazy but no noise.

I used to hunt snakes to collect venom back 50 years ago. Back then, we could milk them in the field and release them again. When they changed it so we had to take them to a lab to have them milked, we stopped hunting them, as having a sack full of snakes to haul around did not appeal to us. We got paid by the gram, and that sure worked out better than $5 per snake!

[Electrod47]

Thanks always for your shares Wolfdog......Obviously, you have a buddy for life.