A Little Shaken Up

Animal Lover1996 · August 2011

If I had taken two steps farther, I would not be lying in my bed writing this tonight. I was in the basement getting some medicine for my puppy Francis and I walked to the door. I opened the door and took a step outside and heard thus noise. I live in the country and we hear cicadas a lot and this sounded just like them but for some reason today I have been feeling a little uneasy about going outside by myself so I looked down and there is a four foot long Timber Rattler not five feet away from me. If it had wanted to and I had taken two steps forward, it could have bitten me easily. I took off running up the stairs and fell up them (I already had a tremendous headache). My mom and dad came running and I screamed "Snake Snake Rattlesnake!!!" So my dad ran down to look at it and I was so scared I started crying. I watch a lot of nature shows and I know how venomous Rattle Snakes are so I was terrified. My mom was worried about me and checked me over to make sure it didn't bite me. My grandad ended up taking a six foot long pole and pushing it to a place where my dad could shoot it.

lovefrompaige · August 2011

Where I live, Rattlers are SO common, its not even funny. Scorpions as well. You're so lucky right now and I'm SO glad you're ok. That must've been so scary! I remember my first time with a Rattler. . . My (at the time) 4 year old sister and I were walking in the desert (don't ask) haha and she was walking by a tumble weed and all of a sudden we heard a bone chilling noise that neither of us would ever forget. . . She was three feet away from a four foot Diamond Back Rattlesnake. I commanded her to stop, turn around and stomp away, hard. Then I picked her up and we walked in the direction we had just came. She was so shaken up that night she didn't want to be put down. Again, I'm so glad you're ok. . . (: They're very scary animals.

Minx · August 2011

Snakes are horrible. I hate em. I live in the woods so they're very common around here as well. Expect the ones we get are hidden in the grass and theres soo many bugs and stuff that you dont even realize its a snake. I almost grabbed one once on accident. Plus ive almost walked into a few water moccasins. I hate those things. Ugh.

Garnet · August 2011

Oooh Vampy you remember that one time that Scout was trying to play with a snake and you yelled at her to get away and when we got your dad or maybe greg i dont remember who but we got someone up there with us and it was gone??? We have found like three INSIDE our house before so I know the feeling D=

GiftyLover · August 2011

This makes me so sad. I know it was a threat, but killing an animal for warning you it was there is wrong. Moving it away from the house is good or even calling someone to relocate, but shooting it? I'm glad you and your family are okay, but that wasn't right. There are so many options and he even had the decency to warn you before stepping aimlessly. This topic is so offensive to me as I have pet snakes and you talking about "shooting it's head off" makes me want to cry. I can't imagine someone making a post about shooting a dogs head off. I just really wish you would remove this... ; ;

Animal Lover1996 · August 2011

Well I'm sorry you feel that way but we have had several snakes bite our dogs and they were seriously hurt. I get what you are saying and I don't like that it had to die either but I would rather a snake die than one of us or my dogs. We can't really move it away from our house because we live in the middle of nowhere so it would just come back.

GiftyLover · August 2011

"My sister swore she saw it's head fly twenty feet in the air (;" "..it would just come back." Those don't seem like statements that scream remorse to me. I understand that pets and wildlife don't mix, but that comes from living in an area heavily populated with them. Want to know why American Bison are almost nonexistent in North America? Because people were shoot happy. I'm not asking for you to justify the danger to you family, but to be more sensitive to the people here on VP when you post about shooting snakes heads off. Plus, the snake would not just "come back". Maybe another snake, but there is NO guarantee that that one would. You killed an innocent animal and rudely posted it, and snake owners like me, will be offended and sickened.

Garnet · August 2011

Well not everyone can be kept happy. Stop attacking her post with you being "Offended" before you "Offend" her with your not caring about her safety first. She posted her story not to be rude to you or anyone else but to let us know how scared she was. You being offended is your problem. If it offends you that bad. Then don't read this post anymore and ignore it. I'm sorry but I know lots of people that would do the same thing if it was presented to them. Would you rather them try and move it and possibly get bitten? If you don't like this post THAT bad. Don't read it lol I know i sounded rude and im not meaning to but that's my opinion on it. So instead of arguing about this between the two of you and getting in trouble with an Op, just leave her post alone and you two don't argue about who's right. No matter how long you argue. Neither of you will ever be correct the other person. To you, she did a bad hing. To her, she saved herself and her family and pets. To yourselves your BOTH right. To each other your BOTH wrong. You have different opinions about what should have/was done about it. That won't solve anything.

GiftyLover · August 2011

I do care about her safety, all i ask is that she remove that last sentence.

It is completely unnecessary.

Garnet · August 2011

Then that's all you had to say in the very first post instead of making it sound like you didn't even care about what could have happened, love

Alabama · August 2011

Back on topic, please.

Kazuko · August 2011

While I highly disapprove of shooting the snake, general relocation doesn't work with rattlers. They have their set territories, and if you move them, they'll either come back or die. Knew a guy who wound up just collecting the rattlers and keeping them in sizable enclosures and feeding them because moving them wasn't working, he was Buddhist, so killing things? Way out of the question, and he didn't want his guests bit (he owned a mine/gift shop.). Sadly, his place burned down in a huge fire that swept through Arizona, but not before he was able to release the snakes so they'd have a chance to scurry away. My dad recently experienced his first almost-bad-experience while hiking with his shiba. One moment they were walking along, the next, the shiba jumped four feet sideways, and my dad did the same without waiting to see why. Then he heard the rattle. Scary stuff, hiking. It's why I never leave home. 8D

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A Little Shaken Up

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