Black on Yella
I've scheduled this post for Monday because I didn't want to freak out the Blog Around the World ladies. However, yesterday Daddy Ely had an encounter with one of them. So I am posting this ahead!!!
"Black on yella, (that's yellow!)
Kill a fella. (and that's fellow!)
Yella on black,
Venom lack."
That's what Texans say about them snakes! It's a mnemonic to help identify whether a snake is poisonous or not. Frankly though, I have a hard time using the mnemonic to distinguish them.
Anyhow,I really don't like snakes, whether or not they are poisonous. I shudder when I see even a picture of them, so looking for snake images was a bit difficult. And I didn't really like to see them in my blog every time I scan through so I had to crop the images so that I do not see their faces.
So, if you are like me then, don't scroll down any further as I have photos of them...
This is supposed to be poisonous - "Black on yella, Kill a fella.". This is a rattlesnake. (Or at least part of it) 
This is supposed to be non-poisonous - "Yella on black, Venom lack.". This is a gartersnake. 
And yes, there are plenty of them here:
- One of our neighbors have pet cats for the purpose of them being the frontliners instead of their children. (Yes, Miggy and Josh, that is Kitty Clap I am referring to.)
- Last week that same neighbor, their cat and their children were in the front yard huddled around a gartersnake! And Al even joined them ogling the snake. Yuck!
- 2 Sundays ago, a boy ran towards us while we were in our front yard and frantically (I thought) asked us if he can borrow a box. Turns out he was actually excited and he was going to use the box to bring home the snake he found on our next door neighbor's front yard. I told him not to come near me!
- Last December, we went to the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park. Parking was crowded so we decided to park somewhere where we would be walking on the dirt road. I thought we passed a twig, only for it to slither away. Yikes!!!
- And last but definitely not the least, Daddy Ely just killed one yesterday afternoon, as I was saying at the start. He was pulling out weeds from the lawn when he got startled by one snake! Yaiiikkksss!!! Perhaps it was adrenalin but he was able to kill the snake with some heavy thing which he typically will not be able to comfortably lift. And now, he's having some pains in and around the chest. Probably because he was unpleasantly surprised or perhaps he pulled some muscles. Poor Daddy! Poor snake too because it turned out to be a gartersnake - yella on black, venom lack! 
This is one thing I don't like about warm weather places! In cold weather places like Boise, I only had one snake sighting in the 4 years we were there and that was at the Albertson Park during our fall photo ops!
Anyway, do you think the mnemonic is useful? Can you guess whether this is poisonous or not? 
One more time, then...
"Black on yella, Kill a fella.
Yella on black, Venom lack."
OR... Use the orange button so I can feed your Reader!
5 ADD YOUR COMMENT!:
I officially have the hebbie jebbies. I think that's how you spell it. I hate snakes too and living in TX they are a fact of life. I've seen a few copperheads around here. I had to go get a neighbor one day to kill one in our yard. I was so thankful he was retired and home during the day. I'll keep that little rhyme in mind. I haven't thought of that one in a long time.
Okay, definitely skipped by those pictures, but appreciate the lesson. I remember something else about the colors red and yellow together, but don't remember.
I learned it as
"Black on yellow, kill a fellow...
Yellow on black, friend of Jack." And we used it only to identify Coral snakes. Back when I lived in TX, I steered clear of ANY snake larger than a garter snake. Good strategy, don't you think? LOL
My most feared snake was the water moccasin. It can s-s-s-wim! (shudder) I lived in central, eastern TX, and didn't see many rattlesnakes...thank goodness!
Despite the bugs, snakes and weather, I still miss TX.
I'm impressed you included so many snake photos when they make you cringe. I could never do that with roaches.
And I always learned, "Red on Yellow, kill a fellow", "Red on black, friend of Jack" (to distinguish between coral snakes (venomous) vs. king snakes (non-venomous). Course the difference in sayings could be due to the location where I grew up (Florida) where we encountered both types of snakes, that look very much alike unless you notice the color pattern.
We have rattlesnakes here in CA, but I've never seen a snake in the wild in the 12 years I've lived here.
Hi Ladies!
I moved the pictures somewhere else in the blog where you will only see them if you really want to - and you have to click on their miniatures that I placed in this post.
Thanks, Julie, for the "confirming" that others will freak out about the sn*ake photos!
And the common theme seems to be if it has plenty of black, it is not poisonous?
Oh well, just like Wendy, I'll just stay clear of any of them!!!
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