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A New Respect for Oak Snakes

69 Sleeper Bee

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Tallahassee Florida
Sitting outside by my shop yesterday evening admiring all things Mopar when I hear something falling from the tree above my house, then hear a huge bang on my metal roof and see leaves still falling from above. Well when this happens my cats usually skedaddle but instead ran towards the noise instead so I go to see what it was and I find this Oak Snake coiled around what I thought at first was a mouse but then I see the squirrel tail sticking out. I hear a squirrel above my head around 50' up squawlking and realize the snake must have got one in the nest and somehow fell out to the ground. I knew they would climb trees and get bird eggs out of nests but never new them to get squirrels. It took about 20 minutes to inhale the squirrel and when he stretched out afterwards was around 4' to 5' long which is pretty big for an Oak Snake.
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I hate snakes, I would have been running the other direction....
 
We need one of those Gray Rat snakes around here. The squirrels are over populated.
 
We need one of those Gray Rat snakes around here. The squirrels are over populated.
I'm 13 miles from the Georgia line so we call them Oak snakes around here but yes they are the same thing as a Gray Rat and yes they seem to help keep the critters in balance !
Still had no idea that they ate squirrels as well which is a plus in my mind.
Every 4 or so years the red hawks show up as well and decimate the squirrel population when they really get over populated.
 
I had a f@&#!@! copperhead hit me on the head and shoulders after it fell out of a tree. I didn't get bit. It was probably as surprised as me!
 
I had a f@&#!@! copperhead hit me on the head and shoulders after it fell out of a tree. I didn't get bit. It was probably as surprised as me!
My neighbor goes fishing on the Ochlockonee river just 1000 feet north of us which is wooded and narrow in places and he said Moccasin snakes ( Cotton mouths )would fall out of the trees into the boat from time to time.
I can deal with snakes on land but I draw the line when on a boat, especially a Jon boat.
 
Very rarely do I see snakes around here but there have been some Hawks flying around and every now and then I'll see an owl..... usually hear them before I see them.
 
Very rarely do I see snakes around here but there have been some Hawks flying around and every now and then I'll see an owl..... usually hear them before I see them.
Funny thing is the hawk was squalking in a nearby tree for 20 minutes before the snake and squirrel fell out of the tree so maybe it saw what was going on and it was pissed that the snake was stealing its meal
 
Very rarely do I see snakes around here but there have been some Hawks flying around and every now and then I'll see an owl..... usually hear them before I see them.
Dad lives on Palestine just south of Tyler. Back in the '80's and 90's, we would see bald eagles along with the hawks. The people population has made them more difficult to spot
 
got a lot of rattlers and water snakes here! when I start seeing snakes falling from trees it's gonna look like the desert here! took me 60 yrs. to get use to working arounds bees ,snakes it aint ever going to happen!
Weve had a couple water snakes getting into bass boats this year and scaring the **** out of people,if it was my boat it would have been on fire!
 
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of an Oak snake before. But we’ve got plenty of others here in Arkansas.
 
My neighbor goes fishing on the Ochlockonee river just 1000 feet north of us which is wooded and narrow in places and he said Moccasin snakes ( Cotton mouths )would fall out of the trees into the boat from time to time.
I can deal with snakes on land but I draw the line when on a boat, especially a Jon boat.
Telling my wife about this and she said yeah I can relate to that. She said her grandmother used to take her fishing and a lot of the time the boat would be under the trees and bushes with moccasins sitting in the branches, a few falling into the boat. Her grandma would say they won’t hurt you if you don’t mess with them. Then she would grab a paddle and flick it out of the boat.
 
I’ve had a couple of confrontations with water moccasins and not messing with them was not an option for me. They are one snake that will pursue you and even if they aren’t in the mood to do that, they will not give yield ground to you.
 
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of an Oak snake before. But we’ve got plenty of others here in Arkansas.
The real name is Gray Rat Snake but around here they are always climbing the oak trees thus the name Oak snake. Just like we call Moccasin's snakes Cotton Mouths because when they open there mouths it is white inside like cotton. Its a southern thing !
 
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