Rattle snakes things to know

[Peg Leg]

I have hunter snakes and gators since I was a kid but one time while prospecting is southern AZ I went into an old spanish mine opening and discovered I had steeped into a snake pit. There were over 20 rattlesnakes.
I started to move about 1" at at time out of the mine opening. I have no idea how I was going to get out without being hit but I did.
I decided to make something to help me survive if I were ever caught in this position again.
As we all know snakes become very slow when it is cold so I rigged up a CO2 fire extinsure and carried it like a scuba tank on my back,
I returned to this mine enterance and filled the enterance with CO2. After 10 minutes I entered the mine. I recovered 16 rattlesnakes that were frozen to death. I also recovered another 6 that were dying from the cold. I skinned all the snakes and got over $750.00 for the skins.
I was after Gold and not snakes but I NEVER went into another abdoned mine without my CO2 tank on my back. The CO2 is good at cooling off you beer on a hot day.
Peg Leg

 

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[damz68]

I have caught between 700/800 cottonmouths and have never been bitten.

Damz: Vocation or avocation?

Cyn

Avocation

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I have caught between 700/800 cottonmouths and have never been bitten.

Damz: Vocation or avocation?

Cyn

Avocation

Damzi, you might want to talk to somebody about that.

 

[damz68]

Man, I am to far gone. No one can help me out!

I guess finding some gold coins would help!

 

[damz68]

Ok, im lost. Maybe it is the brainfog I have been in for 3 years!
Call me crazy, haha

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Ok, im lost. Maybe it is the brainfog I have been in for 3 years!
Call me crazy, haha

No, you just enjoy wildlife. However, even though you obviously know what you are doing, EVERYBODY that I know that fooled with venomous snakes, including Bill Haas from the famed Serpentarium in Miami, eventually lost concentration for a split second, and was bitten. Bill was bitten so many times that he started to look like a snake. He used to donate his blood to snake bite victims!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haast

 

[damz68]

Bill is a good guy, if I am not mistaken he is still alive and doing well. He is probally right around a 100 years old. I saw him on a NG special a couple years back, he was litterly jumping fences at the serpenterium. He has saved thousands of lives with his antivenoms and even helped in the discovery of a polio vaccine with snake venoms! If anyone here is on BP meds(beta blockers) they are derived from snake venoms and there are drugs being developed at this moment for cancer using snake venoms.

In the US about 2 die a year from snakebite and thousands of lives are extended or saved from them. That is a good reason to keep them around.

 

[stefen]

Rattle length is a good question...I have a friend that built a house in Rancho California and had about 40 rattles nailed over his work bench...that were caught during construction.

I never thought to ask the maximum rattle count...but most measured from 1 to 3 inches.

All I know is that the distance (between me and the snake) is relative...and is accompanied with a four letter expletive.

 

[Subgenius5150]

just thought i would drop you guys some of my experiance...

being a kid living on a ranch outside of santa fe new mexico there wasnt much for me to do except explore... i live d on a 450 acre ranch near Lamy about 20 miles outside of santa fe ... and nature was my only friend ... i would frequently come across lots of western diamond rattlers, bullsnakes, hognoses, and sometimes mexican black tail rattlers.... at first i would stay clear of them or smash them with a rock .. but being a kid (12-15 years old) you eventually get braver and braver... i started catching them and keeping them as pets.. (mother did not approve) rattlers are acctually the easiest ive dealt with...

the older the rattler the less likely he is to bite... (rattlers know that there bite is venomous and it is for catching food and shouldnt be wasted on defence)

young rattlers venom is more potent because they arent as good as hunters yet....

it takes alot of messing with to eventually get a rattler to strike... (they would rather make noise and hiss at ya then get into a fight with something that is 100x there size)

Fear is thier best weapon.. (if anyone acctually gets bit 99% of the time its the persons fault not the snakes... humans should learn to leave well enough alone)

Rattlers Hibernate in Groups... ( many times i have found dens with about 10-40 rattlers in them during late winter early spring ... wouldnt suggest being curious and poking around)

rattlers can only jump as far as 2/3 there body length ( i learned this one the hard way... i was bit while antagonizing a WDB when i was 14)

i still to this day keep snakes as pets but no longer venomous because of my daughter... and have only been bitten twice ( the second time was by my yellow anaconda )


snakes are just another animal.. not evil... and if it wasnt for them rodents would be the scourge of the world... everything has a purpose

 

[deepsix47]

I'd like to learn more about in the field antedotes as I run with a kid. Why aren't there anti-venom IM meds available for local species? What if I'm not Quickdraw McGraw?

There are. If you have a cool doctor you can get a script for either hemotoxic or the rare neurotoxic (coral snake only in the US) anti venom kits. There are dangers in their use though so be VERY familiar how before injecting yourself. With the script you can get the kit at most large hospital pharmacies.
Deepsix

 

[deepsix47]

Corn?

no. It has red, black, and yellow bands, native to Florida.

scarlet king?

 

[Cannonman17]

I hear rattlesnake is good to eat- anybody here try it? What's it like? :P

 

[diggemall]

Tastes like allilgator

Diggem'

 

[chong2]

it dont tase like much, taste like what u season it with. also i just saw that walmart sells alligator in the pre packaged sea food section. single fillets