Well after experiencing 97 degree highs the last 13 days and sweltering humidity close to 80% every day since May we finally got a taste of cool weather for the first time today. We got down to a brisk 62 degrees (Yeah I know its laughable, but it sure is nice) today and decided to take our friends up on a buggy ride in the woods. As we were riding we ran across this Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnake that was a hair under 6 foot. Notice my wife did not get off the buggy.. RC
The only good rattler is a stretched out dead one... That's a lot of dead rattler! Ralph, is that you in the picture?
Yeah that's my ugly mug.... 8) I thought I could make everyone feel better the next time they look in the mirror... We were just getting started with my buddy's Taj Mahal buggy...We chased a few hogs in about 3 foot of water and got the shine off of it...
Oh yeah I wouldn't want to get down from that buggy either...no telling if Mr. Snake has friends and relatives in the area!!
Hey Ralph I saw a PBS documentary (Nature) on all the non-native species that you guys have in Fla. It was pretty amazing, esp amazing all the pythons that are breeding like crazy, and monitor lizards, and Iguanas as well. They showed footage of huge pythons just slithering along the canals and roadways. Showed them in agricultural fields, said that they frequently get cut up during plowing season but other than that they are expanding their habitat. Scary. Have they invaded the orchards?
Construction workers found one under a pile of debris in Hobe Sound last spring. Hobe is on the east coast, just north of Jupiter and West Palm Beach. Another plague down there at the moment is the iguana. They breed like rabbits and crap like geese. And they can reach 4-6' feet long.
I watched that same show Terry and was amazed at the pythons just around the corner. The closest one to our area was in the town of Okeechobee about 30 miles east of our house. I believe that it measured to be 11'. I noticed the snakes it showed in that zucchini squash field and have to admit that if I was bending over to check out my plants and came eye to eye with what they were showing you would be reading how a central florida farmer died from a heart attack after crapping his pants... :shock: The iguanas are breeding like rabbits down there, we are too cold up in our area of the state to have them but I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow managed it. I know they have a big population of monitor lizards in the Ft. Myers area. I'm hoping before I die that something good will be introduced into the port of Miami. Everything else that sneaks or floats in here from other foreign lands either wants to eat you or kill our crops. Ralph