My friend got bitten by a rattlesnake

[Bodkin]

When I was 8 yr's old I stepped on an Eastern timber rattler and got bit. I almost lost my leg. I now hate snakes and kill them except the black snakes which kill other snakes. Here in Fl. we have a lot of different snakes and the coral snake will kill you with one bite.

Ahhh.., Florida. Had two rattlers and one coral snake in my house there some years ago (not all at once thank God!). The rattles where smallish so I was able to get them in a 5 gallon bucket and take them far away. the coral snake.., killed that and checked for the "red touching black/yellow" thing after the excitement. Put it in my freezer to show my friends. Figured they either came in through the cat door or the cat brought them in. Had a renter bit by a rattler and a shark (not on the same day, Geez, that would be unlucky!), a friend who was a lifeguard attacked by a shark and another friend who lost her brother to a 12' gator when he was swimming across a canal to go cut some guy's lawn. Ahhh yes.., Florida. (actually here now helping the in-laws move)

 

[smokeythecat]

Snowcones will be served in perdition the day I move to Florida. It's a nice state, nice to visit up 3 floors in a hotel, but I have enough allergies to not go there and have more unwanted critters to deal with.

 

[Mudflap]

The State College of Florida campus at Venice is out in the boondocks. They have snake and alligator signs all over the place. Anyhow... The pigmy rattle snakes being so small hang out in the brick mortor joints between the bricks on the Library walls. So if you think you saw a mortor joint move..... it probably did!!!

 

[Nitric]

Bodkin, I gotcha. Head on a swivel. I was with four other folks yesterday in Ohio looking for flint. After awhile I was by myself. My car was 20' away. No issues, I had enough for one trip (20 pounds) so left for the hotel, which was very nice, and free with my points! I have a nice place to go (alone), but the corn is 7' tall now. Best not to beat the brush and just wait for the fall to do its thing. Most times I go by myself, however, someone knows where I am.

There isn't a whole lot to worry about in Ohio...I've run all over the place as a kid and rarely saw a snake.Most of the time it was around water if we saw any. .....Sounds like a blast looking for flint!! It would be cool to see the exposed flint that you described in an above post!! We camp in AL a lot, we see all kinds of wildlife. I'm more concerned about the Armadillo than the snakes and fire ants, well? I hate the ticks...armadillo can carry lepracy(? spelling) once I found that out that scares me more than the snakes. The snakes try to avoid you, the armadillo will come almost right up to you at night. hahaha

And yes, dead snapping turtles and snakes can still get you if not careful.

Sounds like a lot of fun looking at the flint.

 

[smokeythecat]

Nitric, the flint is very nice. I just realized a lot of it has already been heat treated by the NATIVES! How cool is that? I was wondering why the dark "rind" was not washing off, I did the washing not more than 10 minutes ago. Lots of cores, a few finished pieces, I'll post tomorrow. No light for the camera at the moment.

 

[Nitric]

Nitric, the flint is very nice. I just realized a lot of it has already been heat treated by the NATIVES! How cool is that? I was wondering why the dark "rind" was not washing off, I did the washing not more than 10 minutes ago. Lots of cores, a few finished pieces, I'll post tomorrow. No light for the camera at the moment.

I'm visiting family in N. Eastern Ohio right now. A lot of building going on. We almost stopped today to walk a freshly bulldozed lot. Maybe.....I'll get to walk around some dirt before we leave. I use to find them in the same areas after they plowed...Now the fields are turning into building lots.

 

[Billieg]

Snowcones will be served in perdition the day I move to Florida. It's a nice state, nice to visit up 3 floors in a hotel, but I have enough allergies to not go there and have more unwanted critters to deal with.

Welcome to Florida... A brown recluse spider bite that took 6 mos to heal:

 

[Blak bart]

I was bitten by a pygmy rattler when I was 13 in stuart fl. I had caught many pygmies by this time and of coarse thought I was indestructible. Well I got this one a bit to far back from the head, and he had just enough room to get a fang in my finger. It was a brutal couple months of keeping my arm elevated above my heart. I went through the whole antivenom treatment and was kept in the hospital there for a week. My arm swelled to twice it's normal size and my finger had to be sliced to keep the flesh from splitting on it's own. When the finger started to go black there was talk of amputation. I remember pleading with the doctor to hold off on the amputation and let it rot off. They held off a couple more days and things started to get better. I was able to make a slow recovery and dont even have much of a scar anymore. It was a miserable few months of recovery and something I never want to repeat. The hospital asked us to bring the snake in for positive ID. I had killed it immediately after getting bit and someone retrieved it and put it in a brown paper sack to bring to the hospital. I still remember the nurses asking over and over if we were certain it was dead. Apparently the week before a construction worker had been bitten by a coral snake, and when they opened the lunch box that contained the snake for proper ID it sprang out and got loose in the hospital. I slept for weeks with my arm strapped up to the top bunk of my bunk bed to keep it elevated. It was brutal. When I arrived at the hospital the construction worker that was bitten by the coral snake was in a coma from his bite.....he never woke up and died some weeks later. I still love snakes and occasionally will catch non venomous snakes here and there to show my son when they present themselves and are easy to catch. I respect them all and do not pursue the venomous ones. If in the bush I leave them be and give them there distance. On occasion a venomous snake will be found in the yard and I will introduce them to my garden hoe for the protection of family and pets. I learned my lesson and have a healthy respect for all snakes but I do not kill them all on sight. I'm happy to have some black racers and corn snakes in the yard keeping the insects and mice down and we often watch them doing there snake thing in the yard. Be careful and alert in the bush and ware protection in venomous snake country and you should be good. I had wrangled a few large diamond backs before I was bitten by there smaller cousin the pygmy......had I been bitten by one of the large diamond backs I think it would have been a death sentence as they can pump 2-4 times the amount of venom that the smaller pygmy can. The lesson was learned. Play with fire you will get burned eventually.......play with with snakes and you will get bit eventually !!

 

[smokeythecat]

Billieg, like your post but it makes me cringe. Blak Bart, ow, ooh, yuck, but glad you got better. They said (the media that is) that most people get bitten when handling the snakes. Most people are not ambushed. I stepped over a baby (6") copperhead years ago. It struck my tennis shoe. It was on the walkway at my mother in law's house. I killed it.

 

[islamoradamark]

Seen a few venous snakes I stay clear most snakes i see snap at me when im close just the movement makes me jump but been stung a few time by scorpions

 

[smokeythecat]

My friend, Squiggly. He lived happily ever after.

 

[Blak bart]

Stop messing with those snakes.....over and over I herd that in my youth. Well at 13 it takes a life lesson in pain and agony to drive the point home. I only responded to the staff.....it took a beating for me to get the point and that little pygmy finally gave me the beating I needed to understand the consequences of messing with venomous critters. When I got home I showed everyone the six pygmies and two Diamondbacks I had been secretly keeping in captivity......I took them back in the bush and released them. For hard heads like me sometimes the beating has to take you to within an inch of your life to drive the lesson home. I'm glad my older age has given me at least a tiny bit of patience and wisdom.....and the ability to shut up and actually listen to what people are saying to me. So my point is.....if your one of those people that want to handle venomous snakes.....STOP MESSING WITH THOSE SNAKES !!

 

[Blak bart]

View attachment 1737490 My friend, Squiggly. He lived happily ever after.

They still look beautiful to me smokey....that's a great pic. I remember you posting that one before.

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes, that one was taken 2005 or 2006, outside Las Vegas. I scared him real good. I personally do not mess with snakes or bees.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Kind of like last weeks episode of "Alone". One of the female participants shot a Squirrel, and hit it in the hindquarters. It wasn't dead, and when she went to pick it up, it nailed her in the hand pretty good. She may be the one going home on next weeks episode.

 

[Blak bart]

Seen a few venous snakes I stay clear most snakes i see snap at me when im close just the movement makes me jump but been stung a few time by scorpions

Mark....your the one person that I've hunted the deep Bush with that knows what the island bush has to offer in the way of evil critters....rattle snakes, scorpions, coral snakes, crocodiles, alligators, killer bees, mosquitoes, sand flies, horse flies, golden orb spiders, brown recluse and black widows etc. Everything bites, stings, or burns down here in the island Bush. Soooo....when I get back let's go bro....got to brave the bush to get da bottles.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

I've never met a snake I didn't like. This includes rattlesnakes. Too many times a rattler would crawl away before I got close enough to get a good photo. This latest rattlesnake was from 3 foot away. And ya gotta bend over to get a good decent picture.

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes, you have to bend over to get a good picture, for sure!

 

[Doug H]

I was doing some research on snakes and found out that it is against the law to kill ANY snakes in the state of Virginia. So make sure you check your local laws and if its against the law then catch those copperheads live and relocate them away from your property. Lol

 

[civilman1]

I was doing some research on snakes and found out that it is against the law to kill ANY snakes in the state of Virginia. So make sure you check your local laws and if its against the law then catch those copperheads live and relocate them away from your property. Lol

Great point Doug. In Maryland it's against the law to kill ANY snake. The timber rattler's are a protected specie's. Don't let the DNR get a hold of this,they do not play around when it comes to this. Just saying