Another Darwin award finalist
 

First off I do feel sorry for the dude . But come on ! I don't know about you guys but if I am walking along and you come across a poisonous snake picking it up is the LAST thing that comes to mind . I have to think it was rattling . His snake handling days are over . RIP

Hiker dies after being bitten by venomous snake in Tennessee state park - CBS News https://share.google/T5fykW8Nsz0JSeYFK

Recently, I've heard/read that rattlers are rattling less and less these days. Back in the day, they rattled as a warning, and folks heeded the warning. These days, rattling makes them easier to find so snakes are rattling less so they aren't shot, chopped up, grabbed, whatever...

Yep grabbing a wild snake (venomous or not) is right up there with taking selfies with LARGE wild animals.

We only have copperheads here (now). Nature fixes stoopid ...

I've been very pleasantly surprised that the only venomous snakes that we've run across on our property have been copperheads. I'd much rather run into a Copperhead (have seen several, and all have been 12-24" or maybe 30"), than a copperhead or rattlesnake that's twice and large.

They don't get very large here ... but they are here... in the woods, woodpiles, etc. I wouldn't wanna step on one, and I have a lab .... bigger worry ;).

Hard to figure out stoopid ...

We had a huge pile of wood that had been a barn that had been torn down in a huge pile after a storm came through. We also had a few spots with thick brush at the bottoms of some trees. We used to see snakes, mostly Copperheads fairly regularly. We cleared out the pile of wood from the old barn (found ~10 copperheads in one spot early in the spring). Cleared out the underbrush around the trees, and keep the yard around the house mowed. Haven't seen any copperheads near the house in 2 years now.

Yep, these things have a way of working themselves out. And in the US, that sort of person would sue the zoo for not keeping them out, but I suspect in Germany that wouldn't happen. "Ve are sorry zat ze bar vas not efficient."

Yep ... those habitats and "in the woods" have 'em ... fairly rare tho'. Nolikey!

The first one that I saw I sort of stepped on. We hadn't been in the house long, a few months, and the grass wasn't super tall but needed to be mowed. I was walking to the detached garage, and about a split second before my foot hit the ground, I noticed it coiled up on the ground practically under my foot. I was lucky that my foot wasn't "ON" the snake, but just grazed it. I felt that my sole had slide down the side. I walked about 3-4 more steps and then spun around and froze. It registered what had just happened and my brain sounded the alarm, but I wasn't bitten and the snake was still sitting there not moving. I think I was really lucky that it was early spring and we'd just had a cold rain. He sat there for an hour. I ended up fashioning a hook out of some rebar that I found and relocated him to the other side of the fence.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1621456641.jpg

He probably would have fit into the palm of my hand with my fingers outstretched with room to spare coiled up like that.

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I humanely relocated this little guy from my driveway to the desert two weeks ago. He was very docile and I wasn't tempted to get closer than the length of my snake stick.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...11a240a70a.jpg

Snake man was stoopid!

How many videos have we seen of stoopid people trying to get selfies or feed buffaloes, elephants, gators, etc. Darwin at work!

That lady was lucky she survived!

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I've hunted, camped, and backpacked in country infested with these damn things my entire life. Thank God they do not live in Western Washington, it's too wet around here.

Snake safety is a no brainer. No reason to ever run into trouble with them no matter how many you encounter. Even just a few feet away from them is enough to where they will not strike out of fear, which is the only reason they will strike something as large as us. Give them no reason to defend themselves and you will never have a problem.

This poor guy only died because he is allergic. Some people will die from a bee sting for the same reason. Most of us will be fine after some medical attention and several days of some pretty severe pain.

Oh, and with snakes, "size matters". The smaller, immature ones release more venom, pretty much shooting their entire load. The larger, older ones have learned not to do that, so we don't get nearly the venom that the young ones unload.

^^^ Yep ... the small ones have nastier bites.... and tho' not lethal, I recall a few years back that the anti-venom treatments were pricey.... 6 figures. I watch where I walk when in the woods 'cause I am cheap ;)

Yep, 100%

It's my understanding that this is an old wives' tale that is often repeated, but not actually true. And one of the arguments makes a lot of sense. Smaller snakes have smaller heads and much smaller venom glands so a lot less venom to inject.

Yeah, the treatments are VERY expensive. Most of the folks that get vials of antivenom end up getting many vials. I've read about the treatment costing $50k-100k for a single bite. Apparently, the stuff to make it travels all over the world. But, supposedly, it's being made in Mexico now for a lot less, but that doesn't seem to be affecting the cost to the folks that need it.

I saw a thing once that showed the path that the antivenom that is used in the US took. It was crazy. I can't remember, but it was something like "milk the snakes in the US, then ship the venom to the UK, then ship something to New Zealand, then ship it to someplace else, then ship it back to the UK, and finally ship the finish product back to the US to be used."

Yep, a myth. Pit vipers have a nasty muscular attacking venom. The bigger the snake, the more venom injected, and deeper too