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Sat 3 May, 2003 05:43 pm
This afternoon my husband and I went to Lettuce Lake Park. It is a lovely place, right on the outskirts of Tampa, although when you are there, you have the feeing that you are deep in the woods.
They have a boardwalk that meanders along swampland along the Hillsborough River, and along Lettuce Lake. At one point in the swamp we saw a snake, that looked pretty big in my binoculars. My husband thought that it might be a cottonmouth, a rather dangerous creature.
Anyhow, we walked on. All of a sudden I see a young man. He had jumped off the boardwalk to the swamp below, and was holding a little snake in one hand, and a digital camera in the other. The snake was posing prettily, and he took some great closeups of the snake's head, with its tongue sticking out.
Anyhow, we were talking for awhile. He was an amateur photographer, who went around shooting wildlife. We told him about the snake that we saw. He told us, no, it probably was just a large water snake. He seemed to be very knowledgable, and told us a lot about the wildlife that he had photographed.
Anyhow, we offered to show him where he saw the snake. We walked awhile, and then I thought that I had spotted the place where we had first seen the snake. I pointed. He takes one look, lets out a whoop, and jumped into the swamp after the snake.
Indeed it was a cottonmouth, or water moccasin. He took loads of pictures of it. He then took a stick, and prodded the snake, so that he could get the snake into another pose. In the meantime a crowd had gathered.
It was so exciting. At one point he admitted that he was really high on adrenalin, because of the dangerousness of what he was doing. Finally the snake slithered away, and we were treated to a peek at some dandy digital pictures!
Did he have an Australian accent and keep referring to Terry?
Wow! I kept expecting the narrative to wind up with... "and then the snake bared its fangs and sunk them into the unfortunate fellow's thigh." Glad nobody was hurt!
Or else DIDN'T have brains. One o' those.
I miss Florida, reading your account. Not for the chance to be chomped by a cottonmouth, but I used to go to Loxahatchie (sp?) swamp and see all kinds of interesting critters on the trails there. Lots of gators, of course, but really interesting birds, snakes, etc. The most interesting thing we ever saw was a pair of otters. Very cute, playful, and BOLD. We got really close (they were cavorting on the raised wooden walkway) before they dived off the edge and swam away through the cypresses.
Here we go:
So a couple of otters were cavorting probably 20 feet away from us on that there boardwalk.
Hmm, I wanna go to Florida!
Phoenix--
Sorry to burst your bubble, but while cottonmouths are venomous they are neither particularly vicious nor is the venom extremely potent.
Like rattlesnakes and copperheads, cottonmouths are pit vipers. The poison travels rather leisurely in the blood stream.
This is the reason so many Snake Handlers--secular and religious--survive.
Here in the Poconos there have been three cases in the last few years of people who have found and handled poisonous snakes being heavily fined for disturbing wildlife. I have no idea how common cottonmouths are in your neck of the woods, but snakes have rights, too.
In my youth I handled both rattlers and copperheads as part of being a Nature Counselor. Snapping turtles are much more difficult to handle. Snapping turtles are NASTY.
Noddy24- In a Florida state park I tripped over a snapping turtle (the one with the long snout) the size of a serving platter!
Lots of dangerous critters in Florida.
While vacationing on Sanibel Island a couple of years ago, we'd gone for a walk on the beach and were just walking back up the walk to the condo when we saw a cottonmouth slithering across the grass and into the bushes with two little children in hot pursuit. Their dad was just standing there, smiling and watching. Someone called out something to him from one of the balconies, couldn't hear what, but he responded, "Oh, they just want see the snake." Right.
The world is divided into 2 kinds of people
1those that think snakes are "neat"
2Thosethat are scared shitless of the things
I fall into category 1 and, all through my kid life I was being told by mothers , teachers, that snakes are deadly.
Just as Noddy stated, unless youre dealing with a boomslang or taipan, you shouldnt worry about snakes , AND you should not kill them as many people do. I find that, in the US, killing snakes is a generally accepted practice by the 'ignorati" and its almost reached a cultural thing
"I kilt me a whole mess a garter snakes, caint have them in the garden with kiiuds"
i usually confront these people , why dont they go out and smack down bluebirds? or hawks? while theyre at it.
farmerman- You are right- What people don't understand, they fear. What bugged me was that the young man jumped knee deep into the swamp. I know that there are rattlers in Florida.......and you don't mess with those!
All in all, I found it very exciting!
I think snakes are cool....just glad dude wasn't up in Algonquin Park prodding a grizzly bear with a stick....a few 'ignorati' have died attempting to take amateur photos of bears.
I loooooove snakes.
Nirvana for a 16-year-old -- standing around at the zoo with a friendly boa coiled around me. People'd see my nice friendly smiling face, then look down, and jump 3 feet in the air. (I worked there.)
Jealous of the guy finding such great wildlife and being able to jump right in after it to photograph. Being a photographer, I have been know to climb out on cliffs to get a shot, which is silly since Im terribly afraid of heights, but the thrill and excitement of the moment overwhelms that all. Great of you Phoenix to help him out, sounds like he certainly enjoyed it a great deal.
When I was down in Florida in the fall I was offered a photographers dream to be excorted out into the glades to a platform where I would be left to photograph whatever came along, I chickened out...ah well.
Snakes are great...and yep, I agree...people either like them or hate them. I was the little tom boy who went out hunting for the buggers and usually just came along them to pick them up, which I do all the time. Most people are idiots when it comes to snakes and like so many other things, they let their fears and/or lack of knowledge do the wrong thing.
Quinn1- I would have not missed it for the world. He was such a gracious guy, and so knowledgeable.
CavFancier--
Last summer a local tourist opened up the family lunch and passed sandwiches and other goodies out to his three kids so he could have picture of them feeding Mama Bear and her cubs!
Everyone survived. Daddy Photographer was heavily fined. He explained that since he'd been divorced and had the kids only every other weekend that he wanted their time with him to be memorable!
Several years ago a book was published by a pair of fools who regularly feed black bears in their yard, on their porch and if I remember rightly, in their living room. In my ethical system this book is obscene and should be banned--and I'm not a book burner.
Noddy24- Some people are so thick headed. They don't realize that when wild animals are fed by humans, they lose their natural fear, and become very dangerous. In Florida, there is a law against feeding alligators, and plenty of idiots still do it!
Phoenix--
Bears are messy eaters and the leftovers are obvious.
I've always thought that IF I were committing a Florida Murder I'd get on noshing terms with at least one large alligator and trust him to dispose of the body when three became a crowd.
I'm a snake person, too.....totally respect them and stay the hell out of their way!
While working in an exotic pet store, a guy came in wanting to purchase a rat snake ~ of course, I just had to be on duty. (I preferred handling the ball pythons above all.) But, I did my duty, reached in and picked up the biggest rat snake we had.....went to hand it to the customer and he pulled his hands back, I dropped the snake, customer shrieked and ran and I spent the better part of two hours hunting and collecting the escapee.
Phoenix ~ we have signs all over the place here to not feed the gators. With a few signs reminding people to keep small pets on leashes!
Phoenix--
I would use the barbeque tongs--or the long spoon I use for supping with the devil.
When I read your post, a picture came to mind. You are sitting on a river bank, sandwich in hand, and tearing it in two. You then hand it to this huge alligator who is looking up at you will those huge, begging reptile eyes!
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