Your a loving dad with children, you see a unidentified snake in your garage possibly carrying a deadly venom... What would you do?
You should ask on the Wikipedia reference desk; they are excellent at answering this type of question. You'd have to upload your photo first - but that's a good thing, because then other people might be able to use it, to illustrate an article. Upload here; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard (You'll have to create an account, if you don't have one - but that takes 20 seconds, is free, and painless) Ask (linking pic) here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science Chances are, you'll get some world-snake-expert answering within a day or so.
Nonvenomous snakes have a spoon-shaped rounded head and venomous snakes will have a more triangular ("Arrowhead shape") head. When in doubt, cut off the head about 1/4 inch down the body to remove the glands without puncturing them. Then dig a deep hole, about 2 - 3 feet with a post hole digger (if you have pets who dig), and bury it. Then, peel off the skin, boil the body until the fat come off, remove from water and season. Then wrap it in tinfoil and grill it or broil it in the stove until firm and crispy. Approximately 15 minutes. Serve with black eyed peas, corn bread and collard greens. You asked for "animal experts" haha. That is how we do it here in GA.
They taste great and you can eat any snake you find, the poison is in the glands located in the head, not in the entire body as many wrongly believe. Also, gator tail is a great meat, too.
I'd love to try snake and gator. The only gator I can find online is $25 a pound. I did skin and cook a snake before. We tied a knot in the snake skin and filled it with water. We put the "bag" of water over a fire till it boiled. Sadly because we didn't know how the snake died we didn't drink or eat it. Idea based on "Dual Survival" Everglades edition. (Edit) I found the video on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_67mtEA_io Our snake was a lot smaller.
Hmm, if ever a sentence needed scare-quotes, it's that one: I think I'll stick to "chicken" from the Asian food place Still, as long as it doesn't have a collar, go for it I had lots of snake in Vietnam; it was yummy. Especially a kind of snake-curry. They usually kill it in front of you, so you know it's fresh. They also drink the snake blood; it's supposed to work like Viagra. They mix it with whiskey. Sadly, it just tasted like cheap blend whiskey to me... and had no other effects than any other cheap whiskey - ie dancing like a loon, being convinced I could speak Vietnamese, and balancing on the back of a fast-moving motorbike with 5 new friends... Happy days.
well, my father hasn't had children living in his house for at least 10 years. lol but, his grandson and me (his daughter) live next to him in another house. which his grandson plays in the yard.. he came storming to my porch.. scared the hell out of me, to tell me not to let my son play outside by himself because he found this in his garage. it was so funny. though, we are talking about the same guy who was outside killing wood bees with a weed whacker. i love my father. you mean cat? you really believe they use actual chicken? at least around here they don't... lol
every single person should watch this, at least twice, just be careful not to die of laughter. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3037098488387&set=vb.1290733075&type=2&theater (if for some reason it wont let you watch it, let me know and i'll fix that it)
