Just how dangerous are Timber Rattlers?

About six years ago, my boss stepped barefoot on a pygmy on her front porch. It struck her six times. They gave her all the anti-venom they had in the hospital, eight units. Her ankle swelled up to about eighteen inches and she was laid up for about five weeks.

I've spent a great deal of time outdoors in Illinois and Missouri over the last fifty years. I have yet to encounter a rattlesnake. I have seen many copperheads and water moccasins and killed a few, but only when they were in places we frequented. Never came even close to being struck.

Timber rattlers' venom is extremely dangerous, a bite in the right place could kill a healthy adult. A few years ago a farmer a little ways south of me ran over one with a hay bailer and it bailed the snake up in the bale; when he went to clear the machine the snake bit him on the neck. He made it home and collapsed just inside the door and died before the ambulance got there. He was an older gentleman but in supposedly good health. As some others have noted, they aren't generally very aggressive, but if you harass them they definitely will bite. Pit vipers have conscious control of their venom, so sometimes if you surprise them you may actually get no venom at all. As a general rule, a cottonmouth is five times as venomous as a copperhead, and a diamondback is ten times as venomous as a cottonmouth. Large ones have more venom...I saw one close to five feet long this past weekend, which is pretty large, true six footers are very rare. The true name for this snake is the Canebrake Rattlesnake.

Cottonmouths are pretty hesitant to actually bite, they will make you think they are the baddest thing on the planet, but it's mostly bluff.

This one had 10-12 rattles near as I could tell, I was content to make an estimate. I haven't killed a snake in the woods in many years.

I have run into several timber rattlers...only one was large.

The large one was curled up on a log in the sun, right where the beach meets the woods somewhere along the Lost Coast here in CA.
You could walk right up to him with no response whatsoever. That snake was drunk on sunshine and way too content to care about a bunch of two legged animals milling around a few feet away.
The little babies though....the problem with them is that they don't necessarily rattle when you approach. I have nearly stepped on several on the river levy near my home, they curled up and just watched me while I backed away.....I guess the little ones didn't quite have the cajones to strike at me....or they were sun-drunk like the big one was [emoji14]

All you need to do in rattler territory is pay attention.

Bear in mind that killing them is a state crime.

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Depends on the state They are not protected in my state Alabama. In fact the only venomous snake that is protected (Administrative Code 220-2-.92) here is the Eastern Coral Snake (I've only seen one in my lifetime and I'm 63). I knew a couple of kids who were bitten by timber rattlers, we call them "velvet tails" here. I remember visiting one in the hospital in the early sixties. He was bitten on top of his foot. It looked ghastly! Another was a close family friend, Rusty Paul who grew up to become mayor of Sandy Springs, Georgia. He had a rough time of it too. I have small grand children who play in my rural yard. IF a rattler showed up here...it is dead...no ifs ands or buts. I'll not take the chance with their health/lives. However! I have Eastern Speckled King Snakes living under my house so I have only seen ONE venomous snake, a copperhead, in the 16years I've lived here thanks to them.

PowerG said:

The true name for this snake is the Canebrake Rattlesnake.

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Depends where you are. Around here we have the Timber Rattler(Crotalus horridus horridus). The Canebrake is a southern subspecies(Crotalus horridus atricaudatus) of the Timber Rattler. They are even said to have different types of venom. Type A vs Type B.

Altho they are plentiful and have a very toxic venom, they are not very aggressive, especially towards humans, and there are very few deaths contributed to them. I grew up and still live in Timber Rattler country along with their smaller cousin the Massasauga(We call 'em "Swamp Rattler") and have seen very few of them in the wild.(Mostly on blacktop roads warming themselves during cool weather). I don't know anyone personally that has even been bitten by one, much less died. I did have a Bird Dog(GWP) once I found dead, that the Vet said probably succumbed to a Rattlesnake bite. They are a protected species here and for the most part, folks follow the letter of the law.

I have a picture of me and my buddy, in the Army stationed at Ft. Ord California back in the late 80's with a huge rattle we dispatched that we found in our tent. Couldn't let him go as we didn't want him crawling into one of our sleeping bags that night. I still have the rattler somewhere.

If I can find it I'll post the pic

Keep your eyes open and when you see one, just move around them. They aren't usually very aggressive unless you step on them or very close to them. I have seen quite a few in the woods over the years. Copperheads concern me more.

ANyone know what the life expectancy is of a rattlesnake if left alone without being killed? Do they get old compared to other animals?

Like any venomous snake, Rattlesnakes would rather leave you alone....IF you leave them alone. They don't want to use their venom on you because it takes time to replace it & they know they'll starve while it's being replaced.

Its a poisonous snake, so yep its dangerous. We always called them canebreaks. It probably won't kill you - its not a cobra. I don't mind them as long as I know where they are but not welcome around the house. A friend got bit a few years ago at Bragg. It made him real sick but he recovered. If you get bit, elevate, ice, call 9-11. Take off any jewelry on bitten limb too. And kill it.

a totally not exaggerated 5-6 ft length and about a 5 inch thick body.

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That's a big fellow, should have snapped a photo of it.

I generally don't mess with non poisonous snakes but the others don't get a free pass very often.

It may have just had a bite to eat.

This guy was eating the catfish when I got him, he would have been a bit thicker had he got him down first.

If a water moccasin falls off a tree limb into your canoe, don't shoot him.

This has been floating around the internet for several years. It may be fake, maybe not. But I thought I'd share for those who may not have seen it.

Looks real to me and a pretty long stick too.

If he had a longer stick he could make it look even larger.

OP

I'm not far from you. Saw one same size you're describing. At least five foot in length. Closer to six.

I was watching a swarm of honey bees gathering on a tree limb. Standing in the middle of thousands of flying/swarming bees was so cool. I was waiting for them to all land on the tree limb where the queen had obviously landed and they were gathering. Planning to shake'em in a box and take'em home. Caught movement in my perivial at my feet. He was crawling by about eighteen inches from my feet. One more step toward the bees would have been bad for me. Rattler never made a sound. He was so impressive the way he was moving along.

Got the video. Won't be sharing it. My language got a lttle too colorful.

It would be my luck to get 12 PETA members on the jury.

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Not in Arkansas!

Had a timber do nothing about my small dog's barking at it. However, my big dog tried to play with it and got snake-bit on the nose. A dose of antivenom and pain killers and she was fine, except now she's wary of snakes. They coil and rattle, so easy to spot and avoid.

I remember seeing a video of a trainer down in AZ that used defanged rattlers that he would keep on ice then plant them in bushes and such. He would then walk the bird dogs through the course and the snakes would strike. I can't remember if he reinforced with a shock collar as well but when he finished with the dog it wouldn't engage beyond alerting when it smelled snake.

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Defanging rattlers is problematical. Rattlers have several sets of fangs, and as one fang is broken, another comes forward.

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a totally not exaggerated 5-6 ft length and about a 5 inch thick body.

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That's a big fellow, should have snapped a photo of it.

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Mature Canebrakes get pretty big (and THICK) here in Texas.

As I mentioned in an earlier post...though generally a docile snake, they are powerfully built.

reply to post #40. I was telling someone about this photo last night. It's fake. Look just above the tail and you can see where the "rattles" are joined in the photo, and the rattles don't look right, just so perfect and about 15-20 of them. I've seen this floating around for years.

JMR- the snake in that pic is a diamondback. In Fl., 6 footers are pretty common, we got one 7 and change in Brooksville north of Tampa in the 80's. No idea what the record is or how tall that guy is, but that's a nice snake!