Snakes are back!

[Rick Lee]

Yeah, I'd probably have to kill venomous snakes on my property if I had kids and pets running around, unless I could safely relocate them. I haven't come across any Rattlers where I live now, but I hear about them all the time. In northern AZ we have the Green Mojave Rattlesnake, which is supposedly worse than a Coral Snake and also aggressive. Their venom consists of a hemo- and neurotoxin. Very bad news, especially since you're only likely to encounter one very far from any help.

[Rick Lee]

I was at a reptile zoo in Luray, VA about 10 yrs. ago and this guy had every venomous snake you've ever heard of - black and green mambas, gaboon vipers, cobras, russells viper, etc. I asked him how he cleaned the cages out. He said very carefully. I asked what his plan was if he ever got tagged. He said he'd be med-evac'ed to Johns Hopkins. Yeah, right. He'd be dead before the chopper even got to him.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

In northern AZ we have the Green Mojave Rattlesnake, which is supposedly worse than a Coral Snake and also aggressive. Their venom consists of a hemo- and neurotoxin. Very bad news, especially since you're only likely to encounter one very far from any help.

Wow... well, as they say, "you learn sumthin' every day." From the time I was 7 until I left home for college, I read just about everything I could find on snakes and kept some as pets, and I had never heard of that one... never knew we had another snake in the U.S. with a neurotoxic venom.



According to Wiki, they've got the antivenin situation covered pretty well...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_scutulatus

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I was at a reptile zoo in Luray, VA about 10 yrs. ago and this guy had every venomous snake you've ever heard of - black and green mambas, gaboon vipers, cobras, russells viper, etc. I asked him how he cleaned the cages out. He said very carefully. I asked what his plan was if he ever got tagged. He said he'd be med-evac'ed to Johns Hopkins. Yeah, right. He'd be dead before the chopper even got to him.

You're right about that.

Black Mamba kills British Student

The guy would need to keep the anti venom stuff on site with someone trained to administer.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

...this guy had every venomous snake you've ever heard of - black and green mambas...

That reminds me... I was flipping around the channels one night last week and ran across a guy on Leno with about a 6 foot mamba... and he was holding it by the tail with one hand and he had one of these lame hook sticks (without that black rubber to keep the snake from slipping... just slick metal) in the other hand trying to control the business end of that thing.



It was pissed off and almost got him about 4 times.

Seriously.

He would jump backwards just as it came at his leg and try to push it back with the stick... and he wasn't wearing anything that would've protected him.

There were at least two guys squatting down at the edge of the stage with sticks... to try to keep it from getting into the audience if it got away from him.

The whole scene was crazy scary... it looked like he didn't have the right stick and was trying to "make do." I don't know who the guy was... some zoo dude I have never seen before.

[Rick Lee]

That reptile zookeeper was just in denial and had been lucky for a long time. I wonder if we'll read about him one of these days. BTW, Steve Irwin sponsored the place, if that gives you any idea as to the risk-taking mentality of such people. I think he told me the antivenin has a short shelf-life and can take many treatments to be effective. And how many hospitals in the US stock stuff for snakes not indigenous to this country or even commonly kept in zoos?

I got my Boa as a hatchling from a pet store in Bethesda MD in 1995. The guys there told me they had someone bring in a Cobra for an after hours exhibit once and handled it. I don't know how often they milk those snakes, but they gotta be super painful even if freshly milked. No thanks. I prefer risking my life with more fun stuff like riding motorcycles.

[peppy]

I remember this story from 2001.

http://www.igorilla.com/gorilla/animal/2001/snake_collector_gets_bitten.html

The numbers of cobras, puff adders, diamondback rattlers and other exotic poisonous snakes in Sussex County dropped sharply this week with the removal of Tom Townsend's personal collection.

Townsend, a 42-year-old nuclear power plant engineer, had been keeping 50 to 60 poisonous snakes in
the basement of his rural Waverly home until he was bitten by one of his pet cobras Saturday morning,
said Sussex County Sheriff Stuart Kitchen.

"I hope he won't try this again," Kitchen said yesterday after inspecting Townsend's now
poisonous-snake-free basement.

Townsend is resting at home after his expensive brush with death, but his fanged friends are all
zoo-bound, thanks to private snake handlers working with state game experts.

Townsend's wife was "really terrified" by the incident (the couple has young children), and Kitchen
admitted he wasn't shy about "encouraging them" to get rid of the deadly snakes.

"I think they decided they had had enough," Kitchen said.

Deputies and rescuers responding to Townsend's 911 call for help were surprised by the extent of the
collection, which filled padlocked cages throughout the entire basement. "There were 10 to 12
rattlesnakes alone," Kitchen said. "You could hear them rattling."

One of Townsend's exotic vipers was so deadly, a state biologist called it a "two-stepper," Kitchen said.
"You get bit, you take two steps and die."

Townsend was just one of many "herp keepers" across the country who collect poisonous species,
which is not illegal in Virginia. "This guy hadn't broken any laws," Kitchen said.

Rumors about Townsend's deadly snakes had circulated in the Waverly area for some time, and officials
became worried that firefighters and rescuers could be endangered if there was ever a fire or flood at the
Townsends' two-story home beside the Nottoway River.

"But we couldn't find any law that would enable us to do anything about it," Kitchen said.

Saturday's bite changed all that.

Townsend had been using tongs to feed a rat to a spectacled cobra from India - the deadly Naja naja
naja species - when the snake dropped the rat and bit him on the first finger of his right hand.

"He knew he was in trouble," Kitchen said. By the time rescuers had arrived, "he had written down a
[medical] protocol to go with him to the hospital." Townsend also had applied a proper tourniquet.

Deputy Sheriff Donnie Marrin knew as soon as he arrived that Townsend would not make it if he was
transported by ambulance, so he called for a helicopter.

Townsend was sitting up and talking to Marrin at first. But, by the time the helicopter lifted off, he was
semiconscious and barely breathing.

Ordering the helicopter was one of several key actions that saved Townsend's life, Kitchen said.

Nurses at Virginia's Poison Center hit the phones, locating antivenin in New York City and Miami, and it
was flown to Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.

Townsend's hand is still swollen, but he is expected to make a full recovery. He declined requests for an
interview.

"He's a sharp guy," Kitchen said. "He just has an unusual hobby."

Kitchen said he believes Townsend's health insurance will be paying for the intensive and expensive
rescue effort. "I know the sheriff's office isn't."

[T77911S]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

That actually refers to Coral Snakes. Since they are not pit vipers the head shape is no clue...it's tapered like the non-toxic snakes. The stripes go around the body. If red is next to yellow it's a Coral...If red is next to black it's safe.... Personally I'd leave them both alone

Another way to quickly tell a gopher snake from a buzz tail is that the rattlers seem to have more dull or dusty skin. Gophers always look shiny to me.

what do you mean it refers to coral snakes? it also refers to the king snake. it is red/black/white, it is not a coral snake and it is not poisonous.

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Hmmm... didn't know this... very interesting. From Wiki:
____________________________________________
The sole manufacturer of Eastern and Texas Coral Snake Antivenom, Wyeth, has ceased production of this product and it is estimated that all remaining in-date stocks of Coral Snake Antivenom in the United States will be exhausted between October and December, 2008. Unless the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a new or foreign (Mexican) antivenom currently being tested at the Natural Toxins Research Center (Texas A&M University-Kingsville) then U.S. victims of Eastern and Texas Coral Snake envenomation will no longer be able to be treated by antivenom. The consequences of this radically changes the way Coral Snake envenomation is treated. Existing stocks, if any have received an extension for expiration until October 31, 2009. See the following notice from the FDA and associated links at: http://www.fda.gov/cber/safety/wyecor102808.htm

Victims of Eastern and Texas Coral snakebite should be transported as soon as possible to a tertiary level hospital which can provide constant monitoring of neurological and respiratory symptoms for 24 hours or more and if these symptoms occur be ready and able to sedate, endotracheally intubate and mechanically ventilate such patients for up to a week or until neurological and respiratory paralysis resolves. To the list of neurological symptoms patients must also be evaluated by serial (and frequent) testing of NIF (Negative Inspiratory Force) and arterial blood gases. The most dangerous sequelae of Texan or Eastern Coral Snakebite is bulbar respiratory paralysis. Fortunately, this does not occur for anywhere from several hours to as long as 24 hours after being bitten, which provides sufficient time to transport and evaluate such patients. However, the fact that the worst effects of this snakebite take so long to occur means that such patients must be kept under conditions involving continuous eyes-on monitoring of ECG, blood pressure, as well as respiratory evaluation for at least two days after being bitten. Some centers may want to consider the elective sedation, intubation and mechanical ventilation of such cases as acting on the side of caution.

Call me parnoid or a sissy, but that's exactly why I avoid snakes!

-Z-man.

[GG Allin]

I haven't seen a snake around these parts in a very long time. I did learn recently that there is a type of poisonous rattle snake native and present in this area. They are very rare though.

[gt350mike]

This one won't put you in the hospital but if you're not paying attention, they will scare the $hit out of you if/when you walk up on them. My son took this when we were working at the farm last May.

[T77911S]

ANY snake will scare the pooop out of ya if you walk up on it. i had a pet snake for a while and have still been startled by some.

i would let my snake crawl around my room in the military. my wife (girl friend at the time) came be bopping in my room and stepped on my snake. she screamed and went one way, the snake hissed and went the other. quite funny at the time.

[red-beard]

To you.

I bet neither the GF or the snake was happy

[trekkor]

I caught a lizard yesterday.


KT

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by trekkor

I like that diagram on 'how to tell'.

Thanks
KT

Like I'm gonna be around long enough to sort this out???????

[T77911S]

you guys crack me up.

[carnutzzz]

Your posts always read like Haiku...

Originally Posted by Rikao4

found a 5 ft cottonmouth in my swampy water fountain..
just about to reach in to get those leaves..
when little Nessie shows..
like Z..about pissed me-self..
chop,whack and more whacks..

love a fire..wife goes for some wood,
I hear aieeeeeeee..
Tarzan responds...to find a small rattler..
only to hear..don't kill it..
naw..it's toast...
lot's of crawlies in my hood..I'm real close to the woods,
I do worry about my dogs getting to curious..
trained not to go close, but when running of leash ..
they could step on one...

Rika

[daepp]

Hey Z-Man - this one slithered into our office building in Newport Beach, CA several years ago.







It's called a grey banded California king snake. Been a terrific pet too

[T77911S]

Originally Posted by trekkor

KT

i saw one of these in my driveway last week.
then yesterday i was running the tractor and saw a baby copper head, the wife gave me a hard time. it took 4 shots with the 9mm to hit him. then i saw a king snake, dug him up with the box blade.

[gt350mike]

This poor guy met his maker in front of my house. Normally I'll leave the snakes alone but there are way too many kids and pets around for a rattler to be roaming. He was about 4.5 ft long with only four or five rattles.