You can identify the species of snake by looking at its skin.
Mr. Xiaoman identified the pattern of snake slough and said: "This is a cauliflower snake, it is not poisonous, and it can still eat venomous snakes.
It was a good thing to have cauliflower snakes around, but they grew too big.
If you encounter this snake, you will either kill it or drive it to the other side of the mountain. Anyway, you can't stay here. "
It was just a cauliflower snake, not a ferocious and venomous snake, so everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Farmers are very familiar with this snake. Almost every house has a snake following a mouse into the house. Generally, they just drive it away instead of killing it when they find it.
But seeing such a big cauliflower snake made me a little nervous.
The cauliflower snake, also called the King's Golden Snake, is a large non-venomous snake. Its body is black and yellow and looks like a cauliflower. It also has black markings with the word "王" on its forehead, hence its name.
Although this snake is not venomous, it has a ferocious temperament and is mostly active at night. It feeds on frogs, lizards, other snakes, birds, mice and other animals.
It has outstanding hunting ability. It will take the initiative to attack when it encounters other snakes. It especially likes to hunt some highly venomous snakes. Even five-step snakes are its food. Therefore, there is also a saying that "there are cauliflowers in every mile and non-venomous snakes in ten miles". .
The small cauliflower snake is harmless to humans, and it doesn't matter if there are snakes in the house, because it eats venomous rats and snakes and can also play a role in guarding the home.
But now there is a big snake that is more than three meters tall and weighs more than ten kilograms near my home. Its diet is not just those small mice and frogs.
Just as Jiang Zhi thought, it was a near miss for adults, as long as they didn't step on the snake, there would be no harm, but the children at home were in danger, especially Xiao Caixia, who had just turned one full moon.
In order to prevent accidents, Mr. Man and his two boys rummaged through the firewood piles in front of and behind the house, even under the wooden sticks used to dry the soybeans.
The stone crevices, tree holes, and soil pits around the two houses were all filled up and blocked, and low shrubs were removed. Try to leave no blind spots for sight and no hiding places for snakes.
Cauliflower snakes are also very easy to spot.
The snake is extremely stinky, with a smell that is a cross between rotten eggs and a bucket of water, and is intimidating to other animals.
Not only is the snake's body smelly, but even the places where the snake passes by will leave foul-smelling body fluids, which can last for a long time.
No trace of the snake has been found yet, and everyone is worried.
Snakes are nocturnal creatures. If they don't exist now, that doesn't mean they won't exist in the future.
Maybe in the middle of the night when you are sleeping, it quietly lies on the roof next to the door. Anyway, it is not far away, staring at you with a pair of cold eyes. Just thinking about it makes your hair stand on end.
At night, Jiang Zhi once again burned mugwort and other herbs outside the two houses, and sprinkled realgar powder on the fire. The smell of smoke drifted in the wind, infecting the entire cliff.
Everyone knows that snakes are afraid of realgar, so they think that if realgar powder is sprinkled on the ground, snakes will not dare to cross it.
That is an extremely wrong idea. If you really do this, something might happen.
Someone has done experiments and found that snakes are not afraid of realgar powder at all, and can even crawl directly over realgar powder.
On the contrary, it is afraid of minced garlic, ginger juice or even vinegar. Anyway, it doesn't like anything with a strong and pungent smell. If it feels it, it will turn around and leave immediately.
Realgar is a natural mineral and has no smell, but burned realgar will produce yellow-white smoke and have a strong garlic smell.
The sulfur smell after burning realgar is very, very annoying to snakes and they cannot stand it for a moment.
Dusk fell, a hundred meters away from the cliff where the two families lived.
In the crevice of the stone, a two-foot-long, black and white snake was quietly waiting for its prey to appear.
Just as Jiang Zhi was lighting mugwort and realgar powder, he suddenly spit out his forked tongue and spoke rapidly in the direction of the cliff. He turned around without hesitation and disappeared into the leaves and grass.
At the same time, a large, colorful snake with the word "king" on its forehead slid silently from the top of the tree and left this place. Obviously, its target was the departing silver snake.
The smoke rising from Lao Yunya today inadvertently saved the little snake's life, but I don't know if he can escape the pursuit of the big snake in the future.
Knowing that there are big snakes around, for the sake of safety, people who go out to work every day should hang snake repellent packets smoked with realgar on their clothes, so that snakes can be avoided within a certain range.
Two children also need extra attention.
Nini no longer hunts rabbit grass, nor can she go to the woods outside the house. She can only stay with adults at all times.
Qiao Yun simply took Xiao Caixia to the foot of the cliff, and spent every day with Xiao Man Nai making twine, peeling cotton seeds, and spinning cotton thread.
The cotton picked now has been dried in the sun, the seeds inside have been removed, and then two wooden boards with spikes are used to alternately rub and scrape it, which can make the strong cotton balls fluffy and disrupt the fiber of the cotton yarn for weaving.
Xu Dazhu didn't lie down in the room. He was twisting twine in the courtyard, keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Although his legs and feet are inconvenient, Xu Dazhu is still a man with a stable mind and can always embolden the family members when encountering difficulties.
Xu Errui and Xiaoman's grandfather and grandson had to work in the fields, while Jiang Zhi and Chunfeng packed up the dried wild boar meat and went out to pick bamboo shoots, fungus, and mushrooms together.
As we enter August, in another half month, the temperatures in the morning and evening will gradually cool down, which means that the picking season for various mushrooms and fungus will end at the end of August.
Now, Jiang Zhi and Chunfeng must rush to collect the mountain goods, even if there is a big snake, they cannot waste time.
Walking into the forest, I haven't been here for more than ten days, and the green fungus has grown thick and strong again.
According to the habit he had developed long ago, Jiang Zhi did not approach the pile of wood. Instead, he first beat the surrounding area with a long wooden stick, and then carefully stepped on the fallen leaves and weeds.
Chunfeng was so courageous that she put down her backpack and took a quick look around the tree pile. Then she smiled at the nervous Jiang Zhi and said, "Auntie, there's no snake, come here!"
During this period of time, we smoked realgar smoke every day, and carried snake repellent bags with us when we went out. I'm afraid the snake was gone! "
After getting along with her for a long time, she already knew that although Aunt Jiang was fierce and seemingly not afraid of anything, she was afraid of snakes and centipedes, and even used a wooden stick to pick away non-biting centipedes when she saw them.
Maybe it was because I was frightened by a big snake half a month ago. This fear has become more and more serious now. Even a pile of wood will be suspicious for a long time.
Jiang Zhi also knew that she was too vigilant, but she was grateful to Chunfeng for taking care of her emotions, so she took back her wooden fork and said with a smile, "Be careful. As long as the weather gets colder in two months, there will be no more of these long worms."
Chunfeng also said: "Yes! At the end of this month, we will dig sweet potatoes, plow the ground and plant wheat. Auntie, you said soaking seeds in lime water can prevent powdery mildew..."
She changed the subject from snakes to crops.
In the past few days, people gathered during the day and lit moxa smoke at night. Time passed like this without anything unusual.
Knowing that it was a cauliflower snake, everyone's tension that had lasted for half a month began to relax.
Chunfeng went out with only a wooden fork in addition to a bag of snake repellent medicine. At this time, she didn't take the big snake to heart at all.
