My friend got bitten by a rattlesnake

[Megalodon]

Well. I think it’s time for the one ear headphones and my 45LC on my hip. I guess snakes don’t want any part of you but, I would have no problem dispatching one if threatened. And I don’t like to see any living thing killed.

The milk snake on that chart can have far more vibrant coloration. I used to see them on the brick porch of my last house. The color pattern almost perfectly mimicked the bricks and mortar strips. We also had a variant that is either a separate species or subspecies depending on which herpetologist you happen to be drinking beer with, called the coastal plain milk snake. When herpetologists found out where I lived, they were excited because both kinds of milk snakes lived in the area.

 

[Megalodon]

Thanks for the correction. Not all venom mouse / non venomous snakes here in SC will flee. The water moccasins are very confrontational. I have a couple friends that had them come at their boat/kayak. A cable man had one slither towards him at another friends house. Like I said... nasty creatures down here.

I've had no personal experience with water moccasins and I would certainly keep my distance from them. All the field guides list Great Dismal Swamp VA as their northern limit. Around here, people commonly and incorrectly call the common water snake a water moccasin.

 

[MetalArchSC]

Well. I think it’s time for the one ear headphones and my 45LC on my hip. I guess snakes don’t want any part of you but, I would have no problem dispatching one if threatened. And I don’t like to see any living thing killed.

I don’t like having to kill anything either. Only necessary if there is immediate danger to my loved ones, myself,or my pets.

 

[Megalodon]

Not all snake stories have to be negative experiences. My wife and I were installing floor tile in our last house at night (adjacent to copperhead hill on the topo map) and the well had not yet been drilled, so there were no bathroom facilities except for the woods. Well, she had to use those woods and came back into the house with a story about a green snake that came down a small tree beside her and stretched itself out to watch her from about a foot away. LOL. I didn't see it, but there were both smooth and rough green snakes around there and they are excellent climbers and perfectly harmless. "I'm not laughing at you honey, I'm laughing with you...".

 

[GaRebel1861]

I’ve got an old country cat that hangs around here. He must have gotten bit by a copperhead because one side of his jaw was swollen up for several days. He looked like he had a big chew of red man tobacco in his mouth. He’s fine now.

 

[RustyRelics]

One of our goats got bit by a copperhead yesterday. His leg swelled up, his heart rate and breathing were out of control, and he could barely stand up. He collapsed, and we thought he was going to die right in front of us. Our littlest black goat walked in, and laid down beside him, bleating softly. The big goat, laid his head down on him, and sat there gasping for air.

He pulled through, and as I type, he is now outside eating again. It truly is a miracle from God that that goat is still alive.

 

[smokeythecat]

Snake story: Once upon a time ago, we had to get to the basement by going outside. Well, at the bottom of the steps was this 6" brightly colored snake. Well, it couldn't stay there. I nudged it into a box and slammed the lid on it. 6" snake cannot strike 12", the length of the box. So I took it to the local state park to let them see what kind it was. The gentleman there opens the box goes Oohh! and reaches in very non chalantly and grabs the little guy. So the little guy wraps itself around his finger, he gets a book with the other hand and opens it and he and the snake are looking for its picture in the book. It was a milk snake, I had never seen one. He and the snake admired the picture! I think he kept the snake. That was about 1985 so not sure but I know no one hurt it.

Snake story 2: A few years ago I'm driving to the store, where else. I see this brightly colored snake in the middle of the road. So I pull up next to it, wind the window down and tell it to get out of the road! A big milk snake who had just shed, it was like looking at a little jewel.

Snake story 3: About 5 years ago this small 15" long black snake was playing in my shed. When I opened the shed door, I scared the snot out of it and it actually fell about 2' down from where it was hanging out looking for mice. I laughed at it, got what I wanted out of the shed and left. Well, he got bigger, he's over 5' now. I was walking around the side of the house last spring and saw it. Really huge now. It's still scared of me. Pretty animal.

Snake story 4: Once upon a time ago, about 1971 my friend Jack and I decided to go to the dam to look for (anything young rockhounds and amateur herpethologists) look for. I found an amethyst in a big boulder I couldn't get to. There are a lot of copperheads there. I just had regular shoes, surprised I didn't run into one. All of a sudden my friend Jack yells loudly "A HOG NOSE SNAKE!" So he launches himself head first under this huge rock and has grabbed the snake by the tail. Snake is pulling one way, he's pulling the other with both feet firmly planted on the ground, trying to get the snake. I'm asking God Himself "please don't let Jack get the snake, please don't let Jack get the snake". He'd probably would have had me hold it on the way home. NOT.

The snake broke free! Another prayer answered. Years later I had my young daughters were hiking a trail in VA. I spot a hognose snake. I said watch this and took a tiny stick and it rolled over and played dead. Priceless.

 

[randywa]

We have all of the above and snakes. Not to mention, SC has bugs I didn’t know existed. A week ago I was out on my back porch and when I looked down, I thought I was going to have an accident on myself.

There was this huge beetle looking thing. It had pinchers almost as long as it’s body which was around 3 inches long. Add the head and pinchers, probably 5 inches. I screamed and my friend who was visiting pushed it off the porch with her foot.

I repeat what I’ve said before in another post... I’m a girl. I don’t do bugs of any kind. So I guarantee if you men were there you would have died laughing at me. You too Smokey... but I bet you would have backed up as fast as I did. Lol.

Later I googled it to find out what prehistoric bug breathed life again. Can’t remember the name. Under SC beetles. Anyway. Turns out it was a male that fights other males with those pinchers. Does hurt if the impale you with one of them apparently. And not only that, they fly.
I mean OMG. I have to get a mosquito net for my back porch.

People must think the terminix man and I are dating.

Is this what your bug looked like? This is a giant water bug. I caught one at the shop a few years ago and cast it into clear resin and made a paper weight.

 

[randywa]

About a month ago we were throwing horseshoes when I needed a nature break. I stepped around the corner and seen something move on a tree limb beside my head and was eye to eye with a 5+ foot black snake 4 or 5 inches from my head. If they are as scared of me as I was that one he must have peed on his hand too.

 

[smokeythecat]

I played with a rhinoceros beetle when I was a kid and the pinchers got me. Does that count?

 

[Megalodon]

Smokey, I seem to remember another, more recent snake story from you. Didn't you have one living in a canoe that you were returning?

I agree that milk snakes are really beautiful. Harmless too.

Nobody has mentioned worm snakes with their beautiful salmon colored undersides. I used to always see them in the spring when I tilled my garden. That garden also had a large fence lizard that sat on a rock in a corner and watched me. I started tossing it crickets and he was so good, he could catch them in the air.

 

[Doug H]

I was watching dingo dinkleman's YouTube channel and I guess we should all be glad we dont live in Africa. Four passengers and a taxi driver were about to get in a taxi when one of them spotted a black mamba in the taxi. Dingo said if they had gotten in the mamba would have killed them all.

 

[trdking]

Snake Story
I spent some time in Peru. I befriended a tiny peruvian man. He was under 5 feet tall. We went out hunting snakes which when spotted were poked at with a 6 foot straight stick to make it strike. When straightened out they cannot strike. He placed the stick on the back of the head then walked on the stick to the snake and removed its head. He then told everyone not to touch the snake head because its reflexes could still bite you 2 days later. He skinned the snake which we ate later Then took a piece of leather from his pouch about 8" square and picked up the head with it and placed it in his pouch wrapped in the leather. When we returned back to his casa he took a new bottle of tequila from the top shelf and pulled the cork. He took the snake head and started rolling it like a cigar in the leather until it well, looked like a cigar. He rolled it up in the leather and took a wood dowel and hammer, placed the leather on top of the bottle and drove the head into the tequila bottle. He sat it on the top shelf again and told us not to drink any. The next day the rattler head had completely retaken shape inside the bottle and sat there open mouthed with fangs displayed for the next 30 days. It was then time to consume some of the liquor. He metered out exact shots of this for everyone in attendance and we drank it. He told us NEVER more than one shot or you could die. My arms became so numb I could not pick them up off of the armchair I was sitting in. It was a dull mind numbing experience that gave you slight hallucinations and lasted for about 4 hours. Chalk that up to the dumb things you do as a kid. This is probably the closest I ever came to experimenting with any kind of drug. I have not nor do I think I would do it again. PS the snake was delicious.

 

[smokeythecat]

Good grief! I totally forgot about the canoe snake! I had just purchased a canoe, then realized I probably didn't have enough people to go with me to use it correctly, so picked it up and slid it back on top of the truck and started down the road to return it. I did a previous post. Going down the road, this smallish snake comes out of it across the windshield and hellowed for the grass on the side of the road. I doubt it got hurt as I wasn't going very fast! Thanks for the reminder.

I felt sad when I found the skeleton of some kind of snake my lawn guy hit last year! He never would have known he had hit it.

I want to see a worm snake, a green tree snake and a timber rattler to get the rattler's picture! Really!

 

[Megalodon]

One of our goats got bit by a copperhead yesterday. His leg swelled up, his heart rate and breathing were out of control, and he could barely stand up. He collapsed, and we thought he was going to die right in front of us. Our littlest black goat walked in, and laid down beside him, bleating softly. The big goat, laid his head down on him, and sat there gasping for air.

He pulled through, and as I type, he is now outside eating again. It truly is a miracle from God that that goat is still alive.

His survival is great news. If that goat ever develops any medical issues, be sure to mention to the vet that he was bitten and recovered from a copperhead bite. Its possible for internal organ damage to occur and the information could be useful. I had a beloved cat who was bitten by a copperhead and I paid the enormous cost of treatment and hospitalization at an emergency clinic. He lived for another 10 years indoors but developed acute kidney disease. He only lived to 12 years and I've always wondered if that was a result of the snake bite.

 

[smokeythecat]

My cats are not allowed outside. Some years ago my black cat, Dusty the Terrible, came up from downstairs quite annoyed. He was biting at his tail and was just annoyed. Didn't pay much attention to it.

A couple days later I go downstairs to get something and see one of my worm fishing lures on the floor, where it should not have been. As I reached down I realized it was a 5" long dead snake! It must have bit the cat on the tail. Think it was a garter snake.

 

[Megalodon]

About a month ago we were throwing horseshoes when I needed a nature break. I stepped around the corner and seen something move on a tree limb beside my head and was eye to eye with a 5+ foot black snake 4 or 5 inches from my head. If they are as scared of me as I was that one he must have peed on his hand too.

LOL. Folks, this is why you never attach a birdhouse, such as a bluebird house, directly to a tree. Most snakes are excellent climbers and climb into birdhouses to eat the eggs or the babies. Then, satiated, they coil up in the bluebird house to scare the hell out of you when you open it to check on the nest.

 

[RustyRelics]

I love snakes. I've been handling them since I was four. I caught my first snake at five, and have been bitten a few times by black snakes, and a tree boa. Never the less, I love em'.

 

[Megalodon]

My cats are not allowed outside. Some years ago my black cat, Dusty the Terrible, came up from downstairs quite annoyed. He was biting at his tail and was just annoyed. Didn't pay much attention to it.

A couple days later I go downstairs to get something and see one of my worm fishing lures on the floor, where it should not have been. As I reached down I realized it was a 5" long dead snake! It must have bit the cat on the tail. Think it was a garter snake.

Mine are not allowed out either, although one tries to time speedy escapes when I have my arms full at the door. The other one wouldn't go outside if you left the door wide open.

We had a small cat years ago that would kill snakes. She once ate an entire live garter snake and you could see the cat's belly moving violently with the live snake writhing inside. She vomited up the snake and before I could intervene, bit it into manageable chunks about 3" long, then ate all the pieces. But the same cat sniffed at a hognose snake playing dead and walked away from it. (I sniffed it too but couldn't smell anything)

 

[ARC]

The trick is...

To bite them first. :P