I'd just about had it. I work and slave to provide a nice pond but
Bob won't even comb the weeds in the morning, much less get me a beer
or anything. I know Bob goes out and parties and who knows what all
in the palmetto palms behind the pond but he never leaves a note,
never calls, never tells me when he plans to return. Like I say, I'd
just about had it. I had half a mind (and many would claim that even
that is an exaggeration) to let the pond just dry up and then where
would he go?

So I grabbed my scoped pellet rifle and went out to the pond, hoping
that shooting a few weeds might help calm me down. The weeds had
regrown in the middle of the pond a bit, and now there were some empty
dragonfly nymph exoskeletons on them. I'd shoot off the dragonfly
nymph husks, then nail the weed it was hanging on. After about half
an hour of this what to my eyes should appear than Bob slinking down
the far bank and into the pond.

I hadn't seen Bob for over a week and was beginning to think that he
had probably moved on. I know that snakes don't have ears, and so he
couldn't have heard what I was doing, but snakes are acutely sensitive
to vibration, so I doubt he was unaware of me and the disturbance
caused when the pellet would strike the surface of the pond. Didn't
seem to bother him at all though.

So now Bob is back in the pond, and the weatherguessers are even
predicting some rain for tomorrow. We could use it, we finished up
May with a whopping 3/4 inch of rain, and we are over 30 inches behind
already. Lake Okeechobee (the second largest lake in the US) is at a
record low.
--
Galen Hekhuis
"Mistakes were made"

Glad to see Bob slithered back into
town.

DH talked to the vet today about what to
do if he ran into rattlesnakes again with
the dogs. Vet said bites are rare but they
already had one dog bit this year. Anti venom
costs about $500+ and then there is after
care. Still cheap at twice the price.

k :-)

"k" wrote:

Glad to see Bob slithered back into
town.

DH talked to the vet today about what to
do if he ran into rattlesnakes again with
the dogs. Vet said bites are rare but they
already had one dog bit this year. Anti venom
costs about $500+ and then there is after
care. Still cheap at twice the price.

k :-)


We had our dogs vaccinated for rattlesnake venom a couple of years ago. They
get a booster every spring. While it doesn't work for every variety of
rattlesnake, it seems like cheap protection. I have dragged more than one
snake out of my yard, so I know they are here. I would just ignore them, but
dogs always seem to lead with their noses!



San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

On Sat, 2 Jun 2007 11:13:48 CST, San Diego Joe
wrote:

We had our dogs vaccinated for rattlesnake venom a couple of years ago. They
get a booster every spring. While it doesn't work for every variety of
rattlesnake, it seems like cheap protection. I have dragged more than one
snake out of my yard, so I know they are here. I would just ignore them, but
dogs always seem to lead with their noses!

Had a friend who told me about gathering the pigs and driving them
into the wooded area of the farm and turning over logs and disturbing
snakes. Once the pigs discovered the snakes they began to actively
hunt them. Of course rattlesnakes weren't the only kind they ate, but
he believed it kept the place fairly safe for the dogs.

Maybe you could borrow a few pigs every spring?

Regards,

Hal

San Diego Joe wrote:

"k" wrote:

Glad to see Bob slithered back into
town.

DH talked to the vet today about what to
do if he ran into rattlesnakes again with
the dogs. Vet said bites are rare but they
already had one dog bit this year. Anti venom
costs about $500+ and then there is after
care. Still cheap at twice the price.

We had our dogs vaccinated for rattlesnake venom a couple of years ago.
They get a booster every spring. While it doesn't work for every variety
of rattlesnake, it seems like cheap protection. I have dragged more than
one snake out of my yard, so I know they are here. I would just ignore
them, but dogs always seem to lead with their noses!

Yeah - we don't have poisonous snakes, but one of our dogs has a similar
weakness for porcupines. Rarely fatal, but after a half-dozen visits to
the vet (and if it's anything under a couple of hundred quills I can
usually handle it myself) we're well up to the "twice the price" figure of
that anti-venom.
--
derek
- Unless otherwise noted, I speak for myself, not rec.ponds.moderated
moderators.