Eeeekk! I HATE snakes. You are one brave woman!!

Now this is what I am going to be thinking about when I am doing the Ann Arbor tri this weekend.

Let's look at the upside though, perhaps now we will all swim faster trying to get away from anything slithery and creepy in the lake??!!

Are those photos really by where you swim?! Where do you live that there are snakes all over the place? I don't think I would ever get in the water if I saw that. I was on vacation in the Georgian Bay area and swimming on a smaller lake and came face to face with a brown water snake...let's just saw I pretty much walked on water and people on other lakes probably heard me screaming like a baby. I don't do snakes well. Thankfully because I live in Chicago and swim in Lake Michigan I don't have to deal with water snakes!!!

yup. right down at the waterfront.

not far away in SW Michigan. i'm very fortunate to be on a few hundred acre lake which is only about 1/2 developed. lots of critters all over the place which truly makes it a lot of fun. sometimes i'm accompanied by a pod of gar pike for 15 -20 seconds doing OWS's.

let's not even begin to talk about what's to be found in the big lake. i promised...only unique little butterflies from here on out ;-)

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Train hard...race well.
www.jimmishler.com
"Jim, I happen to agree with you" DougStern

only thing i worry about in the big lake is finding a dead body. i know, odd, but i have a HUGE fear of finding a dead body and when it is on the news that someone has drowned by the area that i swim (ohio street beach) i don't go in if they haven't found the body. I know, strange.

I can't believe you swim in that lake after seeing snakes on shore!!! I think I would have to move.

Oh I have the dead body thing too....big time! Like, freak out completely every time I see something underwater. It is horrible horrible horrible.

I'd never been worried about snakes, until now. Luckily the water is so frikkin cold right now that no snakes would survive it.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

So I hesitated to post this but in the spirit of sharing, this just played on my deepest fear of OW swimming.

http://www.cnn.com/...n.body.ap/index.html

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Snakes can not function in water that cold, and so you won't see them until summer really warms up the water. I just did Eagleman 70.3 in Maryland on a 90 degree dayand there were dead snakes all over the bike ride and one on the run (they get run over by cars as they are sunning themselves).

Do you know the magic temperature when the snakes arrive?

For example, I just did the Chesapeake Bay Swim, and I was told that there are no jelly fish until the temp hits 75 degrees (it was just about 70 on swim day, so it was all good). I guess as soon as its 75 the thing is bay is full of jelly fish.

I live in the Hudson Valley region of New York and every lake here has them. No big deal. They ignore us completely. I walk right by their den getting into Lake Minnewaska.

I don't feel brave because I can't muster the courage to swim in the ocean.....I get really freaked out by the jellyfish and other critters that can sting me. How do you deal with that?

I can handle the snakes. Its the bears that give me something to worry about. ;o)

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Jeanne Roth
Team Timex 2007/2008
http://jeannejeannie.blogspot.com/

In the ocean, who cares about jelly fish when there are sharks to worry about! In the main forum in a shark thread someone posted a pic of a HUGE shark they pulled out of the same beach as the IM FL swim the next day!!!! EEEEK! That will be fun to think about on my first IM this year.

I know all of this worrying is pointless; I will probably get bit by a poisonous spider at the pool. :)

Lake CdA has snakes???!!! Are you serious??? When was this sighting? I'm doing IM CDA in 10 days (my first ever) and am already sufficiently petrified. Please advise....

Why won't this thread die!?!?
Stop it people :P

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

We need a Snake Expert Witness to come in here and testify once and for all about the habits of snakes and why we should not worry about them.

Snakes in CdA - no snake will go near that washing machine, don't worry. I think it is safe to promise you will forget snakes at the time of the race.

Jeanne - I am pretty close to you, I swim in some lakes in Northern NJ -- I saw a snake this weekend, but it was heading for the grass/weeds. I also see tons of bears.

Hypnotist? Herpetologist? We have *got to figure a way to work through this.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was mid summer about 15 years ago... south end of the lake, Conkling Park, daughter was fishing and a small garter snake swam under the dock where she was fishing.

I don't think there's going to be a problem with snakes for the tri. We were there last weekend and the water was cold. But the lake was higher then I've seen it in a long time and there was a lot of stuff floating around the edges... mostly wood.

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Jay

Thanks. That makes one less thing to worry about. Only a zillion to go...!

Bump


Muuhhaaaahaaaaaa........

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

*smack* :P

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

I actually thought this was cute.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I can not believe how many woman are afraid of snakes while they are swimming?! Add shopping at wal mart to the list. Some dude in Florida was actually bit while shopping by a pygmy rattlesnake. Now this really happen. Not so over active, irrational fear. So, ladies, I guess you all have to give up shopping, because of snakes in the stores.

I am afraid of Walmart, but its not because of the snakes.

That was rather stupid on the shopper's part. Anytime you're in a garden center in the Sunshine State, or when you're doing yardwork, you just can't blindly reach into the bushes because there are a lot of pygmy rattlers down here. We've seen a couple in our front yard, and it was enough for me not only to be super cautious about blind reaching but also to always wear gloves when I'm doing gardening work.

I'm one of those people who really doesn't like snakes. But it's their planet too, and as long as they aren't dangerous, I'm pretty live and live.

I posted the picture because the face is actually cute and it shows that snakes aren't all creepy. Doesn't mean I want to pick one up and kiss it on the lips but I'm happy to live and let live.

I didn't post to revive the thread on whether or not it is right to kill them. That's why I posted it to this thread and not the other one. Just sharing humor on a Friday.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Jimmy Choo Watersnake Pumps

I'm not a huge fan of the snake, but that's just wrong. :(

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

As someone said on the first year of Survivor, "It's not the snakes I can see that bother me; it's the ones I can't see."

I often see cottonmouths on the bike path that runs along a creek where I run. You'll know them because they tend to be pretty aggressive. I had one that actually went back-and-forth to prevent me from crossing a foot bridge.

I'm more worried about the ones that crawl up to the house from a nearby creek. I got bit by a copperhead one evening while pulling weeds in the yard. Fortunately, my hand was balled up in a fist so that the snake was unable to lodge himself onto me.

I don't know about how temperatures affect the coming-out party for the snakes. I saw one in my driveway 3 days after a snowstorm.

As others have noted, a lot of splashing around will cause them to go elsewhere.