How to get a closeup of a snake
 

Get down to their level.

Nice picture but I would have been many feet away

My preferred method is to hit the snake over the head with a shovel and then get a much safer close up picture.

Slinky! I haven't seen you in awhile. What have you been up too?.

I wish our resident black snake would let me get that close. He's a real character. Sometimes he zooms through the bushes in the backyard just to watch the cardinals that nest there come screaming out. He once chased my dog back through his doggie door. But when I try to get close enough to pick him up, he just runs away.

Makes me miss our pet rat snake that used to live in our chicken coop back home in Texas. He wasn't exactly cuddly, but he'd let me pick him up if I caught him in a nesting box. Rat snakes are known for being mean, but this big guy (at least 5' long) was a sweetheart. On one cold March evening, I was locking up the coop and found him trying to warm his head under the wing of my favorite chicken "Edith". She was making strange noises, but didn't seem concerned enough to move, and the other chickens were ignoring him altogether. I guess it was just Edith's turn that day.

I have never understood why people are so afraid of snakes. They are so interesting and intelligent -- and pretty. What's the deal?

Agree. I know several people who are terrified of snakes. Saw a woman try to climb up the railing next to the water on the lakewalk at LSL because of a black racer. Only thing is, that railing is made out of rope. To this day I don't know how she avoided tumbling into Lake Sumter.

Nope rope


Danger noodle

Those black racer snakes are great for the landscape here in Florida.
So much so I read where some college around Miami was breeding them to release
in the wild.
They're not poisonous but sure fast.

Funny story. A few weeks ago I walked out back, saw what looked like a small stick on the path and wondered where that came from. Only after I picked it up did I realize it was a baby black racer, maybe 6-8 inches long. I certainly dropped it quickly as it squirmed around in my hand. Don’t know where it went, but I went inside and very quickly washed my hand.

Snake Viewer
 

you are too close!!!

Fear

Snake
 

Looks like you are lining up for a very breaking putt...........hope all is well............:wine:.

Thanks for letting us know you don’t know anything about snakes/nature, and letting us know you kill something you don’t understand.

FYI, Snakes are venomous, not poisonous. They would only be poisonous if you ate one and it poisoned you.

One of the unfortunate things that happen when communication consists merely of typewritten words crawling across a screen. Irony, sarcasm, satire, facetiousness, etc. are not keys on our keyboards. Posters do learn that fact, in time, and to cut the other guy some slack because of it.

I very much doubt that anyone posting here goes around clobbering snakes with shovels.