evan's ant village log

This is a national map listing the range of the nine western rattlesnake subspecies. Looks like Evan is safe, but I doubt the snakes looked at the map before they left home.



Above copied from - http://www.birdfotos.com/misc/snakes/grand-canyon-ratler/g-c-rattler.htm
Below copied from - http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/master.html?http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/features/0700_feature.html

...but this map shows prairie rattlers could be in the area - so error on the side of caution.




- L. Daniels

Last one, This is from Montana.gov It has a pdf snake ID poster you can download. .....Nope, not a rattlesnake.

http://fwp.mt.gov/recreation/safety/wildlife/snakes/


- L. Daniels

Lee Daniels wrote:

This is a national map listing the range of the nine western rattlesnake subspecies. Looks like Evan is safe, but I doubt the snakes looked at the map before they left home.

Above copied from - http://www.birdfotos.com/misc/snakes/grand-canyon-ratler/g-c-rattler.htm
Below copied from - http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/master.html?http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/features/0700_feature.html

...but this map shows prairie rattlers could be in the area - so error on the side of caution.

- L. Daniels

I was afraid this would happen! :D I thought about specifying "West of the Cascades," but that seemed really specific and most people on here probably don't even know where or what "the Cascades" are. I really like this website: http://www1.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/herp/speciesmain.html. It lists all the amphibians and reptiles in the state of Washington, and their distribution. According to it, the only snakes we have in my area are garter snakes, and--if you're really lucky--the harmless rubber boa.

But, thank you for clarifying for others--I just realized someone might visit Eastern Washington and see a snake and think it's harmless because they read me saying there are no harmful snakes in Washington :o

That snake looks like a Black Rat Snake. Not a problem, unless you are a rat! (or a mouse)

In all, a very nice snake. When I was growing up, we would find one snoozing in the sun after a big meal, put him in a bag for a while, and then we could handle him. (OK, I was a camper, handling the snake after our nature guy at camp bagged him. Still, nobody was ever bitten by the solid black snakes. The Copperheads, those we killed on sight, because they have venom.)

A Black Rat Snake kills like a boa constrictor, by squeezing it's prey. Not a threat to humans, although boy are they strong!

Nicole Alderman wrote:

But, thank you for clarifying for others--I just realized....

I only said something because of the "bug" talk lately. Correct, they are not as many bugs out west, but we have rattlesnakes, cougar/mt. lions, wolves, bears,..... BIGFOOT... hahahaha... but serious shit that will kill you. Apex predators. Top of the food chain. You won't have to worry about the bee stings and bug bites. You'll be cougar poo, or a big bloated poisoned corpse. 911 doesn't matter. When seconds matter, help is minutes away.

on a side note, I read today that a cougar catches its prey 80% of the time..... wanna race one?

Any recent game cam pics? I remember a dead kid (baby goat not child) and a cougar game cam pic. Tim or his wife posted the pics. Without livestock I doubt they'd have a reason to be around, or at least noticeable. But without the dogs, there is nothing to chase them out.

Be safe, they'll sneak up on you. They're hunting.

- L. Daniels

We have two game cams in place. It would be great if somebody would run through the pics they have gathered.

paul wheaton wrote:We have two game cams in place. It would be great if somebody would run through the pics they have gathered.

If they could be emailed in a big file somehow I would be glad to pick them over and post any interesting ones (: not sure how many there is or feasible to email them in bulk though.

kadence blevins wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:We have two game cams in place. It would be great if somebody would run through the pics they have gathered.

If they could be emailed in a big file somehow I would be glad to pick them over and post any interesting ones (: not sure how many there is or feasible to email them in bulk though.

I think the real work is opening it up, swapping the memory card and then sitting down and looking at the images. Which is a lot easier than emailing the images.

Day 63

James and I moved a few tons of rocks over to Ava today. Thanks James! There's lots of projects I'd like to do that will benefit from some stone, and a drystack expert is supposed to be arriving soon, so I thought it'd be a good idea to have some material staged and ready.

A crazy-looking fly landed on my arm and started biting me. It hurt like hell, but I stuck it out long enough to snap a good picture. After shooing it away, I noticed that the little bugger had actually drawn some blood. Yikes. The bugs up here haven't been that bad so far, but the few that are here seem pretty serious.

Damn, I wish we had rocks like that lying around to grab. So many projects could use nice stones.