Rattlesnakes

[skjl47]

Hello; Here in my area of the USA are only two or maybe three snakes that carry poison. Copperhead, rattlesnakes and maybe the cotton mouth. The cotton mouth is not supposed to be this far north, but I am not so sure. There is a coral snake in the south that I have never seen in the wild.
Folks usually survive a copperhead bite. No fun but they survive. The rattlers are much more deadly and there are a variety of them. The diamond back is the big one in the woods in my area.

Here is a little tidbit which I cannot confirm. The cost of anti-venom has gone up big time and is harder to come by. Apparently one of the reasons is the rattle snake roundups that use to be held are now stopped or at least reduced. One of the side benefits of these roundups was the collection of venom. It is my understanding that animal rights group(s) are responsible for stopping the roundups.
I know they had a point as to the way the snakes were collected in fairly large numbers that might not have been a sustainable harvest. I think they mostly did not like the various ways the snakes were treated. Anyway there now may not be the anti-venom handy if a rattler gets you.

You folks in Africa have a much wider variety of the deadly snakes. You win that one.

 

[Hendre]

We have much more dangerous everything lol.

The alternative to getting wild venom is keeping snakes in captivity which will also drive up costs. There is a long process needed for antivenom and unfortunately the price reflects that

 

[johnny potatoes]

So 2 guys are walking into the woods, as 1 of them steps over a log he is bitten on the penis by a rattle snake.
His friend calls 911 and asks them what to do.
911 tells him "you will have to suck out the venom" he says o.k. and hangs up.
The gut that was bitten says what did they say?
His response was " YOU'RE GONNA DIE "

 

[Oddballs]

Hello; Here in my area of the USA are only two or maybe three snakes that carry poison. Copperhead, rattlesnakes and maybe the cotton mouth. The cotton mouth is not supposed to be this far north, but I am not so sure. There is a coral snake in the south that I have never seen in the wild.
Folks usually survive a copperhead bite. No fun but they survive. The rattlers are much more deadly and there are a variety of them. The diamond back is the big one in the woods in my area.

Here is a little tidbit which I cannot confirm. The cost of anti-venom has gone up big time and is harder to come by. Apparently one of the reasons is the rattle snake roundups that use to be held are now stopped or at least reduced. One of the side benefits of these roundups was the collection of venom. It is my understanding that animal rights group(s) are responsible for stopping the roundups.
I know they had a point as to the way the snakes were collected in fairly large numbers that might not have been a sustainable harvest. I think they mostly did not like the various ways the snakes were treated. Anyway there now may not be the anti-venom handy if a rattler gets you.

You folks in Africa have a much wider variety of the deadly snakes. You win that one.

My mother grew up in battle mountain Nevada a pretty small town by anyone's standards at the time. In the summer and spring convenience stories used to pay 50 cents a baby rattlesnake. So I heard numerous stores about her and her friends walking up creeks and gullies looking for the babies. I think santa Barbara just had coral snake wash ashore in the last year stuff was crazy.

 

[GamerChick5567]

Hahah that reminds me, speaking of rattlesnakes here's a few stories.

Usually we go on a few jeep trips a year out to the mojave desert up between 29 palms and blythe (the area was used in ww2 as a training camp by general patton, look up desert training center, very cool stuff to explore). I was 9 or 10 at the time. If I remember right, what happened was we were driving out of there to head home and we stopped to reinflate the tires once we got close to the highway. My dad's friend who was behind us stopped to pee and he found a big ass sidewinder. He thought it would be funny to mess around with it a bit by poking it with a stick and throwing stuff at it, and that obviously wasn't a good idea (probably beer related). Luckily that dude missed him while striking at his legs. My dad's friend freaked out, and the snake was nipping at his heels while he was running for his truck. Then we were hauling butt down that road too, probably going at least 20 mph and that pissed off sidewinder was still nipping at his tires. Me and my dad were laughing our asses off. But my mom freaks out super easily, don't think she went on a trip with us for a several years after that hahaha. That was one angry snake. Wish we woulda brought the old tape video camera on that trip, hahah it's one of the legendary campfire stories we always tell now!

One of the stories my dad has from the marines was finding a freakishly huge 6' snake cuddled up under some pile of crap he and his buddies had to move when he was stationed at 29 palms. I forgot what they did with it.

Another one. I was probably 12, it was a family reunion type trip up in the mountains that my grandparents always planned for the summers. I went to my tent to change my shoes for whatever reason. I looked down at my shoes and guess who was trying to hide in them? A 3' diamondback. I was a little weirded out more than I was scared and I was like, "Hey dad? There's a snake in here?". I tiptoed out and then he grabbed it with a stick and his shovel and threw it near a hill into the bushes. That dude was mad after that, he came back and tried to get into the tent where my little cousins (babies at the time) were sleeping. Nope. WHAM. Dad chopped it's little snakie head clean off with his shovel. My great uncle from louisiana just got back from fishing at the lake at the same time, he was about to gut it and throw it on the grill with his trouts, until my great aunt and grandma freaked out and yelled at him about his redneck cooking haha. Funny stuff.

I've seen only a few rattlers on hikes and stuff since. Last time I saw one was also on a desert trip. We found a cute little baby sidewinder or mojave green about 5" long in a creosote bush, gave him some space and he went on his way.

 

[Preacher]

Hello; Here in my area of the USA are only two or maybe three snakes that carry poison. Copperhead, rattlesnakes and maybe the cotton mouth. The cotton mouth is not supposed to be this far north, but I am not so sure. There is a coral snake in the south that I have never seen in the wild.
Folks usually survive a copperhead bite. No fun but they survive. The rattlers are much more deadly and there are a variety of them. The diamond back is the big one in the woods in my area.

Here is a little tidbit which I cannot confirm. The cost of anti-venom has gone up big time and is harder to come by. Apparently one of the reasons is the rattle snake roundups that use to be held are now stopped or at least reduced. One of the side benefits of these roundups was the collection of venom. It is my understanding that animal rights group(s) are responsible for stopping the roundups.
I know they had a point as to the way the snakes were collected in fairly large numbers that might not have been a sustainable harvest. I think they mostly did not like the various ways the snakes were treated. Anyway there now may not be the anti-venom handy if a rattler gets you.

You folks in Africa have a much wider variety of the deadly snakes. You win that one.

We have all three here. The one I see most is the copperhead. The rattle snake will let you know where he is, the copper head will run from you, the cotton mouth will wait for you diffently the worst for us round here. However I have never seen a rattlesnake on water, I will have to watch for that one.

 

[Thekid]

I had a friend that got his boot bit while prairie dog hunting. It struck his boot and ended up stuck because its fangs latched onto the leather.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

I remember seeing a massive eight footer when I was a child,but haven't seen one anywhere near that size since(probably since there are too many idiots with shovels) if I see anyone kill a snake I always make them pay dearly for it.