Snake on a boat

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

The chair in the river? I’m sure it was either a predator in the water that it tried to escape or the wife was eating something the snake fancied. One thing is sure: the snake was not attacking

The trick is persuading the snake that climbing up your leg is not acceptable, without the snake taking offence.

Not all snakes read Cruisers Forum and therefore they may be unaware of the rules .

Anyway, I would suggest a venomous snake spiralling up your wife's leg is not "good snake" irrespective it's intentions.

[Rowglide]

Raced on a Frers F-3 on Lake Ontario, met a large water snake in the port side galley cupboard . Not proud of my reaction (or anyone else onboard either). It came in through the extended man overboard pole tube.

[JaaaPeee]

We had left our boat in a marina in Yorktown while we attended a wedding. When we returned a few days later, we departed and cruised to the next anchorage where we were meeting our group of boats cruising together. Since we were the first arrivals, we prepared to anchor and wait for our friends. When I opened the anchor locker to prepare to anchor, I detected motion around the rode. Looking carefully I saw that it was a snake of unknown species or origin. We radioed our friends and after several discussions about determining species, other boats arrived with snake identifying tool (book) and a long "Grabber." They grabbed the snake and tossed it overboard. It swam away quite quickly. It was about 6 feet long. Wife wanted to know if it could've gotten into our vee berth, I said no. . . not directly. . . he would have to climb back on deck and come back through an open hatch or companionway. She wasn't totally satisfied with that answer.

[Shrew]

This summer I was anchored beside a guy, which both of us had been anchored for approximately 8 weeks. He was standing at the transom and while we were talking he looked down and exclaimed "There's a snake on my swim platform!".

This is in Rhode Island (Northeastern US), so sea snakes are not really a 'thing' there.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by jipcho

I sail mostly in the tropics, where we encounter "banded kraits" aka sea snakes often enough. Though their bite contains one of the strongest venom types of any snake, but their mouths are small, and the teeth far in the back. They are only a danger if you get your finger way back inside. Also, in the water, they are fairly timid. I have even handled them in the water, by holding them at the neck and allowing them to curl around my arm while scuba diving.

However, I have heard that on land or on a boat (In some places where they're abundant, you might find that one has boarded your dinghy while ashore.) they are dangerous, because they are out of their natural element, and hence more aggressive!

My experience with yellow and black banded sea snakes (don't know the proper name for them) is that they are non-agressive, even when threatened. When pinned down by an object in the middle of their body they did not try to bite, just to escape.

[stimpsonjcat]

Snakes will frequently climb things where they find bird poop on the ground looking for a nest.

So, if there bird poop around the boat, it might have gone looking.

[JPA Cate]

While not having been directly involved ourselves, we have a few stories where snakey invasions occurred on the boats of friends around us. And I guess I should confess that although I grew up where there are a number of different rattlesnakes, they were the only poisonous snake in the vicinity, and I found them interesting.

Anchored in Baie de Prony in New Caledonia on our first visit, we were sharing a spot with two other boats, and were told that when they came back to the boat, there was a blue and black banded sea snake (non-aggressive, but venomous) in their galley sink. The woman let out a scream, an by the time he got to her, she was scrunched up in the forepeak holding a pillow in front of her. The singlehander on the other boat, hearing her screams (a local maths teacher) went over to their boat, and calmly picked up the snake by the back of its head and supporting it halfway down the snake [if you don't support it, it can break their back], took it outside and put it in the water and it swam away. A glass of red all 'round and everything was back to normal.

Another one, many years after, some other New Caledonian friends of ours with a boat had an experience sort of like the one above in the picture, except that he reported his lazarette locker full of blue and black banded sea snakes. The admiral was not pleased. And I think I might have been grossed out if I had seen it. Something about too many of them!

And then, one morning in Fiji, anchored off the yacht club, one of our friends' wives got in to her dinghy to take a load of washing ashore, and just after she started the little 2 horse o/b, she started screaming! Some poor snake had wound itself around the nice warm motor, and then been terrified awake by her pulling the string and started the motor, and abandoned its bed.... into the inside of the dinghy. She drove the dinghy in circles for a while, and finally, back to the boat, and exited it, husband got into it and released the snake to the water. These same people had a really big one coming up their anchor chain a couple of days later.

So, not everybody has snake stories to tell, but I think the snake liked noelex77's wife's leg because it was warm. Did have a gopher snake wrap itself around one of my kid's neck one time, put its head under water till I could get it unwound. Maybe 15 seconds, maybe 30. My daughter was really mad I didn't kill it, but I took it to the local college biology department for release (they help keep down rodents.)

Ann

On edit: One more story....
Again in New Caledonia, we had gone ashore with a woman friend who was snake phobic. We had a hike, collected a few fossil clams, and returned to the dinghy. Launched it. Just after we lowered the o/b leg the rest of the way into the water, she saw the snake, screamed and moved to the bow in preparation to jump into the water. However, that was where Jim was going to put Mr. Snake. "Wait! Jim's going to put the snake in the water!" And she perched on the bow, like the White Rock nymph, till it was gone! Later, I made a snake for her, blue and black like the ones we've seen so often, and filled it part way with beach sand. She took it and placed it in snaky places around their beautiful boat, till she quit reacting to it.

Bye for now.

A.

[dannc]

Early in the summer we were sailing in South Carolina and there was a brown water snake hanging out on the pontoon just after the ramp that went up to the shore. The snake eventually wrapped itself around a piling, and after a while went back into the water.

Shocking how many big, brawny, fishermen and yard workers are scared of of little no legs, i.e., snakes.

I have seen black snakes climb the brick wall on our house. It was amazing to watch. Eventually it climbed up on the roof, then back down to the ground and up a tree. This was years ago but I think the same snake is still handing around. Saw it a few weeks ago on the porch.

We were at a different marina a week or so ago in North Carolina and there were signs up warning about gators and snakes. Never seen that before.

Later,
Dan

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by dannc

Early in the summer we were sailing in South Carolina and there was a brown water snake hanging out on the pontoon just after the ramp that went up to the shore. The snake eventually wrapped itself around a piling, and after a while went back into the water.

Shocking how many big, brawny, fishermen and yard workers are scared of of little no legs, i.e., snakes.

I have seen black snakes climb the brick wall on our house. It was amazing to watch. Eventually it climbed up on the roof, then back down to the ground and up a tree. This was years ago but I think the same snake is still handing around. Saw it a few weeks ago on the porch.

We were at a different marina a week or so ago in North Carolina and there were signs up warning about gators and snakes. Never seen that before.

Later,
Dan

Probably Cotton Mouths The gators aren't much of a problem I've seen the same thing with a black snake going straight up a brick column in order to get bird eggs or chicks of birds that came back annually to build a mud nest under our car port. We had two young gators sunning themselves on our ramp, no problem swimming.
The neighbors kids did it all the time. I did a few times.

[jhagg]

Just a little garter snake that loved our dinghy and the heat from our motor! In the 1000 Islands area.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

...............
So, not everybody has snake stories to tell, but I think the snake liked noelex77's wife's leg because it was warm. Did have a gopher snake wrap itself around one of my kid's neck one time, put its head under water till I could get it unwound. Maybe 15 seconds, maybe 30. My daughter was really mad I didn't kill it, but I took it to the local college biology department for release (they help keep down rodents.)

Ann
...........

C'mon Ann, tell us the rest of the story; there's gotta be a lot more detail here...

And what is gopher snake - are they big / small / common / rare / venomous ???

[JPA Cate]

^^^^^
This particular gopher snake (so called because they really like gophers to eat) was not more than 5 ft. long and about 1-1/2 inches to 1-3/4 inches in diameter at its largest. They also eat rattlesnakes, kind of like a gourmet dinner for them, so good to keep them in the environment for keeping down rodents and rattlers.

They are very common, and quite handsome as snakes go, nicely patterned in sand, dark brown and sienna colours. Their "teeth" are like sharp ridges of bone, not teeth like dog teeth or snake venom fangs. Sharp enough, though to make me bleed when one bit me one time, but my skin was all soft and sweaty, and it just left a set of tooth track, so to speak. (That was while out bike riding, near Sacramento. The kids probably don't remember that incident.)

How I got the snake in the first place was the next door neighbor lady was scared of it and it was in her driveway, she asked me, and I came and picked it up. They strike and bite in self defense, but they are a constrictor for feeding. They are a "good snake" in that their interests and ours align: they get the rodents we don't want, and they get the snakes we don't want; they flourish and so do we.

Ann

[s/v Jedi]

There are no sea snakes anywhere in the Atlantic. Even in Panama, I have been looking out for one as they could theoretically come through the Panama Canal, but never saw one on the Atlantic side.

This means that any snake you see in the Atlantic is just a snake that’s swimming.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

^^^^^
This particular gopher snake (so called because they really like gophers to eat) was not more than 5 ft. long and about 1-1/2 inches to 1-3/4 inches in diameter at its largest. They also eat rattlesnakes, kind of like a gourmet dinner for them, so good to keep them in the environment for keeping down rodents and rattlers.

They are very common, and quite handsome as snakes go, nicely patterned in sand, dark brown and sienna colours. Their "teeth" are like sharp ridges of bone, not teeth like dog teeth or snake venom fangs. Sharp enough, though to make me bleed when one bit me one time, but my skin was all soft and sweaty, and it just left a set of tooth track, so to speak. (That was while out bike riding, near Sacramento. The kids probably don't remember that incident.)

How I got the snake in the first place was the next door neighbor lady was scared of it and it was in her driveway, she asked me, and I came and picked it up. They strike and bite in self defense, but they are a constrictor for feeding. They are a "good snake" in that their interests and ours align: they get the rodents we don't want, and they get the snakes we don't want; they flourish and so do we.

Ann

Okaaaay...that ain't a small snake by any measure and thanks Ann, I now have a better understanding of gopher snakes but I'm still missing the exciting parts of the yarn - you know, that bit between where snakey was picked up by you from the driveway and the bit where you are trying to drown it while it is strangling your child.

Where you drowning it in the sink, bathtub, pool, river, ocean?
Was said child aware of this?

Maybe the parent police are monitoring CF; if so, keep mum.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Davy J

Something similar:

That’s dinner! Mmmmmm good. Tastes like chicken!

We visited friends in Ft Lauderdale a couple years ago. Iguanas everywhere.