cazalea
[Seiko Moderator]
17108
Sadly walking, driving or passing by can be a snake provocation
Living in an area with plenty of poisonous snakes, I'm afraid that we (people) and they (rattlers) don't coexist very well.
Like when I found a young kid up at the park, poking in the grass with a stick at a rattler. The child wasn't old enough or hadn't been taught not to do that.
The ranger and I relocated the snake without killing it.
Or just a couple months ago when my wife and I were quietly walking down a dirt road and an invisible but audible snake suddenly started rattling at us. We leapt back.
If you don't see him, let me help you.
Or this little bastard who moved into our office and set up under the copier machine where it was warm. It almost cost us one of our best employees.
Or this snake my wife found sniffing at her shoe while she was sipping a morning coffee.
I'm in favor of relocation but sometimes doing away with them is necessary. This is NOT a first world problem, as most of us aren't very close to snakes.
From what I can see snakes kill only 5-10 a year in the US, but kill more than 100,000 people a year in the developing world - in fact a BBC story today suggested 1.2 million deaths in the past 20 years in India alone!
"The World Health Organization call to halve global snakebite deaths by 2030 will require substantial progress!
In India we analyzed 2833 snakebite deaths from 611,483 verbal autopsies in the nationally representative Indian Million Death Study from 2001 to 2014, and conducted a systematic literature review from 2000 to 2019 covering 87,590 snakebites. We estimate that India had 1.2 million snakebite deaths (average 58,000/year) from 2000 to 2019.
Nearly half occurred at ages 30–69 years and over a quarter in children < 15 years. Most occurred at home in the rural areas. About 70% occurred in eight higher burden states and half during the rainy season and at low altitude. The risk of an Indian dying from snakebite before age 70 is about 1 in 250, but notably higher in some areas. More crudely, we estimate 1.11–1.77 million bites in 2015, of which 70% showed symptoms of envenomation.
The WHO estimates that 81,000–138,000 people die each year from snakebites worldwide, and about three times that number survive but are left with amputations and permanent disabilities."
Cazalea
Menacing Traveler recently passed through...
Spotted this Prairie Rattlesnake out my window a few mornings ago. Photos safely snapped from my deck above! I estimated him at 40" long, easily the biggest I have seen. We have bull snakes around that exceed 6', but the rattlers are usually not this big....
Yikes!
That is when you need to be wearing one of these. I am relieved you "Survived" the encounter. Cheers, respo ...
I forgot to include the scary photo... look what happens as he goes to the native area
Almost impossible to spot! Still, the reality is these snakes will not strike unless threatened. The danger here is if you step on one or too close to one that you don't see. With children and a small dog, we have to always be vigilant to check our surrou...
Beautiful animal. Nature is truly great. [nt]
Killing them with no apparent reason, really makes me mad.
Same here.
Sure this type of snake is potentially dangerous but so are many things, living or not, in certain circumstances. When I was a kid I was fascinated with snakes. My father grew to hate snakes from his government mandated camping trip to the Vietnamese jung...
Me too George. This is a gorgeous animal.
I have no reason to harm one unless it is entering the house or garage. I am not skilled enough to relocate them.
The adults are actually less lethal than babies as they control the venom release.
The youngsters release more with a strike. I also read that an adult only uses their venom on 2/3 of their strikes... apparently they conserve it when they don't feel it is necessary to release.
Um... yah, I would be long gone of that were the case!
I am calling to mind the movie Anaconda now!
Better to just stare at your beautiful watches!
I have posted on this topic before as I see these snakes from time to time, and for many it is very rare to ever see a snake, letalone one like this.
Fascinating
But I am perfectly happy living in a snake-free country And I am becoming more and more against croc or snake straps btw
Me too. I have no need for them.
As we all now, many new watches are supplied on such straps, but I cannot remember the last time I purchased one. I'm done with that.
40"!!!! That is a heavy gal
In my area we only have the massassauga rattler to contend with for venomous snakes, but they are docile in comparison. Great photos, the slender curve is juxtaposed very nicely against the green grass. I agree with your live-and-let-live sentiments; so l...
I'm certain she was over 3', so 40" is about my guess.
This whackjob lady actually called me yesterday to ask why I did not kill it on site. I told her I am not in the business of hunting down a creature that is just passing through. She disagreed with my approach, we exchanged some other remarks to each othe...
Sadly walking, driving or passing by can be a snake provocation
Living in an area with plenty of poisonous snakes, I'm afraid that we (people) and they (rattlers) don't coexist very well. Like when I found a young kid up at the park, poking in the grass with a stick at a rattler. The child wasn't old enough or hadn't ...
I'm with Indiana Jones "Why did it have to be snakes?"
but an exceptionally funny scene in a locally-filmed movie called Killer Tomatoes Eat France (I've mentioned this before) had a scene where the hero comes down the stairs of a castle and they drop a bunch of roller skates down on top of him. He starts scr...
Ha super
It reminds me when I was based in Wichita Dalls (northern Texas at the border with Oklahoma Abd half way in between Dallas and Amarillo) Our house was the last one on the compound and beyond our fence the first 80 miles were just prairie. We occasionally ...
If that were my yard that snake would
not have made it to the next expansion joint in the sidewalk.
Quick FYI
Did you guys know that if you cut the head off of a rattlesnake it can still bite for up to an hour, maybe longer.
That is impressive!
I have a friend in South Dakota who has a rattlesnake that has taken up residence near his home. I presume that might be a Prairie rattler. I have only seen a live rattlesnake in the wild once — on a dirt road, after an afternoon of dove hunting in Arizon...
