Long, thin, black critter
 

There are a number of people who spend a great deal of time to find
the most exotic color or elaborate fins of some fish. They revel in
the knowledge that their fish is somehow unique in the annals of pond
keeping. I just have a long, thin, black critter called "Bob." Since
"snake" has such negative connotations for many it shall henceforth be
referred to as an SBR (Southern Black Racer). We just missed (it got
down to 33 here) the freeze in early April so the plants are very
happy, except there has been very little rain here, so many of them
died. At least they died happy. The pond would have dried out by
now, except for the garden hose I run in it. I sure didn't have to
last year. That fire up in Waycross, Georgia is a few counties and a
state from here, so I'm in no danger from it, but the Suwannee River
(for which this county is named and bordered by) rises up there. The
whole Suwannee River valley is quite simply parched.
--
Galen Hekhuis
"Mistakes were made"

Long, thin, black critter
 

Black racers are not tameable. We used to have one...it struck and
struck. Never got used to being handled. Corn snakes made good pets.

Jim

Long, thin, black critter
 

On Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:20:55 CST, Phyllis and Jim
wrote:

Black racers are not tameable. We used to have one...it struck and
struck. Never got used to being handled. Corn snakes made good pets.

Jim

Yeah, but this is a *southern* black racer. :^) Anyway, the pond
(big puddle) is bowl shaped, and with as little rain as we've had it
is 4-7 feet down to the water. As cute and cuddly as it is, I don't
see myself getting anywhere near the SBR.

Long, thin, black critter
 

SBR (Southern Black Racer) sounds like he should
be entered in a NASCAR competition!

k:-)

Long, thin, black critter
 

In .com, on 04/27/07
at 04:20 PM, Phyllis and Jim said:



Black racers are not tameable. We used to have one...it struck and
struck. Never got used to being handled. Corn snakes made good pets.

Black rat snakes are more tameable. In my pre-quadhood days, I caught one
that tamed down almost immediately. He liked hanging around my neck
(because our necks are warm, snakes like that warmth. Problems can arise
with big constrictors, if they start to squeeze - past a certain size,
they shouldn't be placed around a person's neck unless someone else is
there to unwrap the snake, starting at the tail. That's how some dumb
snake owners get killed by their pets. Not a problem with our native
constrictors, as they can be unwrapped by the person they're on.) At that
time, I worked at a summer day camp as the nature guy, and I used to take
him along sometimes. They had a pond there for canoeing, and I'd
occasionally put him down on one side, and pick him up on the other side.


Alan

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