Re: black widows & copperhead snakes (in great number in NC this season)

**G* L* <g*@gmail.com>**

This page has terrific photos of Eastern US snakes
 if you click on the names, the photos come up
Best, Geri

On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. <lflj@bellsouth.net
> wrote:

> On 6/25/2012 3:05 PM, WGardenermag@aol.com wrote:
>
> > All I know if once you have seen one face-to-face, you won't forget it.
>
> That is gospel.
>
> Something I posted to another group on copperheads:
>
>  > I think this is a valid question, particularly with the high number of
>  > copperheads we’re seeing this year.
>
> The warm winter must have had something to do with that. I uncovered a
> 30" X 1.3" diameter copperhead (biggest I have seen here since 1978) in
> a compost pile near my gardens. I was using cardboard boxes, paper trash
> and newspapers to cover Bermuda grass, also added branches from tree
> trimmings at ground level and piled the paper on top. The branches and
> unflattened boxes provided voids where mice could build nests. With
> plenty of room and air the copperhead had settled within the pile for
> easy access to food. I found it as I was loading the pile onto my truck
> to take to another location.
>
> I would imagine that mulching garden paths with flattened cardboard
> boxes might create an environment for mice and copperheads
> since the material will not always lay flat on the ground and even if
> it does mice will still nest under it (they build tunnels and fill
> them with grass) and copperheads will be attracted to them. Adding
> branches and twigs would greatly increase the risk as they decompose
> slower and provide air spaces for nesting and hunting snakes.
>
> Growing in tall, wide raised beds with narrow paths between them (one
> foot, just wide enough to allow access by a wheelbarrow) would
> eliminate most weed problems; plant material cleaned off the beds can be
> used to mulch the narrow paths, provide nutrients, conserve water and
> eliminate invasive weeds. Otherwise hoe, mow or scythe grassy paths
> within gardens. Mulch the beds and mow the paths.
>
> About copperheads: they sense people and animals near them through
> sound vibrations carried through the ground. They are not aggressive
> but will strike if you surprise them or get too close. Their strike is
> lightening fast, faster then you can see and they are strong, able to
> bite a target at a distance greater then the length of their body. The
> middle 60 percent of their body is wide and heavily muscled. I have
> heard that they have more poison early in the season than later in the
> summer and it could be more potent too but I do not know about that
> factor..The baby snakes are also very potent.They feed at night but can
> often be seen during afternoons especially at dusk and on cool mornings
> warming themselves in the sun, another time to be watchful. I
> have encountered and dispatched nine of them since I bought my land.
> Old timers in NC call September, Copperhead September, because they
> seek warm surfaces in the afternoon and at night, masonry, concrete
> and asphalt surfaces, patios, steps, walks, driveways, roads, slabs,
> parking spaces. This period extends into November in the Piedmont.
> I and two of my neighbors each discovered copperheads in these
> locations September of last year and one of them found two in town
> where he was doing a landscape job during February. Often they will be
> where you don't expect them, staying put until you uncover them or get
> too close. In a few words, Eternal Vigilance. An EMT
> told me that the most important thing to do if you get bit is to call
> 911 immediately. Antivenin is available and administered when
> appropriate. I recently heard that antivenin can only be administered
> once in a lifetime, needs verification. It is still a good idea to keep
> a snakebite kit in your first aid kit. Googling this subject would also
> be very worthwhile especially with regard to emergency treatment..
>
> They scare the bejeezus out of me; I had to contend with one in my
> house once. From February to November I do walkabouts with
> eyes glued to the ground in front of me and always carry a walking
> stick, ones that are long and heavy and will make a loud thump on the
> ground when I walk.
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>


-- 
Geraldine Adamich Laufer M.S., APR
404-586-0686
gerilaufer@gmail.com
Twitter http://twitter.com/gardengeri
web http://gardengeri.com
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