larryshores

One of the great reasons for visiting AR is that I always learn something. I never knew (until reading your last post)about the samll mouth of the coral snake. Thanks for the info. (I'll make sure never to put my finger near his mouth if I ever see one) BTW, your post jolted my memory - I heard a ditty many years ago about distinguishing a coral snake (from what I recall was a king snake) - "If it's red next to yellow -he's a good fellow - if it's red next to black -stand back!" I don't know why I had become so fixated on the coral snake unless it was because the venom acted on the nervous system -unique from every other American poisonous snake. I apologize for the longwindedness -and do mean my thanks for a bit of info about the coral snake.

Gerry, your rhyme has it backwards!

"Red on Black, poison lack.
Red on yellow kill a fellow"

Steve:

Many thanks for your post! I just picked up another bit of info I didn't know this morning. I am now engaged in trying to memorize this latest warning about a snake I never saw! (Thanks- How do you Rebs ever dare to go afield for birds or deer? I would be studying the ground constantly - one more reason that makes me wonder how we damyankees ever won! Regards.)

I got bit by this Timber Rattler in south west Alabama in 1986 while turkey hunting one morning. I threw up..TWICE..when I saw the size of it. Luckily I got what is called a "dry bite", a defensive bite with no poison.



troy

Troy, several years ago a rattler that looked just like yours showed up in a VERY unexpected place here in W. Tenn.

It was on the 100 yard line at the local shooting range.

That actually is not the best place for a snake to hide out. Probably not the smartest snake and definitely not the way to get ahead in the snake world, as that one found out much to its detriment.

They kept it in the range office for a while after it was mounted.

Troy:

How did that feel? Was it like being punched?

Just a quick question here.....how in hell do you measure a LIVE rattlesake? If somebody brought me a really big one and swore it was 8' long, I reckon I'd just take his word for it.

tumbleweed
put it in the freezer for a couple hours,slows them down enough to handle them.
still have to keep a firm hold of the head
but much safer.
first date i took my "wife" on was to a rattlesnake den here in wyoming,wasn't my plan
just what i was going to do that day and she wanted to tag along,has worked for 15 yrs!

DTala:

I read your post with great interest because I was bit at age 6 by a copperhead. The copperhead hit with one fang on my anklebone and so he only gave me my "jolt" with the other fang which did go in -na I got venom. I realize that a rattler is much bigger. Are you saying that a "dry bite" means that you pulled away from the strike before the snake could send venom down the fangs? Just curious - and once again, this Yankee stands in awe of Southerners.

An old pic of our son with one that just measured 7 feet dead even...not stretched. Crawled around a neighbor's house and he bopped him on the head with the end of a looooong section of pipe. Snake just rolled over and died....was not aggressive at all, which is common down here once they get some size on them for some reason....the five footers? Watch out!

One of those five footers I mentioned....he actually was quite mellow....never struck, never rattled....was just defensive. Found him crossing the road, mockingbird giving him fits. Southwest GA.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerrypeters375:
Are you saying that a "dry bite" means that you pulled away from the strike before the snake could send venom down the fangs? ...

Possibly, but I would not count on myself being that fast. Normally that means no venom came out of the snake because it was empty. It needed a bit more time for "reloading".

The snake had probably bitten something else quite recently, maybe a meal for itself, and the venom had not replenished itself.

At least that is the way I've heard the stories for many decades.

An area in AZ I wouldn't want to be walking anytime soon.

When I was in college, I had a job in a national park on an island near where I grew up in NW FL. There were a lot of snakes on this island including a fair number of rattlesnakes (eastern diamondbacks).

I worked with a guy that was a football player at the University of Alabama. He was a lineman, a really big strong guy. I think his name as Bill but I can't remember. One day we were working and we came across a big rattler. One of the bigger ones that I had ever seen. Bill decides to mess with it. He was antagonizing that rattler badly. Finally, he took a shovel and stuck it in front of the coiled up rattler. The rattler struck and hit the shovel squarely. It knocked the shovel out of Bill's hand! Bill was a big powerful guy.

If I recall correctly, the rattler was 6'8". After seeing that, I can't imagine what it must be like to get struck solidly by a big snake.

Is this thread ever going to go away?

I dunno

quote:

Are you saying that a "dry bite" means that you pulled away from the strike before the snake could send venom down the fangs?

From what I’ve been told and read, a dry bite is a dry for 2 reasons. One is the snake is out of ammo (venom) like Hot Core said. And the other is to conserve the amount of venom the snake has (ejecting venom is not automatic). Venom is not something the snake can replace over night. It takes time. The snake needs its venom to hunt the next rat or mouse with, not fend off stupid critters with big feet.

MickinColo

I have now learned something else I never knew about rattlers - Do you really mean that a rattler can hold back its venom? To be honest, I really wonder how a damn reptile can "think" that way. I'm not questioning you. You're "the guy on the ground" so you must know. It just simply astonishes this "tenderfoot".

quote:

Originally posted by Gerrypeters375:
MickinColo

I have now learned something else I never knew about rattlers - Do you really mean that a rattler can hold back its venom? To be honest, I really wonder how a damn reptile can "think" that way. I'm not questioning you. You're "the guy on the ground" so you must know. It just simply astonishes this "tenderfoot".

Hey Gerrypeters375,

I’m just repeating what I’ve been told. I don’t know anything more than you. Like you I had to , how the hell would a snake know anything about conserving venom? Those biology types talk about animals like they were human so I don’t think snakes know they’re conserving anything, it just happens. Dry strikes are different from the other strike. Because I have no first hand knowledge and don’t care to have any and being this was a college kid studying snakes at the time, who was I to question him. So there it is, hopefully we’ll never have to see if the kid was right.

larryshores:

I read your post with great interest (and shuddered at how you worked your way through college) I think we all can agree that a rattler strikes with great force (to say nothing of great speed) By "force" I mean he can hit animals larger thsn my leg or arm and sink those fangs so he really is built to hit quite large animals. Your post does not really surprise me. I happen to think he is the deadliest poisonous snake in the world. ( As I'm sure you know,all of the cobras are ridiculously slow in the strike compared to our American rattler) I'm prepared to be proven wrong-without argument on my part from people who know better -but a rattler is scary enough for me!

I don’t live my life in fear of rattlesnakes. Apparently some people do.

Please explain to me why cattle and other grazing animals are not “hit” by rattlers that often (who live in rattler country all their life) . I know cattle get hit from time to time, mostly in the side of their face and they get sick as hell. I don’t think rattlers are that eager to strike targets larger than a rat unless they feel threatened.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerrypeters375:
Steve:

Many thanks for your post! I just picked up another bit of info I didn't know this morning. I am now engaged in trying to memorize this latest warning about a snake I never saw! (Thanks- How do you Rebs ever dare to go afield for birds or deer? I would be studying the ground constantly - one more reason that makes me wonder how we damyankees ever won! Regards.)

Gerrypeters375,

My grandfather had a simplier saying regarding coral snakes:

Red touch yellow, snake kill fellow.

quote:

I read your post with great interest (and shuddered at how you worked your way through college)

I wasn’t the college kid. Just the old man wondering about the logic. If you shudder about me college experience, I wonder about your reading comprehension.

MickinColo:

Your post puzzles me. Quite clearly (in the post right above yours) I had been addressing larryshores -to whom the post was addressed. What's that about "readng comprehension"?

Sorry Gerry, When threads get longer than 1 page I lose track of what people have posted. I assumed something from Ray’s quote that wasn’t there and you know what the abbreviation for assume is… fits me like a glove on this one.

As for Coral snakes, where I grew up down South, I always heard it ...

"Red on Yellow, Kill a fellow.
"Red on Black, Friend of Jack."

L.W.

MickinColo:

As an old man I hate to get into any kind of a quarrel with anyone on the internet. Therefore it is refreshing to see a man stand up and say "Oops,my mistake!". I wish to heck there were more like you. The error is understandable. I am just deeply grateful that you didn't try to hide it.

Leanwolff:

Now I have one more ditty to remember about the coral snake! Can't you Rebs agree on one ditty that us terrified Yankees can memorize? (At least, I have now figured out that red next to yellow is the bad one!) BTW, since you now are in Idaho, is that to get away from the coral snake? Not that I would blame you, believe me!