Was it relocated.Originally Posted by GJM
Or was its head dislocated?
Was it relocated.
Or was its head dislocated?
And the all-important question - what were her split times when she shot the snake?
(Call me insensitive. I been bit by a rattler, so I get one rude comment.)
Some of the bugs are as big as the damned bears.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
I have heard conflicting reports as to what happened to the snake.
I was told it bit her through her shoe, and the concern was smaller rattlers don’t control their venom dose like a larger snake. Not sure if she is out of the hospital.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
The diamondbacks or sidewinders are bad enough, but what truly concerns me in Az are the Mojaves. They inhabit much of the same range and often look like diamondbacks, but have a more potent toxin. I only learned later that they were in the Verde, where I used to spend a lot of time, including camping out sleeping on the ground with no tent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_scutulatus
I nearly stepped on a big Mohave about five years ago, walking on a windy day. I heard a faint rattle, jumped, and saw the snake. They scare my wife and I because they have no scent, unlike a Western Diamondback, meaning our dog needs to rely on sight and sound to avoid them.
We killed this one, just in front of our place in AZ a few years ago. You can identify a Mohave by the bands on the tail.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
It's hard to tell from the picture there, but I suspect that's an adult or at worst a sub-adult. But actually, while there may be less venom dosage control, smaller snakes also produce less venom and less potent venom. They tend to become more potent in life and of course, bigger snakes tend to have larger stores (though it does depend on if it has recently preyed on something).
They are definitely more potent than a WDB or Sidewinder, they still aren't lethal to most adult humans in general. Even a large dose is highly treatable with anti-venom. Since about 2001 all of the common rattlesnake anti-venom in the U.S. can treat even Mojave bites. The LD50 dose is lower for Mojave than WDB venom, but still, symptom onset is delayed in humans, usually by several hours. And even with onset of symptoms, the bite is still treatable.
The stats vary widely, based on who reports them, but the numbers say <10 people die annual from venomous snake bites in the U.S. And about half of those are due to mishandling of exotic 'pets' made up of snakes far more dangerous than native venomous snakes.
Maybe it's the inner herpetologist talking, but I've handled a lot of reptiles over the years. I deeply respect venomous snakes, for their potential danger, but they really are not more dangerous than driving a car. My mentor from undergrad is a herpetology curator and did his dissertation research on rattlesnake hunting dynamics. He has handled hundreds of rattlesnakes, thousands of times, and has not been bitten. But once he went to the doctor's office because he wasn't feeling well and literally had a heart attack right there in his doc's office. That's an almost perfect juxtaposition to me, that he has spent a lifetime handling dangerous snakes, but the real danger was lurking inside.
I will take a grizzly bear over a rattler any day.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
This has been the snakiest year I can remember in Arizona. I rarely see rattlers and am up to three this spring plus aWe are about out of Arizona for Alaska, and the snakes are out. Saw a Mitchell rattler two days ago, a block from us, and just now found this Sidewinder in our back yard. This is a full grown, adult Sidewinder.
Bunch of King, garter and bull snakes.
That is completely irrational. But hey we carry guns daily
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