Using rattlesnakes to locate lodes, caches, and treasure.

elgatodelnoche

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2013
333
119
East Mesa, Arizona
Detector(s) used
Garrett Deepseeker ADS
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
This is just theoretical for now, however as my health improves I intend to take to the field and try to prove it out. I started to think about this when I was prospecting in the Picketpost Mountain area about 2000. I noticed that some areas held no snakes, some areas held some snakes, and other areas had snakes that would fill the air like a reptile orchestra. When one went off, the whole valley would start vibrating.

So here is my theory. Seeing that rattlesnakes are pit vipers and sense and are attracted to heat and that gold sinks the heat during the day and radiates it at night, then it seems natural to conclude that rattlesnakes would den up on lodes, chaches, veins, and treasure burials.

So I have decided to run toward snakes instead of away from them when I am hunting for gold.:thumbsup:

rattlesnake.jpg
Rattlesnake a pit viper.

wild coral snake.jpg
Long Nosed Snake not a pit viper.
 

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tell us how it goes if you live through it better wear stove pipes lol
 

interesting.....I've read about bats helping to locate underground cavities, why not snakes?
 

interesting Theory ! I suppose it's worth a thought when out in the Field.

When I read the title I wondered if you were going to send them into
cracks with Mini Cameras on their heads :laughing7:
 

Thanks for the replies everybody, and no Moonrover I am not recovering from a snake bite. I am recovering from chronic fatigue and obesity.
 

There is also the belief that Spanish miners put rattlesnakes in treasure vaults to protect their gold while they were away.
In that case, they may be worth investigating. To get the rattlesnakes out, throw in some gasoline and the fumes will make
many of them slither out.
NEITHER OF THESE SUGGESTIONS IN GUARANTEED, TAKE YOUR OWN RISKS, DON'T BLAME ME.
Good luck,
Rich
 

Oh, so yet another LRL... A (L)ong (R)attling (L)ocator. It will probably work just as well. Probably better! :laughing7: Good luck!
 

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When I lived in a gold bearing State I found gold numerous times in ground hog mounds
 

Good idea, certainly worth checking out........like the gas (or diesel), snake removal system......a shotgun would also be of use to terminate any snake problems..............
 

Good idea, certainly worth checking out........like the gas (or diesel), snake removal system......a shotgun would also be of use to terminate any snake problems..............

That sounds like too much fun!
 

Yeah let me know how that works out for ya!........HH
 

Snakes, bee's, and other nastys could be used to keep folks out of a area or hole. just not for the reason you described.
 

Snakes were kind of scarce around me this year. Here is hoping that the next year is filled with snakes for me.
 

That is not a Coral Snake. At least, it's not a North American Coral Snake, maybe Honduran? We have craploads of Coral Snakes in Florida, I've seen many. I'm sorry to chime in negatively, but I doubt a reptile would be attracted to gold, maybe the road on a cool evening, to soak up the heat from the asphalt, but a coin or nugget? I doubt it. As for Spanish leaving snakes, it's possible, but they would be long dead, and if they can't get out of the hole, so to speak, how do they eat, drink, reproduce? Snakes do winter together sometimes in warmer grottoes and caves, and huddle up together, but the location has to do with ambient temperature. It would take a whole lotta gold to radiate heat soaked up from the sun enough to attract reptiles. But here's one for ya: Why is it that in Virginia, I can find a crawfish hole o in the side of a stream, and if I dig it out, fairly often there was a minie ball bullet in the hole?? I can not figure out what attracts them. The hole the bullet created originally, and generations of crawfish use the same hole? Attraction to lead?? Weirder things have been reported. Let us know if the gold/reptile thing pans out.
 

I am certainly glad for all the responses, this is what the forum is about, helps us all learn or be amused.
Rich
 

To Smokey,
Snakes, they taste like chicken.
Rich
 

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