Posted on 06/07/2012 11:58:28 PM PDT by Theoria
It's the talk of at least one part of Columbia and it all started Tuesday with a phone call from a concerned neighbor.
Heathwood resident Andrew Philson got a call about a snake in his backyard and thought he'd be finding a small garter or black snake, but got the shock of his life when he saw the beast slithering up one of his trees.
That snake has slithered his way into the national spotlight. First, WIS, then CNN, Fox, even the Drudge Report. Why? Well, it's a big snake and who knows how long it had been sneaking -- or snaking -- around in Philson's backyard?
One thing Philson does know, the darn thing was huge. "I'm saying 15 to 20 feet long," he said.
Philson lost track of the snake shortly after taking the pictures, which have now shown up on TV monitors and web sites all over the world. They've also led to some criticism from people including South Carolina Department of Natural Resources snake expert Steve Bennett.
Bennett says it's a rat snake, plain and simple -- a common and useful creature and one that as far as anyone knows, never gets anywhere close to the size claimed by Philson.
"What happens is when people see these things, they are so shocked and probably scared, it changes their whole way of thinking," Bennett said.
Philson does not seem like someone prone to panic, even in the presence of an oversized reptile. A former state trooper, Philson recently served a tour of military duty in Afghanistan.
"I know that when I testified in court in my previous job, that accuracy counts," Philson said.
"People who are otherwise fairly honest and you know, straightforward people, will see something like that and just automatically overestimate and exaggerate the size of it," Bennett said. "It's just human nature.
A wildlife removal company is planning to conduct an all-out search for the snake on Thursday.
But...but....but....
The Disapproving Doberman said he would only approve of my post if I pinged you.
(Or is this a clever canid con to tempt me to post, only to disapprove the posting?)
Ping me some more.
I mean it.
If you don’t, I’ll stomp my little feet and then type real mean at you.
Ping for great meanness
?
Hey is that your bed?......... It looks just like our bed...... with different colors of dogs of course. :D
This just reminded me of a funny story. Back when we had many kitties, we had just gotten our 7th and one of the others decided to move out. He would come home every few days and sit in the back yard with his back to the house. When we would go out and try to catch him he would run away.
One day he show up wearing a collar and that day we caught him. I wrote a note and pinned it on his collar.
The note said “My name is Pussum and Elizabeth doesn't like for me to wear a collar”.
Next time we saw him he was not wearing the collar. He never moved back permanently so I guess the other house was more to his liking.
Don't you know that it's more important to promote one's personal fear and engage in hysteria than to promote educating one's self and post data?
Besides, everyone knows that rat snakes hide in dark corners waiting for innocent kittehs to devour.
Like these kittehs.
Admit it; you hate kittehs, don't you ?
AWwwwwwww! Ten little Kittehs.
All curled up together in a basket, dreaming little Kitteh Dreams.....
.....of slaughter, blood and devouring slightly killed animals.
A litter of kittens would be a difficult meal for a rat snake. A snake can eat a meal that is 1 to 1.5 times it's body diameter. That's it. Maybe kittens a few days old might be at risk but not likely. The snake in those pics is a sub adult. The reason you can tell is that you can see the markings on it's back. As black rat snakes age, those markings will disappear until the snake is almost perfectly black with a white belly. At most, it's 3 to 4 feet long. It will eat mice, young rats, young birds, etc. It's not going to be doing much of anything to children, cats or dogs.
There is a lot of misinformation out there about snakes. A lot of people are terrified of snakes and there really isn't a reason to be. A black rat snake is a very good animal to have around. They do more to protect you than you'll ever realize.
And yes, I know about snakes. We keep about 30 snakes as pets and I am able to interact with several snakes that reside around our house including garter snakes, black rat snakes, ring neck snakes and others.
Here's a pic of my daughter with one of her pet snakes...
You’re daughter is very pretty. Hey, speaking of snakes. The other day in the hallway my cats were playing with something. It looked like worms. 2 of them. One they chewed up pretty badly, but when I went to grab them to put outside, I noticed they were not worms, but snakes! About 5 inches long and as thin as pencil led. Now, I’m waiting to wake up and see my house invaded with snakes. Why and how did they get in my hallway.....and only 2?
Probably had a clutch hatch under your house. Not really uncommon though it can be a surprise. One of our “tame” black rat snakes met me in our kitchen one night. I still to this day do not know how he got in but I put him outside and he hasn’t been back inside since.
Can you get a picture of the little snakes? I’d be curious to see what they are.
I will get a picture if I see another one. I’m watching every day. I threw the two out already....I don’t need anymore pets...lol
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