Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CometKeith]

CE, Wow exciting stuff. Congrats on the grandbaby. She is really beautiful. Someday we will have one too I hope. Also I hate to bring it up in the same paragraph.... but I loved the mule pics too. That's really interesting how they get imprinted and very cool about her white marking on her head.

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks, Keith. My mule filly is really quite outstanding in her own right. Lots of people hate mules, think they are ugly horses. I happen to really like them, and think the cross I did to breed her worked out better than I could have hoped. We shall see how easy she is to sell now ....
The grandbaby ... I will meet her person to person on Friday. Can't wait!!!!

 

[addy1]

We shall see how easy she is to sell now ....

You may have a permanent baby..............

 

[rodsboys]

Well, Sneaky Snake has been relocated back to the pasture pond! I spotted it again this morning, but I was NOT ready for the size of her! (I am calling it a her, because it was pretty big around ... maybe it just had a few fish and/or bullfrogs in it's belly. LOL) Saw her head sticking out of the skimmer, and realized I needed to act quickly to net her before she decided to come out. Netting her from the skimmer should be easy ... at least I thought so!
View attachment 80640
I opened the lid of the skimmer, and squealed and quickly put the lid back down! She completely took up the space above the basket ... an area about 16x8" by about 12" deep. I was NOT ready to see that. Finally poked at her enough to let her know she was not welcome in the skimmer, and needed to come out. Glad I have a large net!
View attachment 80639
She was heavy, so thought I could let her down about 40' from the pond, and "chase" her to go away. Nope, she came right back at me! That got the blood pumping ... again! As soon as I quit smacking the ground with the net, trying to force her away, I relaxed, and so did she. We had a standoff.
View attachment 80641 View attachment 80637 This is what I remembered seeing of her head last week when she first appeared in the pond. I thought any snake head that had the shape of a triangle, was poisonous. I was told she most definitely was not poisonous, likely a common brown water snake, so I had the guts to move her.
View attachment 80638
She is back in the farm pond out in the pasture. She was minimally 4' long, maybe longer, and quite heavy! As you can see, the net was really sagging with the weight. She was a beautiful snake, and although something about her looked dangerous, once we both quit moving, it was nice to study her patterns and colors. I do NOT like water snakes, but more important than that, she came to my backyard because I built a nature area there. I could not fault her for showing up when that's what I wanted was for nature to come! Honestly, a snapping turtle would be more scary to me than this snake, once we had that understanding.

I'm not an expert, but that snake looks like a cottonmouth to me. Only vipers have heads like that. I was under the impression that common brown water snakes don't have a pattern like that or that type of girth either.
Edit: Just looked at some more pics. It appears that there are non venomous water snakes with a pattern like that, but that head though.....

 

[addy1]

Cotton mouth snakes are southern snakes, they are southeastern, stop at the carolinas, none here in Maryland. It is too cold for them. I don't think she would have them there.

 

[rodsboys]

I grew up in Illinois. They are there. They are also listed on the Illinois DNR site. The only other snakes close to that look are Nerodia rhombifer and Nerodia sipedon with Nerodia rhombifer having the closest resemblance to the snake she posted.

 

[addy1]

Thanks, I researched them here in Maryland it is said they are not here. I was interested after running into a small water snake in my pond.

 

[sissy]

well congrats CE you are rich in new babies both 4 legged and 2 legged and the 2 legged one is cute as a button

 

[haver79]

Congrats CE on your new granddaughter. She is adorable. Enjoy being a new grandma!

Your mule baby is a cutie also. Funny one of our mares is currently getting bred. Hoping to have our own mule baby next spring. It will also be her first baby.
Our daughter learned to ride on a mule. Smarter than a horse. He took good care of her.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm baaaaack! Still trying to catch up at home and at work, been home for a week now. Here are a few pics of Miss Aspyn! I was there visiting for 12 days, and I wouldn't trade any minute of it! Looking forward to my next trip to UT already! She is taken out to the barn daily to feed the horses. The cat is very curious, but not "in your face" with her. Feather (the cat) laid down next to her this day. Frickle Toe (chicken, named because of a broken toe, and she is very friendly) was also curious.

I actually caught a little bit of a smile in this pic.

My daughter took this pic day before I left. My sister asked that we get some pics of Grandma (me) and Aspyn with Sarah's good camera. They turned out really well. Sarah was not as happy about her pics that I took, but Aspyn was getting upset, too much sunshine and heat for her, I believe.

 

[haver79]

Wonderful pics. Great pic of the two of you.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm not an expert, but that snake looks like a cottonmouth to me. Only vipers have heads like that. I was under the impression that common brown water snakes don't have a pattern like that or that type of girth either.
Edit: Just looked at some more pics. It appears that there are non venomous water snakes with a pattern like that, but that head though.....

I am still not positive it was not a poisonous snake. It was very large, and I totally agree about the shape of the head. That's why I definitely wanted it out of my pond, but was scared to death it would bite me, and I'm here by myself. I had to take advantage of the moment when it went into the skimmer, though. Glad I got it safely hauled to the other pond. Hopefully it won't come back to my backyard ponds. Garter/garden snakes are welcome, I don't mind them, plenty of food to go around. However, saying that, I've not seen hardly any bullfrogs since I have been back from vacation. Only 1 or maybe 2 in the goldfish pond, 1 in the koi pond. Weather has been rainy, and windy until today, so maybe they are fair weather frogs. I hear them at night, so they are there. Maybe there still lurks a predator that I have not spotted yet!

 

[tbendl]

Awe beautitul pictures CE. It looks like you had a lovely time.

 

[addy1]

Snakes love frogs btw! so do herons and hawks

 

[CountryEscape]

I don't think the heron or any hawks have visited my ponds, but have no idea if the snake or another one has returned. I wondered about that ... but there are soooo many bullfrogs on my farm pond in the pasture, figured more would show up to replace the ones that are gone. I'm still hopeful that the rainy wet weather ... for the last 10 freaking days to the tune of over 13" thank you NOT very much ... is the reason they are not showing up during the day. There is one in each pond on a regular basis, but this time of year I usually have 6-10 in each pond.