Rattle snakes things to know

[Gold_Needle]

Thank you SabreTooth...

Could you tell me what is "Snake Shot?" Is it a special type of ammo for snakes and what type gun shoots it. I dont own a gun nor have I shot one... yet.

J

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

The Python is now breeding in the Everglades. Rumor is they found a python and hunter dead with one leg swallowed. Here is a pic where our beloved gator won the battle of monsters. Is not my pic, look I advise. Taken by Johnny Villaronga.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Some nice snake pics
Everglades Wildlife Photo Gallery by Johnny Villaronga at pbase.com - 11:41amAmerican Alligator, Burmese Python - American Alligator Burmese Python - American Alligator ... Outstanding Gallery Mr. Villaronga. You have a great eye. ...
www.pbase.com/quo0131/everglades_wildlife

 

[Gold_Needle]

How did Pythons get to Fl and start breeding

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

American Gator is no easy prey for Burmese Pythons

Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades
Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News

June 3, 2004


In February, a group of tourists at the Pa-hay-okee Overlook in Florida's Everglades National Park stumbled upon a battle between an alligator and a python. The stunned onlookers watched as the snake wrapped itself around the alligator, only to see its opponent counter by rolling over and grabbing the snake in its mouth and swimming off with the snake in its jaw.

It was not the first such battle. In January of last year, a horde of tourists watched another epic contest between an alligator and a python at the park's Anhinga Trail. After more than 24 hours in the jaws of the alligator, that snake broke free and moved off into the marsh.


For now, the alligators in the Florida Everglades are holding their ground against the invading snakes. But the odds may be changing. The park is being overrun with Burmese pythons, one of the world's largest snakes. These pythons can grow to be more than 20 feet (6 meters) long in their natural habitat in Southeast Asia.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

How did Pythons get to Fl and start breeding

They were legal imported pets. Owners released into glades when they became too large to handle and feed.

 

[sabertooth]

Yep, Thats how alot of non indigenous animals get there start in an area. Much like rabbits in Australia....whoopie. Gold Needle snake shot AKA Rat Shot is a special type ammo typicaly for a 22 caliber weapon. What makes it effect tive is the fact you do not have to be a crack shot in order to hit the snake with it. The bullet is loaded with several small BBs which efectively turns your 22 calibre into a shotgun making hitting your target much easier. Needle I suggest if you want a gun for snaken get a 22 caliber six shooter and load it with Rat/Snake Shot (Same thing). For a Better snake gun you could opt for a 410 gauge shot gun. Though this is typically a long gun and ackward to carry while adventuring.
Bigcypress no kidding it is good to hear from someone who has actually been and done and not going by just what they read or see on TV. Do you remember when they allowed people to own poisonous AKA venimous snakes for pets...and the doofs would get tired of them and turn them loose. A game warden friend of mine showed me a silver piranah an old man caught in the Flint River near my house. It was funny those lil fish look viscious but the silvers are mainly herbavours, and some bugs. According to the game warden the fish was most likely released by aquarium owner for one reason or another. Just goes to show ya never know what ya gone run into when your out huntten that Treasure...Just got remember "Be swamp wise" haha pretty soon well be talken bout noseeums!
Saber

 

[Gold_Needle]

Hi SabreTooth,

Thanks for the info; I will keep it in mind when I start going for in the field treasure hunt adventures. At this point my adventures are limited to navigating the website.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

That's a helluva snake. Took the 6+' 'gator in snout first?

Amazing that kitty kat got out of there.

Cyn

He should have made sure the gator was dead before swallowing. It looks like he kicked his back feet out in an attempt to escape. What a way to die. :P

 

[audigger53]

.22 cal Bird shot or Snake shot comes in to styles.
#1 is a totally metal jacket with the "business" end crimped closed.
#2 is from a company called CCI, and has a plastic cap on the end of it.
#1 is for semiautomatic/pump rifles or semiauto hand guns.
#2 is for revolvers.

#2 was 'supposed to be' used from horseback with a 6 inch barrel for a 12 inch spread on the ground.
I can't say that is true or not.
I do know that from 'hip high' with a 3 inch barrel, the spread is 4 inches on the ground.<G>
Our normal carry load in the field was 2 snake, followed by 2 CCI "Stingers", then one snake and finally one stinger.
As our searching area was southern Arizona and rabies was as bad as rattlers, the snake shot was to blind and confuse the rabid animal so you could 'safely put it down'. Other than for possible rabid animals and snakes, we never used the guns, still have lots of ammo.<G>

 

[oldsoldier]

Another snake story. While working on a Industrial Plant Refit with a welder from SE OK, he told me of the time he was cleaning up his newly purchased property. Under an old shed that was on stone piers he could see a wooden box way in the back. He gets a long stick (to beat off snakes) and crawls under. He proceeds to beat all over that box to scare off rattlers. When he was satisfied it was safe to crawl to the box, he does so, wipes off the dust, and reads Dynamite on the side. Inside that box were many sticks of the stuff, been there many years. Could have not been a good day for him as old Dynamite is known to not take much to set it off.

 

[MalteseFalcon]

When I was a kid I found a dead Coral Snake....this was in Wichita, KS. It was definitely that, as being an inquisitive 7-year-old, I had a few books on snakes (thanks to Herbert S. Zim!) and looked it up.

Fortunately it was dead before I found it. I took it to school in an shoe box with some dirt in it for Show & Tell.
I had the extreme pleasure of hearing the girls in my class going "EWWWWWW!!!"

 

[ScubaFinder]

You know how us Texans always say "Everything's Bigger in Texas"...I'd like to see an Eastern Diamondback that can top this little guy, he's just a baby 9 feet 1 inch @ 94lbs. found near Fritch Texas.

Jason

 

[chong2]

matter of fact, i got one 2 nights ago, first one of the year actually. kinda odd, last year this time i had already around 5. took it out with my NA mini mag, i always have 3 hollow points and 2 cci snake shots, crappy pic i know, took with my cell phone

 

[ringding]

I have heard of fishermen in boats seeing rattlesnakes swimming in the water. I heard that when rattlesnakes get rained on their rattlers don't make noise. I have had my own close calls with rattlesnakes. My philosophy is if you see a poisonous snake, kill it. Do it for the children.

There was a couple in Georgia that was walking on a nature trail with their young child. He was walking on the trail a little bit ahead of mom and dad and he stopped to pick up a stick. The parents told him to put it down. When he dropped it, he dropped it on a snake which bit him. The boy did not survive.

 

[damz68]

OK, got to say something here!

This is my first post here and I just purchased a Minelab Xterra-30.

I love snake as well as all other critters. I know a lot about snakes, I have been catching them ever since the age of 8. I think what it was that made me like them so much was going on a field trip with some friends and family to the White Mountains in Arizona. On this trip we ran across a rattler sunning on some rocks at the edge of a large crevice. The snake tried to get away but was pelted with rocks. It was quickly killed and the snake never even defended itself. We took the snake back to our parents and the kids that killed it came up with the wildest stories of how this snake struck at them and was so nasty tempered. It was not long after that my dad bought me a field guide and we discovered that the snake was a Black Rattler.

To me it is real funny to see a full grown man turn into a scared little boy at the sight of a snake, or a smart man lose a 100 points of IQ. The tales and lies I have heard about snakes, mind boggling! I really dont know what to say to get those that kill them to stop, a lot of folks enjoy killing. Besides I a not the enviromentalist type, I just want my kids and there kids to see and enjoy what I saw and enjoyed. If you think about it it is pretty rude, you are going into there home and killing them! Because of actions like this our wild places are no longer wild. We have managed to wipe out nearly every predator in the US. It shows, populations of deer, pig, rats, mice and many other prey animals really apreciate it.

However, it is 2006 and there are a lot of people at my age and youger that like wildlife and wild places and we all agree that those who enjoy killing predators such as snakes are just scared, uneducated and without conscience. So the next time your out in gods country and you see that rare rattler, instead of pulling the trigger, be a man and walk on by. Hell do it for me and mine, we would love to see it.

I know this is not a good way to start posting here and 99 out of 100 times I will keep quite. But, I just returned from a camping trip where I found 12 cottonmouths shot to death in a protected area. It kinda upset me cause cottonmouths are so not agressive. A lot of cottonmouths will flee, some will sit there and open there mouth. You may think this is agressive but you could stick your boot in there open mouth and they would just open wider. It is all a bluff to help them survive, I think it is backfiring and all the poor harmless water snakes that die because someone thinks it is a cottonmouth.

Anyway, if anyone has questions about snakes, I can and will answer. And I will say this because there is a lot of BS about coral snakes, they are found only in the Carolinas, GA, FL, MS, AL, LO, AR, TX and Arizona. They are extreamly rare in all but two states FL and TX. However Texas is a big state and they are only common in the coastal area from Houston to Brownsville and west to San Ant. I live in SC now and have for 20 years. I still have not seen a coral snake in SC and only one in my life, outside Houston. The vine snake that I saw mentioned has indeed been seen in S. Texas as well as Arizona and they are venomous. But they are rear fanged and there venom is used to quite a struggling lizard, it is not even strong enough to kill a lizard. A fire ant bite would be much more severe.

 

[chong2]

wow damz68...... you did make apoint, but i have lived here in the desert my whole life, since i was a little boy i went hunting with my bb guns. since i was little i have killed many many rattlers, never non venomous snakes. but also, one of my best friends when we were young got bitten thinking a babyrattler was his pet snake... he lived thank god, i have saved 2 people from stepping on rattlers, you have to watch out where u step out here. even on the roads i will go out of my way to kill one. i do put them to use tho, i shoot them, i chop the head, skin them, clean and freeze the meat. later when guests are over we fry up some rattlesnake, kinda cool. also, i love the skins, they look pretty on my wall

 

[ScubaFinder]

I used to hunt snakes too, nothing quite like the thrill of lifting up a nice flat rock on a hillside and seeing what's underneath. We were hunting non-venomous snakes for pets. We did run across our share of rattlers, and one cottonmouth too. Never felt the need to kill any of them though. I kept a prairie king for 4 years, great pet, and rescued a Sonoran gopher snake that had been hit in the road in new Mexico, he lived for 3 more years.

Everytime we ran across a venomous snake, they were ALWAYS more nterested in getting away from us than biting us. The closest I came to getting bitten (in 5 years of weekend snake hunting) was when a collared lizard (mountain boomer) ran up under a rock and I stuck my hand under to get him. He wasn't the only occupant!!! When I heard the rattle, I slowly removed my hand and luckily he didn't strike. Not sure how the lizard faired being under a rock with him, but I didn't wait around to find out either

I too laugh when I hear stories of snakes "coming after" humans...I've seen and startled enough of them to know it almost never happens. Step on 'em, yeah, they will defend themselves. Try to remember that venom is for subduing prey, and prey has to be small enough to be swallowed, the only time a snake will bite a human is in self defense. In probably 300-400 snakes I encountered, only one just simply had a bad disposition, a non-venomous coachwhip. If I ran into a venomous snake that was just looking for a person to bite, I might kill it....but it would have to be in self defense.

I dive with sharks a lot also, they get the same foul mis-representation as snakes. Several "man-eating" sharks have swam within two feet of me, looked me in the eye, and swam off.

Jason

 

[damz68]

Hey Jason,
them coachwhips are lots of fun. When I lived outside Dallas as a teen we would catch whips daily. I dont know what was worse the injuries caused by the snake or done trying to catch them. They love hanging around acacia trees. Did you ever notice, when dealing with coachwhips, how when surprised and cornered they will coil wildly while smearing musk and poo all over themselves. I am sure you know that all snakes will stink on you when caught, The coachwhips is the pro of poo. I guess they feel like you wont eat them if they are stinking.

I agree with you, Prairie Kings are great. That was the second snake I ever kept as a pet. The first was a yellowbelly racer, they are a little nippy at first. You know what shocked me most about Texas snakes, the Texas Rat! On the east coast we have black, yellow and grey rats and they are so cool and calm, never bite. The texas rat is one mean snake. I kept one for six months and it still could not be handled without restraint.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Too funny, I let my rat snake go because he was damaging his own face striking at the glass He would sometimes even strike when the TV changed scenes, he was calm in the wild, but did NOT take kindly to captivity. He was a juvie when I found him, so he had bull snake / prairie king like markings...I just picked him up and bagged him. Once he got in his cage he decided he was a bad-@$$.

The ill-tempered coachwhip never poo'd on me or himself, but we never even tried to bag him...I fear he would have chewed through the pillow case and came after me. I did have a water snake (can't recall common name) puke half digested crawfish in my face once...putrid smell, and he got me with my mouth open

Jason