Any rattlesnake stories here?

[womanofthehills]

I was bitten above my ankle by a big rattlesnake 3 weeks ago in my yard in the high desert of NM. I'm doing good and on crutches after getting 16 vials of antivenom. Of course, I was sure I was going to die when I first got bitten. Now I have mega fear of rattlesnakes - I think they are everywhere. As I write, I'm wearing snake gaiter protection on my lower legs.

I'm searching everything rattlesnake - I've become rattlesnake obsessive. I think I'll go on Ebay and look for some rattlesnake earings!

[seabeyond]

1. spiderman became spiderman when the virus went into his blood, right? i think i watched one. do you

want to buy rattle snake boots. and looking for rattlesnake skirt and blouse. you know. those are cool. the really are incredibly soft.

rs stories....

i grew up in az. little little out in the middle of no where. my mom 23, with three little ones. all a year apart.

we were kicked out for a while. i must have been 3, 4. so that made my brothers 4 and 5... possibly oldest, 6.

literally the middle of no where, in Az.

we had all learned about rattle snakes adn scorpions by then. my middle brother being an ass, then and always, wanted ot play with it. cause he is stupid.

me the youngest is pounding on the door to get my mom outside. my oldest in pinning middle to keep him from the snake.

my mom went out, got her hoe and killed it. then laid into the middle brother.

yup

that is my rattlesnake story.

anyway. i hear ya on your whole story. the odds of you getting it again is at least being struck twice. i am sorry you are going thru that.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Oh my goodness! How scary! I live in Maine, so no run-ins with rattlers here (although

some old timers insist we have Timbers around.)

You should move to Maine, if you don't mind cold weather. We need more progressives here anyway.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Never been bitten.

When I was young I did a lot of desert ratting. A couple of times as I was hiking I heard a rattle, then, literally, backed away. While camping in the mountains one time (we were only at about 2500 feet), we were fishing by a stream and I looked up and there on a branch above our heads was a HUGE rattler, sound asleep. We quickly packed up and got the flock outta Dodge.

There was the time that, while camping, I was sleeping on the ground in my sleeping bag, no air mattress or anyting. The next morning we got up and as I pulled up my sleeping bag up there was a dead scorpion under the sleeping bag where my head had been. Must have rolled over on him during the night.

[hlthe2b]

4. Oh my. That was probably a western diamondback--pretty aggressive snake

We only have timber rattlers where I am--bad enough in terms of toxicity though, but not quite as aggressive, so slightly less likely to go after you unless you surprise them. Areas south (CO Springs and onward towards New Mexico is where you tend to start encountering W. Diamondbacks.

I love to hike though and there are plenty of timber rattlers in the foothills near me, so I will be putting my dog through aversion training next week. Guys from Texas come every year with de-fanged rattlesnakes and bull snakes to a locale generally east of Denver and people from all over the state come with their dogs. They run them on a course with an e-stimulation collar to teach them to not only avoid the "rattle" but to avoid snakes on sight (bullsnake)

Here's hoping my girlie "passes" with flying colors. She is waaaay too curious and has her nose in rodent burrows about half the time if I let her.

I can't blame you for feeling as you do. It serves us all to be wary living out west and to stay on clear paths and trails as much as possible.

[Kali]

10. There is a vaccine now too, if you have a lot of extra cash.

http://www.redrockbiologics.com/

[hlthe2b]

11. Yes... It is a very expensive vaccine and has to be given (at least) annually after first two doses.

If my house abutted rocky outcrops or directly against an area with lots of snakes, I'd surely do it, though. Comparatively cheap, though compared with treatment with anti-venom and possible surgery needed for damaged tissue after snakebite.

Our Denver news affiliate has done shows on the guys from Texas and their aversion training program appears to be pretty darned effective.

[hunter]

5. I've had many rattlesnake encounters.

I once got my boot bit, the fangs went most of the way through, but did not penetrate my skin.

My scariest story, I was working at an outdoor school with city kids, where the kids stay five days and four nights in a summer camp environment. A big mob of us were hiking. I was last, sweeping up the stragglers. We turned a bend in the trail and ahead was a ring of idiot boys entirely surrounding an angry rattlesnake. One of the boys was poking it with a not-so-long stick.

Damn boys are stupid!

I was at once terrified and furious and managed to disperse the boys in a way that allowed the snake to safely escape.

I hope your foot is healing well.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I have a photo of me holding the 6 foot diamondback

I killed with a hoe. Damn thing was on my back deck (ground level) one July am, in N. Fla.
I was impressed how thick it was. they have Big ones down there.
All the times I played as a kid in Eastern Washington, never had any snake problems.
down here in Ala. they are much more in evidence. Lost a cat to snakebite couple years ago, poor thing.

and...related...the woman next door hired a guy to clean out her old shed, which is on the property line between our place and hers. He arrived, started hauling stuff into his pickup, etc. Few minutes later he walked over to Mr. Dixie to show him the 3 copperheads at the end of a pitchfork that he had speared in the shed. Big thick fat ones.
Those things are invisible among all the magnolia leaves that are inches deep around here.

I hope you are healing well. Getting bit can be a scary thing.

[kairos12]

7. See them often here in Arizona. Sorry that happened to you.

[Earth_First]

8. I've had two close encounters with eastern diamondbacks...

The first was a trailside encounter where I passed within striking distance with no strike, only a warning.

The second I should have been bitten, however I had someone/thing looking over me...

I reached into an outstripping without looking a geocache and the snake struck and hit the rock and not my forearm. It was inches away...

Glad yo hear you are surviving your encounter. It's unfortunate that you were bitten and luckily your recieved emergency treatment in time.

Be safe...

[Kali]

9. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=8942811&mesg_id=8943956

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7323712


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9428335

[hlthe2b]

12. Nice little rattlesnake "diary"..(!) I loved seeing MFM's posts in that last thread.

I know you are missing him too.

[Kali]

13. yeah, I sure wish the images were still there.

something happened with photobucket and he lost a lot of stuff.

reminds me I need to e-mail the hospital and see if anybody ever took photos of the TV, or if it ever got installed...

[panader0]

14. A lot of rattlesnakes around here.

I live in So Az. Also high desert at4600'. Most prevalent are diamondbacks, but more dangerous are the Mohave rattlers.
Their venom is much stronger and though not necessarily fatal, their bites usually result in necrosis, a loss of flesh around the wound.
They look like diamondbacks with a few differences. The diamonds in the pattern on their back touch, while diamondbacks are about a half inch apart. They are smaller and have a slight green shade. I killed snakes when my kids ran around here, but no more now that they're gone. As I walk through the mesquite and bushes I stay aware of my surroundings. At night, this time of year, rattlers will
lay on the (dirt) road for heat. So, if I venture to walk about, I stomp my feet.

[NV Whino]

15. I've had many a rattler around here

If they're not close to the house, I leave them alone. Had a couple of cats bitten, but they survived just fine.

But, my favorite rattlesnake story is from LA when I had a horse. Went out on a trail ride with a group one weekend. We were on a narrow trail with a head-high cliff on one side and a dropoff on the other. Word passed back down the line that there was a snake on the cliff up ahead. In spite of the fact that the snake was just at horse eye level, we all, including the horses, kept our cool as did the snake. No panic and no casualties. However, when I got the horse home and was putting her in the corral, she saw a garden hose. All hell broke loose. She jerked the lead out of my hand and took off down the road. Took about an hour to catch her and get her in the corral.

[Zorro]

16. I've had to kill a half-dozen or so in my yard over the years

We have a place in SoCal that backs up to undeveloped land, so it's not unusual to find them slithering about. Unless you surprise them, they'll rattle a warning. I really don't care to schwack them with the hoe (they tend to be 4-5 feet long), but since my wife is always traipsing around doing her gardening, it's usually for the best. She does wear rubber work boots when she's out, FWIW.

Once I did have a mojave rattlesnake in the yard, and it was such an iridescent green color I thought it a shame to kill it, so I picked it up on the end of the hoe and tossed it into a pile of boulders.

I also encountered one in the process of engorging itself on a baby squirrel on the trail behind the house, and it wasn't too happy with me being on the scene. I left it alone as it wriggled back into a cleft in the rocks, rattling all the way. Snakes gotta eat, too -- as do the snake-eating bobcats and coyotes that also run around the place.

[womanofthehills]

17. Thanks for your stories --

I've actually had about 5 rattlesnake encounters out here over the yrs but the snakes have always gone on their way. I'm afraid to get close enough to them to try to kill them so I have chased them with cold water from my hose. My dog is a mix of healer/shepard/hound and he seems to have a natural instinct to stay back 6 feet from a rattler. If he comes across a rattler, he stays back beyond striking distance, and circles sideways barking like mad. Twice I have caught him circling a rattler. He was actually at my side when I was bitten - the snake was under my shed with about 2 feet of his body out in the sun catching rays behind a knocked over flower pot. When I straighted up the pot, I felt a flick on side of my leg and then I saw him and he began rattling like mad as he went back under the shed. My friends husband tried to get him but he got away. I'm having a friend put wire around the bottom of the shed tomorrow.

PanaderO - I haven't come across any Mojaves but people on the south side of our town have seen them - I keep looking at pics of them to find the small differences besides the green color - they also have a white strip coming off the side of their eyes and larger areas of white at the end of the tail before the rattles.


Seabeyond - I had a follow up appointment a few days ago, and my female doc was actually wearing really cute ballet like snake skin flats.