Snakes in a Bedroll

[LRB]

DOC, he was looking for you, because of the snakes around the staff, your professional symbal. He was just looking for a friend. Just kidding Doc.

 

[flyfisher76544]

Dont know if this actually works myself, but I have heard of sprinkling Lime(yard stuff not the fruit) around the camp works. Suppossedly they dont like it. Have slept many a night out in the woods, brush and desert and still havent had to wake up to one curled up next to me. Really though, I dont know how I would react if one did. :shocked2:

 

[horsesoldier03]

Never found snakes to be an issue. If I were you I would make my camp in a nice grass area on higher ground that has good drainage. I was just out for only a short time yesterday and came home covered in Ticks. Got to work today and started feeling an inch and had to have a co worker pull two off my back. TICKS and CHIGGERS are definately your worst enemy! USE DEET!

 

[omarick1948]

Circle your bed roll with salty popcorn!...The snakes will eat it and when they have to go get a drink....MOVE CAMP!

 

[JackAubrey]

I would like to sleep w/ just a bed roll but I'm even more concerned w/ spiders and ticks.So I sleep on my bedroll in my canoe tied off and anchored a few feet offshore! Now that I am stuck in Florida I hang an old alligator shoe over the side.It scares off the alligators...alligator shoo!Best regards,J.A.

 

[Homesteader]

Yep. Snakes, ticks, spiders, and other creepy-crawly things is what led me to the "jungle" hammock. (I love my Hennessy Expedition. Much better than the old military thing.) Not only very comfortable, but just plain makes me feel better being a couple of feet above the ground.

I wish I could come up with a reasonable PC version. Sadly, my hope for a sailor's hammock in the woods was dashed!

 

[crockett]

Snakes eh? I read somewhere that snakes won't crawl over a heavy piece of rope, that some folks circle a heavy piece of rope around the bedroll/tent. I have no idea if that works.
I don't know what your period is but in 1839 a map maker by the name of Nicolette headed out of Fort Pierre, Provost one of the guides, but went east to the red river country. In any event he mentions mosquito netting so I guess that's pc. On the canoe business, I fish at night and have had snakes come into the boat easy as pie so sleep in a canoe if you wish but in Florida a hammock is probably better. Ticks and chiggers are the biggest problem. In Florida I've only seen one scorpion, it was in a pine tree and rather small. A large jawed beetle actually chased it away.
If you use a wedge tent you could probably make up a liner of mosquito netting with a floor. Such things get in the way during the day but you could set it up at night and sleep soundly.

 

[Robert Egler]

Just wanted to mention that smaller scorpions generally have stronger venom than larger ones, so just ”˜cause it’s small doesn’t mean it’s less dangerous. Of course the best thing is to not get stung by one at all! :grin:

I'd always heard that if you camp in the desert you should shake your boots out in the morning in case a scorpion got in there over night. The first morning I was camping in the desert I got up, and thought, I'm not sure I beleive this "scorpion in the boot" story, but what the heck, I'll shake out my boots. And I'll be damned! A scorpion fell out of one boot! That's the only time I've ever had that happen, but I am darn sure now to shake out my boots in the morning!

 

[crockett]

My Florida scorpion, well I was sitting by some slash pines waiting for a deer to show up and I kept hearing a little sound of some sort. I was really straining my eyes trying to ID the source. All of a sudden I realized the sound was from the tree truck I was sitting next to. The bark on these trees is pretty rough with little canyons and crevasses. In any event there was the scorpion. About 12" away from my head. Well I moved away slightly and was looking at it when I realized not even the scorpion was the source of the sound. Farther down the tree was a tiger beetle, headed up the trunk.
"This will be fun", I thought.
"That scorpion is going to do that beetle in"
In any event the beetle kept moving up the tree and when the scorpion saw the beetle it took off under a flake of bark and never showed itself again. This beetle actually had a pretty good set of jaws but the idea the beetle scared off the scorpion really surprised me.

 

[J.D.]

The only problem I have had with snakes while trekking is when some of the group I was with threw their blankets on a old stone wall after they rolled out one morning. The blankets began undulating, almost like a ghost or something was moving them. One trekker retrieved his blanket to find lots of copperhead snakes slithering under his blanket. The snakes must have been bedding in the rocks of the wall and had their escape blocked by the blankets.

Moral of the story don't camp near or on rock walls, or real rocky outcrops.

As for ticks and chiggers, try Permanone. Permanone is an insecticide made from a derivative of pyrethrum that kills ticks and chiggers dead, while being harmless to humans.

I spray all of my clothing, blankets and tarp before going out, and very seldom will get any bites. Just follow the instructions on the can.