5
2
votes
Article Rating
24APR2021 – Photo of the Day
Orion's Cold Fire
All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
That’s a robust fellow there.
He has a colorful history that I documented in photos. He was being swallowed feet first by a large garter snake when I came upon the scene. A good environmentalist would have stood back and let nature and the garter snake’s skills take their course. But I have history with that toad. He lives near a pen where I let my dogs out at night to keep them away from coyotes. So I see this toad on a regular basis and have become kind of neighborly toward him. The snake I can take or leave. So I stepped in and… Read more »
I think you were right to violate the Prime Directive to save your toady friend.
The toad just seemed more like a Trump guy to me. The snake had more of a Biden vibe about him. Judgement call.
Snakes tend to be deceitful, slithering punks. I can definitely see this toad in a MAGA hat.
*toad, I should say.
Well, I don’t like to make sweeping judgements based on phylogeny but garter snakes and water snakes are notorious progressives. They came out strong for Obama back in the day.
Don’t be so dismissive of snakes. If I could I would breed them around here if I could, especially rodent eating snakes. So far, rodents have eaten the entire wiring harness from my ocean going fishing boat, including motor controls, instruments, lights, and navigation and communication systems. Not sated, they went after my truck and have caused multi-$thousands in damage. Somewhere around 12 years ago, wiring insulation was changed from petroleum based to soy based because it is more environmentally friendly. It is also apparently tasty. Houses have burned down because. In the meantime, lets hear it for the rat… Read more »
Tom, if only I still had the rat snake collection I used to keep and breed. I had black, yellow and everglades subspecies of the American rat snake Elaphe obsoleta and both the Eastern and the Western varieties of fox snakes. But I was more partial to the Old World rat snakes like the Russian, the Vietnamese and Sichuan Mandarin rat snakes and the Aesculapian rat snake. I kept these and another dozen varieties but finally got tired of all the work. I do wish I had kept the mandarins though.
Apparently, you are far more advanced than I in the classification of rodent eating snakes. My personal system is pretty much limited to rodent eating snakes and non-rodent eating snakes. Rodent eating snakes are good, other varieties, not so good to various degrees.
Lots of pigmy rattlers around here that keep emergency rooms employed.
I never went in for the venomous snakes. They’ve been illegal in all the states I’ve lived in. But I’d like to believe that I was too reasonable to keep them. Even if there were no children around I’d have to say the risk isn’t worth the fascination of something dangerous.
But I understand your admiration for their rodent eliminating skills. But unfortunately the rodents will never be eliminated entirely. they’re just too prolific.