RE: Rattlesnake

[Ab Diver]

 
I killed the first rattlesnake of the season this weekend. Walked right by it twice before I saw it on the third pass next to our back door. It was only a pup about 7 inches long--- just the size that looks harmless to young kids. I showed it to my girls, and pointed out the body color pattern, the black and white tail pattern, the lack of " rattles" , and the head shape of the viper. Then killed it with a spade. My girls were amazed that the head could still open and bite down on a stick five minutes after it was separated from the body (reflex action). Hope our family cat doesn t find another one on it s nighttime prowls, or it could be by-by Kitty-cat. Don t get me wrong-- I love snakes, and bring any King snakes or Gopher snakes I find sunning themselves on the roads home to turn loose in our back yard (keeps down the rodent population). But Rattlers are not welcome at my home.
 
 Why did I post this? Just as a reminder that we need to teach our children about the creatures they may encounter on our camping trips. Each area has it s own venomous critters, and traveling from one climate to another can bring new dangers. Snakes, spiders, scorpions, warm and cold-blooded biters/scratchers/stingers and even various types of plants can be an unknown danger to our kids.
 
 Ab Diver--- a West Coast camper who s embarrassed to admit he wouldn t know a Cottonmouth s pattern if he saw it on a trip back East.

[AustinBoston]

 Ab Diver
When on our trip across the country in the summer of  01, DD#1 picked up a book entitled " Over The Edge: Death in Grand Canyon"  by a former park ranger and a former river guide (the names escape me now).  It s about the various ways (mostly, stupid ways) people have been done in in the Grand Canyon.
 
 In one chapter, they go over all of the poisonous critters in the canyon, including the various species of rattlesnakes, the numerous species of scorpions, tarantulas and other spiders, etc.  Then they document every fatality caused by those critters in the canyon.  Zero.  No one has ever been killed by a poisonous bite or sting received in the Grand Canyon.
 
 Of course, there have been plenty that have been mighty sick from such poisonous critters, but that s not what the book is about.
 
 Aircraft crashes have killed more people in the Grand Canyon that all other forms of death combined.
 
 Austin (who hopes to never tangle with a cottonmouth, copperhead, coralsnake, or rattler)

[RamblingWreck]

 Ab Diver
This is a true story but a little long.  I was on a business trip in South Africa in the Durban area some years ago.  The manager of the computer department at the company I was visiting invited me to his home for lunch one day.
 
 We had to climb a large set of steps to get into his place and had to skirt a small pile of dog poop on the way up.  When we reached the top of the stairs Ramish mentioned the mess to his wife and she cleaned it up.
 
 Ramish and I were enjoying the view from picture window in his living room while his wife prepared lunch.  I commented on a stand of bambo growing down the hill.  The shoots were probably 40 feet tall and as big around as a man s waist at their base.
 
 Ramish mentioned that a large boa constrictor had worked its way to the top of one of the shoots recently.  The snake was so large that its weight caused the shoot to topple.  Their dog had rushed out to investigate the resulting crash.  The boa promptly caught and ate his dog!
 
 I asked Ramish if he had killed the boa and he said no.  That that would have upset the local farmers who depend upon the boas to control the rats.  Ramish said that they had recently gotten a new puppy to replace the eaten dog.  They were still trying to house break the puppy thus the poop we saw on our entry.
 
 Ramish then told me that they used to have a cat.  I asked him what had happened to it.  He said a mamba had been in their yard and the cat tried to take it.  The mamba was much too fast for the cat and coiled itself around the cat s neck.  The cat ran in the house with mamba still wrapped around it.  Ramish said he got his shotgun and killed them both and pointed a corner where they had died.
 
 As background, in Vietnam our soldiers called the mamba Mr. Two Step as that was about how long you could expect to live after being bitten by one.  The previous weekend, I had visited a snake park across the street from the hotel.  They did a show where they handled most the poisonous snakes.
 
 The handler told us that they didn t handle the mambas for two reasons.  The first being that it stressed them greatly and that was detrimental to their health, (and I was thinking... like that would be a bad thing).  The second reason had to do with the mamba s speed.  They put a poisonous snake s body in the pen and cast the head in afterward.  The mamba is so fast that it can strike the handler s arm three times as he makes the casting motion.
 
 Knowing what I did about mambas, I thought Ramish s solution to the one in his house was quite sensible.  In reply I asked him if lunch was about ready.  I wanted to eat and get out of there...hopefully faster than another mamba!
 

[forestwalker]

 Ab Diver
Thirty years of hiking in the Santa Cruz Mnts-Have only encountered a rattler twice.Occaisionally acquaintences have brought me one to eat(tastes like chicken).Other than that,I ve had few experiences with rattlesnakes.Thats ok with me-they scare me.I have run into the local version of scorpian about a half dozen times.I dont much like them either.I guess they are all ok-away from me,and my loved ones.

[Venatic]

 Ab Diver
In case anyone is interested, here is a short and to the point paragraph on [link=http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/conmag/2003/05/back.htm]copperheads[/link] with a very good picture that would be useful to anyone that spends time in the woods or doesn t know how to identify one of these.

[jpreiser]

 Ab Diver
Thank you for the copperhead picture!! My sisiter and I were talking today about them as they seemed to enjoy sunning themselves on the rock wall behind the summer house in PA. I wanted to show my kids what they looked like from a picture so if they saw one in real life they new to back away.

[cb]

 Ab Diver
RamblingWreck--Great story.  My nephew was new to the Peace Corps in Swaziland when a Mamba parked in his " front yard."   He didn t recognize what it was, whacked it to death with something and hung it on the fence after he was sure it was dead.  All the locals revered him from that day forward!!
 
 We have camped in the desert for years and have only seen one large rattler.  One of the then three-year-old triplets saw it too, as we were trooping to the restroom in nightgowns to get the night diapers off.  She called to her sisters, " Girls, come quick.  This is AMAZING!"   I, on the other hand, muttered that it was SCARY, not particulary amazing,  and was delighted to see it disappear through the brittlebush.  My eyes have been opened a little wider since then.

[Rocky Mountain Sue]

 Ab Diver
There may not be any reported deaths from scorpions in the Grand Canyon, but my Grandmother grew up in Arizona and her sister died from a scorpion sting. We always checked our shoes before putting our foot in for spiders and scorpions growing up!
 
 I live where we can encounter rattlers in our yards and I love to camp over 8,000 feet alt. where you almost never encounter any snakes at all! My uncle killed one in front of me growing up and it scared the you know what out of me! Hate snakes!!!, but have learned to tolerate Bull snakes, they kill rattlers.
 

[Gone-Camping]

 Ab Diver
I used to go fishing along the banks of the Northwest River in Chesapeake Va about one mile north of the NC state line. There was an old boat ramp that was right off of the main road. During the morning hours it wasn t too bad, but by early afternoon the Water Moccasin s (Cottonmouth) that we saw swimming in the river would finally get their curiousity up, and move ashore where I was fishing. Perhaps they were attracted by the bait, the fish on the creel, or the activity (I won t pretend to know which it was), but they would come out of the water, and start working their way all around us.
 
 Most of them would slither off when smacked the ground in front of them with a big stick or something, but there were always a couple that seemed more aggressive. I don t think we ve ever killed one, not sure I wanted to get close enough to the darn thing to try and kill it. But there was one that just wanted to sun himself, and wasn t real interested in us. But his presence disturbed me greatly, so I used a rather long stick to prod and poke him with. He was visibly upset, coiled back and hoping I d get close enough to strike, but that stick was plenty long and I was too chicken to get any closer. He too eventually slithered off, and that was the closest I ve been to a poisonous snake!
 
 Now when I was fixing gas pumps for a living, and opening the bottom sections of them, I d often find Black Widow Spiders! I caught a few of them in jars, but mostly just did what I could to get rid of them, usually hit them with spray paint since that is what I had handy in the truck. Didn t really want to kill them either, but I had to stick my hands under those pumps!!! [: (]

[otter]

 Ab Diver
We have encounted several rattlesnakes over the years  as California campers.  I have the rattles from on ole fella we killed at Don Pedro 25 years ago, which my 7 year old granddaughter recently took to school for show and tell.  I hate snakes too, but it has never kept me form camping.  However, I do always camp with a dog!  
 Did you ever wonder if a snake could crawl up the side of your pop up?  I think about it!.

[raven339]

 Ab Diver
I m a northern boy from Minnesota...
 
 Many years ago I lived in Georgia, and was dating a Georgia Peach...We had just arrived at their family cabin which was on a lake, and wandered down to the end of the dock.
 
 We had just kicked off our shoes and were dangling our feet in the water when I heard the door of the cabin slam behind me.
 
 As I looked around...I saw her brother running towards us with a shotgun...I thought, " HOLY SH!T" !!!, I haven t even tried to kiss her yet!!!
 
 As he was half way toward us he yelled " get your feet out of the water" !!!!...See n as he had a shotgun we immediately complied...
 
 As we were now standing on the dock when he reached us, he told us that he had found a Cottonmouth nest under the dock the day before...He then fired 2 rounds into the nest and at least 30-40 Cotonmouths scurried off into the lake...
 
 Never thought I d be happy to see a girl s older brother with a shotgun...But that day I sure was!!![][][]
 
 Skol...

[Rocky Mountain Sue]

 Ab Diver
The old wives tale about snakes only being able to strike as far as they are long is a bunch of nonsense! Don t believe it, they can strike a lot further than they are long, so stay far as you can away from these bad boys!
 
 Please don t ever do the stupid thing of sucking the venom out if you or someone else is bit. Stay calm and get medical help as soon as possible is the best thing you can do. If you have a sore in your mouth you are gonna get venom in that too, bad scene.
 
 Why would you poke a stick at a venomous snake?? Like poking a mean old bear, you are looking for trouble! Besides if you are that close, you are close enough to get bit!

[MommaMia]

 Ab Diver
Here in Connecticut, rattlesnakes are on the endangered species list and it is illegal to posses, collect kill or otherwise harrass them.

[Garrett]

 Ab Diver
I lived in the mountains of north Alabama for eight years.  We actually owned a hundred acre campground, very primitive and rugged.  During that entire time, including serving in the local volunteer fire department fighting brush fires, I never saw a rattlesanke.  However these two guys from town would come out from time to time to hunt them.  It never took them more than thirty minutes to catch one or two of them.  They would take them home, kill, clean and freeze them, then in the fall would have a rattlesnake roast.
 The point of this story is that rattlesnakes are very timid and will do their best to stay away from you, thus the rattle warning.  On the other hand, cottenmouths were also plentiful.  Now those bad boys are territorial and will come after you if they think you are intruding.  I was always much more concerned about cottenmouths than a rattle snake.  You almost have to step on a rattler to be at risk.

[Gone-Camping]

 Ab Diver

Why would you poke a stick at a venomous snake?? Like poking a mean old bear, you are looking for trouble! Besides if you are that close, you are close enough to get bit!

 Simple, the snake had to move, and I didn t have anything to shoot it with, nor did I think the poor thing was doing anything that should have cost him his life! And trust me, that stick was plenty long enough I was NEVER in danger of getting bit.  I was bigger than the snake, and armed with the stick, therefore I was never in harms way. Poking a bear with a stick is a totally different game, the bear is bigger than I am, if I see a bear, I m going to do what that snake should have done when he saw me, LEAVE!!!  []