A case for mythbusters? Old wisdom about snake and a rope

[Oroblanco]

Hola amigos,

An old adage of wisdom among old-timer prospectors was that if you laid a rope in a ring around your bedroll when camping, no snake would cross it. I have never put this theory to the test, perhaps you have? Anyone have a pet snake, to try an experiment with a rope? (No harm to the snake, just put the rope in a circle around it and see if it will cross the rope.) Thank you in advance,
Oroblanco

 

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[Deftone]

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/2991937776 Heres a link to thier forums to submit a myth! If you do keep us posted. Ive heard a few old timers stories of using ropes and if they didn't have enough rope they would use sticks or whatever. I just wanna see Kari in a sleeping bag!

 

[Kentucky Kache]

I've heard the saying, but I don't know if it works or not. It would be interesting to see if it's true. Then we can have someone stick their finger in the end of a gun barrel and see if the gun will fire.

 

[Okie Hillbillies]

Oroblanco I have heard this many years as I am only thirty-nine but it might not work with a pet snake as it is used to a person and the wild snake is and has never possible seen a rope or felt any thing like that near it's belly I think the deal is the hard rope gives it a problem and it won't cross over.

 

[Dano Sverige]

Dunno about rope and snakes,but heard they used to do the same with a ring of salt to keep bugs,scorpions out.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Always heard it had to be a rough surface rope like sisal as the snakes wouldn't cross due to the course fiber/hairs. Never tried it and never knew anyone that did but heard it most of my life.

 

[Oroblanco]

Muchas gracias amigos for the replies! I will try suggesting it on the link provided; I have had to camp without any kind of tent to keep out the crawling critters and spent the night worried about waking up with a huge centipede or rattler but fortunately never had it happen. I just wondered if anyone had ever tried the 'rope trick' to see if it works, or if one of us has a pet snake that it could be tried with.

I have doubts about it because I have had 'close encounters' with a snake coiled up on coils of garden hoses, but perhaps since they are rubber and smooth it doesn't bother them the way a hairy/fuzzy rope might? I sure don't know, YET.

Thank you all again,
Roy ~ Oroblanco

 

[Gobpile]

I heard the ropes had to be made of horse hair,if I remember correctly. Do they make horse hair ropes?

 

[Oroblanco]

I don't know if you can buy them but there are horse hair ropes around; made from tail hair of course. I never heard that before but perhaps it has to do with the scent from the horse? I know that a study done on fleas showed that fleas cannot stand the smell of a horse, which protected stable boys and horsemen during the plagues in Europe since the fleas carrying the plague avoided the humans that stank of horse.
Oroblanco

 

[truckinbutch]

A braided horse hair rope is what I heard , as well . Never wished to jeopardize my well being to check this out .
Jim

 

[Old Town]

Years ago I got hit on the ankle by a little pygmy rattler we have down here in the Keys. Hurt like a bee sting and I figured I'd better get to the hospital. Doctor who treated me told me of this same country legend of the rope and snakes. He seemed to believe it. The stupid doctor who was treating me.

I lived, mostly, but had to laugh on seeing this thread.

Pygmy rattlers will only hurt a baby or a very weak and elderly person. Not enough venom to kill an adult who is not prone to allergies regarding bee stings and stuff like that. I'm not allergic but the first time you get bit by a rattlesnake the thought of dying does kinda creep into your head.

OT

 

[Ray S S]

I remember hearing it on some very old westerns that it had to be the braided ropes like the old Mexican leather reatas or the horsehair ropes.
Never had the need to try it out for myself so I can't say for sure.

Ray

 

[BIG61AL]

Do you really think a six foot long Diamond back will give a hoot about crossing a rope if it senses a nice fat rodent on the other side? They live in the wild and are exposed to all types of ground and animal scents. This rope thing is just silly and any one who puts their safety on line with this deserves to be bitten by everything not afraid of a rope.

 

[Old Town]

Do you really think a six foot long Diamond back will give a hoot about crossing a rope if it senses a nice fat rodent on the other side? They live in the wild and are exposed to all types of ground and animal scents. This rope thing is just silly and any one who puts their safety on line with this deserves to be bitten by everything not afraid of a rope.

Agreed, Al. The little rattlers around my boat house are only afraid of my Vaquero single-action revolver in .45 Colt loaded with shot capsules. This they are afraid of. And it's much more fun than a rope.

 

[Oroblanco]

How do we know whether this rope trick is true or not? So far, no one here seems to have ever tried it; and there are some odd things in nature like all Polar bears being 'left-handed' - as odd as that sounds it is true. Fleas are repelled by the smell of horses. Chimps can't swim. Elephants won't step down off a ledge if they cannot touch bottom with their trunks. Cattle won't walk across a set of pipes laid on the ground at a hole in a fence. <As odd as that seems, cattle and horses will not walk on a pipe grate for some reason. Cattle guards are used all over with good results> Bees and wasps will not build a nest on a roof overhang that is painted light blue. So who knows? I would like to know if it is true or not, but am not willing to risk life to find out.

A snake pursuing a rodent may ignore anything in the path so that would not be a true test, plus who wants rodent crawling around on your sleeping bag with you in it?
Oroblanco

 

[Old Town]

Fleas are not repelled by the smell of horses. Unless the Ocala horses I've seen have gas mask-wearing fleas. I was up that way several years ago and the barn I was at was getting fumigated for fleas. It only housed horses and the owner said the the fleas were driving the animals mad.

No snake chasing a mouse is going to stop for a rope as somebody already said. It looks to him (snake) like a stick or, well, a rope. Ropes in nature do not harm snakes. So snakes have developed no such defense or fear of ropes.

I really can't believe I'm explaining something like this when I thought the original post was a gag.

OT

 

[Oroblanco]

Fleas are not repelled by the smell of horses. Unless the Ocala horses I've seen have gas mask-wearing fleas. I was up that way several years ago and the barn I was at was getting fumigated for fleas. It only housed horses and the owner said the the fleas were driving the animals mad.

No snake chasing a mouse is going to stop for a rope as somebody already said. It looks to him (snake) like a stick or, well, a rope. Ropes in nature do not harm snakes. So snakes have developed no such defense or fear of ropes.

I really can't believe I'm explaining something like this when I thought the original post was a gag.

OT

The plague bacteria is thought to have spread from the arid plains of central Asia. The plague generally left untouched the indigenous nomad population, because rat fleas do not like the smell of horses, with which the nomads lived in close proximity.

<from>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/blackdisease_01.shtml

You can't make this stuff up. I have had horses and worked with them since old enough to sit on a saddle, and even our dogs never got fleas without any kind of protection whatever, other than the pervasive horse scent. <In fact I was riding horses long before I was even born >I presume then that you do not believe that cattle will not walk across a pipe grate as well? There are oddities in nature, which may seem queer but are quite real.
Oroblanco

 

[Old Town]

Oroblanco, I spoke with a man in town late last night who runs an art gallery in town. He also is a "horse guy" and had a stable up in New York for years. He absolutely agrees with you and anyone else who says horses repel fleas. Camels attract but horses do not. He was quite certain and thinks maybe my Ocala horse barn fumigation was for some other infestation and the barn manager didn't know their stuff.

I don't know you, but I do know the art gallery guy. I believe him and now most certainly believe you.

Sailboats are my thing. I promise never to comment on horses again as long as you don't tell me how much ballast belongs in a sharpie, a sandbagger, or a Tahiti Ketch. LOL

OT

 

[Tony66]

what is/are horse apples, my first thought is a polite way of saying horse droppings.

 

[Oroblanco]

Oroblanco, I spoke with a man in town late last night who runs an art gallery in town. He also is a "horse guy" and had a stable up in New York for years. He absolutely agrees with you and anyone else who says horses repel fleas. Camels attract but horses do not. He was quite certain and thinks maybe my Ocala horse barn fumigation was for some other infestation and the barn manager didn't know their stuff.

I don't know you, but I do know the art gallery guy. I believe him and now most certainly believe you.

Sailboats are my thing. I promise never to comment on horses again as long as you don't tell me how much ballast belongs in a sharpie, a sandbagger, or a Tahiti Ketch. LOL

OT

Fair enough amigo - I sure don't know what about a horse smell that might be offensive to fleas, but have noticed that rodents seem to carry lots of them and often cats too. I doubt that horse smell would protect you if the fleas were especially thick and starving - just as bug repellent won't stop skeeters when they are determined.

I might like to pick your brain on sailing information some night, if you would not mind? It would be entirely at your convenience and with no rush for answers, but I would like to ask a few questions some time if that would be okay with you.

TexasTee wrote

You can let your dog sleep on a horse blanket or sprinkle your yard with horse apples and the fleas will flee

I think that is what was protecting our dogs, for we let them lay on the horse blankets all the time and they would even start to smell like horse. At the moment we don't have any horses and I have been watching for fleas, I hate the little buggers and get an allergic reaction to flea bites.
Roy ~ Oroblanco