Snakes

[jim65wagon]

Where do snakes get beer, something should be done:victory: Nothing to add to this thread, but I had a really neat snake experience last saturday. We were driving thru a wooded area and saw a Black Snake, my buddy called it a black "racer". We moved it along with a stick but it quickly coiled and did a rattle snake mimic with its tail. It was in dry grass/weeds so the sound was really authentic. Any way I never saw a black snake shake its tail like that before. For only 60-65F that thing could move. He was laying on a coal black road soaking up heat i guess.

Did snakes with beer buy it legally or do they have to get someone over 21 to buy it for them? Too funny, you are Al!

I think the snake you saw was a Black Rat Snake, they are known to mimic rattlesnakes to great effect. I remember cleaning out my barn in PA not long after we purchased it and found one under a piece of tin. It took quite a long look in the dim light of the barn to realize it was relatively harmless....

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Al, that was hilarious. I'll steal it the next time I do a presentation about rattlesnakes.

This is my South African friend Neels Bothma, with his pet black mamba:

If you've ever seen the old Mark O'Shea program where he goes to South Africa to look for mambas, and the fellow who's helping him gets bitten by a mamba and nearly dies, Neels is the fellow.

"But that was a wild one," he told me.

 

[Spikepretorius]

That's just crazy. I won't go anywhere near them. They can attack like something from the movies.

 

[Martyn]

Al, that was hilarious. I'll steal it the next time I do a presentation about rattlesnakes.

This is my South African friend Neels Bothma, with his pet black mamba:

If you've ever seen the old Mark O'Shea program where he goes to South Africa to look for mambas, and the fellow who's helping him gets bitten by a mamba and nearly dies, Neels is the fellow.

"But that was a wild one," he told me.

That picture makes me shiver.

Mambas can rear up 2/3rds of their total length so they end up looking you straight in the eye with their hood flared. It's defiantly an underwear changing experience.

In Natal, where the Black Mambas regularly grow to 3 meters, the local remedy for Mamba bites is to stick a short length of garden hose down the victims throat. This keeps the airway open as one of the effects of the poison is to constrict the muscles in the throat, resulting is asphyxiation.

It's then a race to get the victim to hospital.

 

[laxtoy]

In USA, most snakebites start with mass quantities of beer. The snakes are not out there, waiting to bite you. Just leave them alone and you'll be fine.

Chip Haven

that is true the majority of the time, the beer thing and the live and let live thing for years, a group of about twenty of us would go down to the deschutes river in oregon and float the river for about 3 days at a time. add hot temps and cool water with lotsa little rodents and you get a very snaky place. one of the last times we went we saw seven rattlesnakes in one day, and the encounters were close. we had them crawling in the raft when we were beached, we had them crawling through camp at dusk, we had them down by the river bank where we were all hanging out, and it started to get a little hairy. luckily, we knew to give them a wide berth, and ended up having to "fling" a few with an oar to get them out of camp.

 

[calamaridog]

Saw this Red Diamond Rattlesnake in Anza Borrego early springtime. Tks Tommyd for the identification (I thought it was a Mojave).

 

[1leg]

I have lived in Socal my whole life nearly 40years. I have traveled off-road and hiked many a trails.

I saw my first Socal rattlesnake about 3 weeks ago.

I just stopped, about 4-5 feet away, pulled out the camera and snap a few shots of him crossing the path.

 

[Cody1771]

most venomous snakes make sure that you know they are there, ie rattlers, cobras puffing up and hissing, most vipers will hiss as well. the big pythons and boas that you find in the amazon and such i think are more dangerous its really incredible how fast a 20ft retic can strike and from how far of a distance. but being in north america we dont really have to worry about these, exept once a week when i feed my boa :chef:

And heres a few others i own:

Personnaly i think the creepy crawlies and wildlife are the coolest parts of trekking into the unknowns. heres a few ive come across when i was in ausy land:

is this to OT for the subject?

 

[calamaridog]

I'm tempted to say it's a Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) versus the Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox) due to the spacing of the rings. The white band on the Mojave tend to be wider than the black band whereas the Western Diamondback tends to have more evenly spaced rings.

The Western Diamondback also tend to grow larger and are often more aggressive than the other rattlesnakes we encounter around here.

Of course, I'm no expert (you could say that again). When I first saw mine, I thought it was a Western Diamondback until I looked at the photos more carefully (until Tommyd helped me).

Where did you see this one?

 

[SunMan]

That picture makes me shiver.

QUOTE]

No kidding, I spent some time in Western Java and Green Mambas were everywhere and they blend into their surroundings VERY well. We slept in elevated huts and they would climb the trees and slither into the huts. Needles to say I made sure my mossie net was tucked in real tight at night!

 

[KG6BWS]

I'm tempted to say it's a Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) versus the Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox) due to the spacing of the rings. The white band on the Mojave tend to be wider than the black band whereas the Western Diamondback tends to have more evenly spaced rings.

The Western Diamondback also tend to grow larger and are often more aggressive than the other rattlesnakes we encounter around here.

Of course, I'm no expert. When I first saw mine, I thought it was a Western Diamondback until I looked at the photos more carefully.

Where did you see this one?

looks a bit like the mojave green.

my method for dealing with rattlers varies. on the property, they die, no questions asked. everywhere else, i just walk around them and let em be.

 

[michaelgroves]

One thing to keep in mind about snakes, too, is that they should be really low on your list of things to worry about.

The annual death toll from snakebites in the USA is around 12(!). Bee sting fatalities are about ten times higher, as are fatal lightning strikes. More people die tripping over their shoelaces than of snakebite. Cardiovascular disease: close to 1 million per year...

 

[762X39]

One thing to keep in mind about snakes, too, is that they should be really low on your list of things to worry about.

I like snakes...
When I was 19 I wanted to get a Boa but my girlfriend nearly S*&t herself.So I have issues now. I like to handle them and see them and leave them alone if thats what they want. We have snakes on our property up north and used to have the odd rattler but it seems the owls ate them.

 

[biglos454]

i live in texas and when i was young i was bitten by a diamond back rattle snake. it managed to find its way into the garage and got me while i was pulling laundry out of the dryer for my mom. im sure it rattled as they all do but i never heard it over the noises of the washing machine and dryer.i made it to the hospital in time but it almost cost me my life. i leave most snakes alone both at home and on the trails theyre actually good to have around for pest control. but if i find a venomous snake at the house its dead no questions asked.

 

[Corey]

Having lived in Western Washington most of my life, I do not encounter very many snakes, and I do not think we have any poisonous ones this side of the pass.

At work I often see many snakes on our nature walking paths, I think they are the regular gardner variety, and I have picked them up before, then set them back down.
Similar to this fellow.

But seeing the poisonous ones here gives me the creeps.
I had to Google the puff adder one, and this pic popped up from a site.
Caution, link to picture below shows what a puff adder can do to ones limbs.
http://www.savp.co.za/Venomous/slides/Puff Adder bite.html

Caution, link to picture below shows what a puff adder can do to ones limbs.
http://www.savp.co.za/Venomous/slides/Puff Adder bite.jpg