Snakes in Coal

 
Bruce M
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Post by Bruce M » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 8:41 pm

Anyone ever find snakes in their bulk coal. Reason I ask is because kitty has caught four northern ringneck snakes in the past month. I have aprox 6 tons left from my 12 ton delivery from last year about this time. I cant find any other way they could get down in the basement, just wondering if maybe the came down the shute with the coal. The coal was from the suppliers stock yard, not directly from the breaker. So would it be possible for them to survive in there, not sure as to why we have sever seen them before, no sign of skins or white calcified crap.


 
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2001Sierra
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Post by 2001Sierra » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:00 pm

Holy Crap! I am so afraid of any snake. In 30 years I have never found a snake in my coal.

 
Bruce M
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Post by Bruce M » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:07 pm

They're harmless but kitty brings them up to my wife, sometimes not fully dead, and as you can imagine she's not real happy about it, She is now looking at the coal as the reason for this. I wouldn't think that we wouldn't see any sign of them until now, a full year after delivery, but just want to ask here and see if anyone else has had this experience.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:10 pm

Snakes don't need much of a space to get in---good kitty :)

 
Bruce M
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Post by Bruce M » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:20 pm

The only other penetration through the block wall is for the well water pipe and that is sleeved through a 4" conduit about 3 feet below grade. Do snakes burrow that deep into the ground?
I tried selling the wife on the benifits of having snakes in the house, between kitty and the snakes the field mice have no shot at finding warmth in the house, I don't think she's convinced. ;)

On edit: Hello again Fred.
Last edited by Bruce M on Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Wiz
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Post by Wiz » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:20 pm

2001Sierra wrote:Holy Crap! I am so afraid of any snake. In 30 years I have never found a snake in my coal.


X2. my tighty whities wouldn't be white no more.

 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 9:41 pm

I've seen a lot of coal in my life go across the chute and have seen many things like a blasting cap that failed to detonate. :shock: That I carefully removed with the shovel. Never saw any snakes, doesn't seem like it would be a very hospitable place to make a home or how they would survive the delivery process. They would have to be buried in the coal which is basically like piling hundreds of pounds on top of them.

While on the topic of Kitty be aware of where kitty is when you're getting coal, my Uncle buried a cat once during delivery. Of course he wasn't aware of it until the owner mentioned it the next time he delivered. I would assume the cat got pummeled with the coal, simply couldn't get out of the way fast enough and was instantly buried.


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 10:13 pm

Hey Bruce, oh yeah, they burrow. I've never been curious enough to figure how deep. Had enough keepin an eye open for the two step snakes over to the Nam :woot:

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sat. Aug. 31, 2013 11:36 pm

Snakes are fun! :D

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anthony7812
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Post by anthony7812 » Sun. Sep. 01, 2013 12:41 am

WTF good god smitty. I take pride in my lawn in fact I try to hit the rows just right to have a nice stripe effect. But damnit when I see a snake the hell with the rows! Only good snake is a dead one.

 
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Post by coalnewbie » Sun. Sep. 01, 2013 2:44 am

Goody, 12000 BTU and very low ash.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sun. Sep. 01, 2013 4:08 am

Just a silly fact---I've only seen one grass snake this whole summer compared to the usual dozen or so between the barn, hay barn & house perimeter gardens??? No tent caterpillars at all. Hmmmm????????????????????

 
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stovepipemike
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Post by stovepipemike » Sun. Sep. 01, 2013 6:46 am

I hate snakes.Recently when a pal offered his downed maple to me for firewood I said I'll be right there.We got the truck close and as I started to load he said,wait a minute Mike,we need a rake.Why do we need a rake to load chunks of wood I asked ? He said because yesterday when I was cuttting this tree, I moved a log and there was this brownish copper colored snake about 2' long came out mad at me. Ot Oh! I said ,Was it a Copperhead? He said,The only thing I know about snakes is that I hate every single one of them. I said ,What was the shape of the head? He said "sorta like a triangle". I said ,Better get two rakes. Man oh man. do I hate snakes. Even when I was unloading the "rounds"I was moving mighty slow and careful.Got the creeps from it.I hate snakes. Mike

 
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Post by dcrane » Sun. Sep. 01, 2013 6:50 am

OK... thanks for the nightmares :fear: My son will be getting the coal buckets from downstairs from now on :mad2:

 
Bruce M
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Post by Bruce M » Sun. Sep. 01, 2013 6:52 am

Yeah I steer clear of the copperheads and timber rattlers but Smitty up there has a few screws loose I think :shock:


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