Cute little snake

Looked to be 20-25 centimeters long. I nudged it with a stick to encourage it to move out of the middle of the path (and out of sight of birds, though extremely windy and none to be seen.

So what is it? I asked Grok.

Canelones, Uruguay: what kind of snake is this?

[Thought for 37s]

This appears to be a juvenile crucera (Bothrops alternatus, also called víbora de la cruz or yarará grande), a venomous pit viper native to Uruguay (including Canelones) and neighboring countries. snakeradar.com +1Key matching features from the photo and species descriptions:

  • Bold, irregular dark (nearly black) dorsolateral blotches or “C”/telephone-receiver/headphones-shaped markings with pale (cream/white) borders or centers on a lighter ground color. These can appear somewhat connected or blotchy, especially in young animals, and match the classic crucera pattern. everything.explained.today +1
  • Small size (juveniles/neonates are typically ~20–25 cm and more brightly patterned than adults).
  • Robust body for its length and typical head shape of a Bothrops.
  • Found on sand — cruceras occur in grasslands, wetlands, near water, and occasionally wash up or appear on beaches/coasts in southern Uruguay (including Canelones) after rains or via currents. elpais.com.uy

It is one of the two medically significant Bothrops in Uruguay (the other is the yarará, Bothrops pubescens, which has more trapezoidal markings and is less associated with lower/coastal areas). Adults reach 80–150+ cm; both species have heat-sensing pits, triangular heads, and venom that can cause significant local tissue damage and other effects (antivenom is available in Uruguay via the CIAT toxicology center). gub.uy

Similar-looking non-venomous species that can occur in the same area (and also like sandy habitats) include:

  • South American hognose / falsa crucera or nariguda (Xenodon dorbignyi, including the Uruguay subspecies whose type locality is in Canelones). It mimics the crucera’s blotchy pattern, has an upturned snout for digging in sand, and is harmless to people (though it may flatten its head and body when threatened). en.wikipedia.org +1
  • Other colubrids such as certain Erythrolamprus (e.g., culebra de Peñarol) or Dryophylax hypoconia (culebra de la arena) have different spotting or banding and are generally more slender or differently patterned.

Recommendation: Do not handle it. Keep a safe distance, and if it is near people or pets, contact local wildlife/rescue experts (e.g., Alternatus Uruguay or the relevant environmental authorities) for safe relocation. In case of a bite, seek immediate medical help (call CIAT at 1722 in Uruguay) — do not apply tourniquets, cut, or suck the wound.

Identification from a single photo is not 100% certain without scale counts, head details (pits, pupil shape, snout), or closer examination, but the location, size, and distinctive blotched pattern strongly point to a young crucera. If you have additional photos (especially of the head or underside), that would help confirm.

Today’s mail

Well, that’s good to know!

Actually, these are two mailings: the account opening pile of paper sent on May 19, and the single page sent on June 25th. One mailed 92 days ago (“Int’l Priority Airmail”), the other 55 days ago. And they both arrive the same day.

Because of course.

Three down

Two days ago, a dove —probably this one— flew up from the upstairs patio when I opened the door, a few feet from a similar one, dead in a corner. This morning I saw this one near the carport, relocating several times to at last find its way into the barbacoa (my workshop), out of the pouring rain, where it died. When I went upstairs, before the rain, to clean up, there was another, smaller one, dead next to the other.

Best guess is that they all got into something poisonous, maybe brought it back to the nest. But when I saw the first dead one, I looked at the nest and saw nothing there. Hard to get a clear view, but also hard to miss something bright white. Sorry guys. We enjoyed having you around.

The $1.49, retrograde-Mercury dishwasher

OK: why a dishwasher? Because I grew up in America, where every kitchen has a dishwasher.

I didn’t have one when I lived in England, or Malta, or West Germany. We did buy one in Mexico, which never worked, an example of such excellent design that its criteria for determining when enough water had entered the device was not a float switch – silly thought! – but a timer. As in, the valve has been open for three minutes, therefore the machine has enough water to run. Never mind that our roof-tank water pressure was so low that it never filled in three minutes.

Oh well.

When we moved to Uruguay, there was a brief weekend where VAT (22%) was eliminated, so we hastily bought all our appliances at effectively an 18% discount, including a dishwasher. We didn’t of course, take time to learn that its shortest cycle was an hour and a half, and we basically used it as a drying rack, running the short pump cycle to clear out water. Then the control panel died. Being quite sure the manufacturer (James) would not have electronic replacements for a 15 year old machine, I tore into it, and with some remote Whatsapp guidance from an appliance repair guy, rewired the main on-off button to run just the drain pump. Problem solved! Except that a drying-rack dishwasher that never runs is a different beast than one run occasionally to help clean itself out. In a word, gross.

At this point we had only two of our original appliances still working: a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner, both Electrolux (our other James device, a clothes drier, also un-alived itself by control panel failure). So Electrolux it was for the new dishwasher, with a rapid cycle. Ordered before retrograde Mercury, it was delayed and arrived on June 29, my birthday and the start of retrograde Mercury. Arrived with significant dents, like it had been dropped.

If you know anything about retrograde Mercury, you’re now nodding slightly with a wry smile.

The eventual response was an offer to return my money, or give me a 30% discount. I chose the former. Later I realized the other option was stupid, since damage in transit is not covered by the manufacturer’s guarantee. So I got my money back. And the vendor said, no need to return the dishwasher; do with it what you will.

I hooked it up, repeatedly got a “water won’t heat” error, descended into the nine circles of Montevideo to Electrolux repair for an estimate they never produced – because they said it was working fine. Picked it up, installed it again, building a shelf because it’s smaller than the previous one, and yes, it is working.

The $1.49? Exchange rate difference between the original charge and the refund.

As with any appliance purchase, we ended up with an abundance of cardboard, wonderful for starting fires.

And yes, lavavajillas is the Spanish word for dishwasher.

Which means that detergente para lavavajillas should be just the ticket for the machine, right?

Wrong. It’s regular dish detergent, and leaves the dishwasher full of suds that take forever to go away.

I don’t have to tell you why I know this.