Surviving a rattlesnake bite

We cleared some brush from under and around the pine trees in hopes of harvesting pine needles for a bee smoker (used to smoke bee hives). I warmed Michelle to be wary of snakes. 45 minutes later she yelped "SNAKE!" and came bounding out of the area where she was. She pointed out the snake to me, saying it had traveled over her foot. It was a very healthy (large head and thick body) copperhead. When I told her what it was, it scared her a bit more and I explained that they are among the calmer of snakes. I asked if it tried striking her or anything and the said, "No, it was going over my boot," she said. I just calmly told her that it was trying to get out of her way and that it was all good. She decided we had gathered enough pine needles for now, LOL.

Snakes are a good thing in the area of bee hives as mice will raid bee hives, sometimes. We keep the areas around the hives mowed so pretty well so we have good ground visibility.

Milt1 said:

Nervous is good! Just check with your realtor regarding the snake issue. AZ is probably like a lot of other states where the concentration of poisonous snakes is higher in certain areas of the state. I noticed your dogs in your Avatar and you certainly don't want them to get bitten.

Click to expand...

It looks like most if not all the poisonous snakes in the area are rattelers so I'll get (hopefully) an audible warning if nothing else.

Don't have to worry too much about the dogs as long as we have a good snake fence, they're not exactly the outdoorsy type. Their biggest adventures are going from the bed to the couch typically.

i have a big problem with rattlesnakes, high frequency hearing is shot. One morning at work another man and myself went into the impact area to get a truck part. After removing the part Jason walked over. Jason: "Can't you hear that rattlesnake"? Me: "What rattlesnake is that"? Jason: "The one right there", pointing to a 6 1/2 foot western diamondback rattlesnake about ten feet away. i had been within two or three feet of that snake. i lucked out big time: It was early April and cool that morning besides the snake had swallowed something, probably a rabbit, the night before. That rattlesnake had fangs an inch long.

Couple years ago while driving on Deyo road i came upon a monstrous western diamondback coiled up in the highway. Occupants of two cars were looking at the snake. Got my shotgun and killed that snake to the consternation of a driver who admonished me. Pointed to a house a few hundred yards away: "My friends live there with their six year old daughter". Got in my truck and left.

Our biggest snake problem is water mods that come up from the river traverse to the creek.
With grand kids and a Yorkie they get no mercy. My EDC or a shot gun wins every time.I

Local busybody Karen complained once, stopped when I threw the shredded carcass on her stoop.

gotboostvr said:

I'll get (hopefully) an audible warning if nothing else

Click to expand...

Yes and I hope you're lucky. I lived in Montana for several years and the Prairie Rattler is predominate out there around Great Falls. Their camouflage is probably second to none where you encounter them. I had two buddies in front of me walk right past a coiled Prairie Rattler no more than a foot off the path we were on and they never knew he was there until they heard my shot. Why neither was struck is beyond me? This snake was at least 3 1/2 feet long if not longer and he never rattled before or after being shot. His body just uncoiled in big loops downhill.

Milt1 said:

Yes and I hope you're lucky. I lived in Montana for several years and the Prairie Rattler is predominate out there around Great Falls. Their camouflage is probably second to none where you encounter them. I had two buddies in front of me walk right past a coiled Prairie Rattler no more than a foot off the path we were on and they never knew he was there until they heard my shot. Why neither was struck is beyond me? This snake was at least 3 1/2 feet long if not longer and he never rattled before or after being shot. His body just uncoiled in big loops downhill.

Click to expand...

There has been an internet myth for years that rattlesnakes are no longer giving warning before they strike down here in hog infested areas because hogs kill the snakes that they hear. So the story goes, the snakes strike without rattling.

Of course, rattlesnakes have never been know to always rattle before striking. It is something that may do, but don't always do.

For the record, the rattlesnakes around here still do rattle.

Copperheads while not rattlesnakes will actually mimic them sometimes before striking. They will coil up and shake their tail back and forth like a rattle but it obviously doesn't make noise. They try to "rattle" any foliage with their tail as a warning. I killed one Rattlesnake while working security during college. Also saved an exam paper from the clutches of a pissed off copperhead. Student came out of the dorm and must have dropped his paper when he saw the snake. The snake slithered onto the paper and refused to move. I had just finished a Wal-Mart run and had my bag in hand. I used the bag as a decoy and the snake just kept striking and striking the bag. I reached with my free hand and flipped the snake up and off with the paper. I know some have said copperheads tend to be calmer, THIS one was not. Most aggressive snake I've come across.

Bass fishing and had an encounter with this one and two more. Snake loads/.38 Spec do work.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

Godsgunman said:

Copperheads while not rattlesnakes will actually mimic them sometimes before striking. They will coil up and shake their tail back and forth like a rattle but it obviously doesn't make noise. They try to "rattle" any foliage with their tail as a warning.

Click to expand...

A lot of snakes will do this. It is called 'tail vibration.' They are not mimicking rattlesnakes. It is a genetic response to certain types of stress that spans all sorts of snakes and includes snakes in parts of the world where there are no rattlesnakes to mimic and is believed to have been in use before rattlesnakes even had rattles. Apparently, there are muscle scars on vertebrae of ancient snakes that resemble the muscle scars on modern snakes which are produced by the shaker muscles.

Some snakes today even perform this behavior as a means to attract prey.

People may interpret the behavior as one that mimics rattlesnakes, but that is only because of the perception that mimicry of a more dangerous species could be beneficial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail_vibration
https://books.google.com/books?id=-...nepage&q=african snake tail vibration&f=false
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...ly-shook-their-tails-before-evolving-rattles/
https://animals.mom.me/snakes-shake-tail-confronted-5476.html

your ordeal sounds like it would have bankrupt most folks I know. that much time out of work plus medical bills would make a lot of folks homeless.

Copperheads are responsible for the most snake bites in the US, generally because the are so hard to see and people end up stepping on them.

Nature Boy said:

Copperheads are responsible for the most snake bites in the US, generally because the are so hard to see and people end up stepping on them.

Click to expand...

Let's consider that for a moment. Are copperheads really responsible for most of the snake bites in the US? How would anybody even know? Non-venomous bites not requiring medical attention would never get recorded and so there is no tabulation for them.

However, copperheads do appear to be responsible for the most envenomations by snakes in the US, but are less lethal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_snake_bites_in_the_United_States

Ever wonder how folks treated rattlesnake bites before anti-venom? First person i remember being bit by a rattlesnake was my cousin Ted in about 1946. Ted was bitten on the leg by a big timber rattler while cutting timber with my Dad and others. Someone sucked out the venom . Ted was taken to the hospital and was released the next day. Ted went back to work after three days.

In the late 1960s myself and four others were fishing a stream many miles down the railroad tracks from our vehicles. One of our members was bitten on the calf a four foot timber rattler. Both fangs injected venom. We broke out the handy dandy suction thingy, made 1/4 inch cuts across the fang marks and removed the venom. The venom was visible in the suction tube. The bite victim got a little sick during the >two hour walk to the vehicles. He was taken to the hospital, given a couple shots and released the next day.

Fast forward to the new treatment. Doctors, including most who have never treated a poisonous snake bite, don't trust commoners to handle snake bites. Several years ago i met a man who was bitten between the thumb and trigger finger while handling a western diamond back rattlesnake. Man was at the the emergency room at an OK City hospital within 30 minutes. There he waited for over four hours before being treated. The doctors split the flesh in his arm from hand to shoulder. There were numerous rounds of anti-venom and the bite victim was hospitalized for a week. The hospital bill was well over $200,000.

We have a few diamond backs and a LOT of cottonmouths around here. I've taken out a lot of cottonmouths and had them TRY to take me out. Two springs ago was REAL close, almost stepped right in the middle of one. I was dressed to go to town, jumped back while simultaneously drawing my 9mm. Took me 3 shot to hit him, but in my defense, he was on the run.

I was down at my other place one year and got hit by a pretty good sized rattler on the calf. He hit me just above the ankle on the snake boot. I NEVER EVER go down there without wearing my snake boots. Rattlers out the wazzola down there. I am convinced to wear my snake boots and wear 'em out here, normally when I'm out back. Spring is worst for snakes.

A cottonmouth followed a mouse from under my house where there's a hole in the floor for the freon lines for my AC in a closet. I came in from outside and there he was in the mud room running for the closet. Didn't wanna blow TOO big a hole in the floor, so I grabbed a NAA mini revolver out of my pocket. But, it takes a while to get on target with considering that short sight radius. The snake made it out safe. I stuffed a towel under that door to keep it from coming back.

I think it's all the tanks around here, one right next door, that attract the danged things. I bought some .38 shot loads to have on me when I go outside and they should work better in my 3" J frame .38 than any .22s. I have taken a few with CCI shot loads in .22 with my NAA, though. My Contender with .410 barrel takes the head right off 'em, but that's a little much if I have to take one out indoors.

Mcgunner said:

I bought some .38 shot loads to have on me when I go outside and they should work better in my 3" J frame .38 than any .22s. I have taken a few with CCI shot loads in .22 with my NAA, though. My Contender with .410 barrel takes the head right off 'em, but that's a little much if I have to take one out indoors.

Click to expand...

Had to back up a bit with the New England youth 20 ga., as well.


Never tried 22 shot shells but used the CCI 38/357 snake loads for years in a 6" Blackhawk and later a 2" mod. 60. The CCI was only available in #9 shot but more times than I would like (once or twice ) it failed to anchor some of the larger rattlers common to S Tx. It is now loaded in #4 shot as well but have not tried any.

When I ran out of the CCI's around the beginning of the last ammo crisis, a friend offered to fill some reloadable shot capsules w/7 1/2 shot and ship to me. The resulting handloads pattern very well at normal snake encounter ranges (5-6') w/the capsule POI was pretty close to POA. They must be much more effective for snake control than the CCI's, as I have been carrying my 2" S&W mod. 60 for a couple of years since patterned (below) and haven't seen a single rattler since. I do suspect the heavier shot will be a bit more reliable in anchoring the bigger snakes.


Regards,
hps

Mojave Greens don't rattle before striking. They don't want to contribute to noise pollution, apparently.

Aren’t those around Kingman?

I kill three or four Western Diamondbacks on or around my patio every summer. That doesn't count the ones around the outbuildings.

First one this summer. Didn't buzz and I walked right by her.



They don't get too big here. This is the biggest I've had. 45" long and 2 1/2" wide. I know at least 10 people that have been bitten, two of them twice at different times.





The latest in the year I've killed one was early December and the earliest was the first week of March. I ALWAYS have my "snake-eyes" on.

.308 Norma said:

WOW!!!
THAT IS SCARY!!! I'm glad you're okay.
After reading your story, you can bet I'm going to be just a little more cautious as I'm working out on the back of our place. As far as venomous snakes go, all we have is Western rattlesnakes around here, but there's a lot of them. And at $6500 a bag for antivenom, I'd be paying for a rattlesnake bite for the rest of my life - IF I even survived it!

Click to expand...

At one time I owned three venomous snakes: Prairie Rattlesnake, Southern Copperhead, and a Moccasin. Only owned "hot" species native to North America due to the availability of antivenom. In my naive younger days, I was nonchalant about getting tagged and saw it as no big deal. Boy does age and knowledge really change your perspective. Thankfully, I was never bit but there were some close calls. At the time I had no idea how much treatment cost let alone all the potential side effects of an envenomation: losing limbs, lasting scars, etc. Still like snakes but I would never own another venomous animal at this stage in my life.

ANATION said:

Still like snakes but I would never own another venomous animal at this stage in my life.

Click to expand...

Understandable. As we age, we better darned well gain wisdom.
I was a climber (rock and mountain) in my younger years. I still like watching, or hearing about great climbs. But I wouldn't be caught dead (get it?) attempting those things myself anymore.

My grandson lost a toe and nearly a foot to a pygmy rattler in the yard. Barefoot 5 year old. Quite the nightmare.

JohnKSa said:

Keep in mind that this rule only works in North America. Coral snakes in South or Central America (including parts of Mexico) may not have yellow bands, or may have primarily black and white bands on their bodies--or can even be mostly red with only markings on the head and tail.

Click to expand...

Once again, a matter of perception. The darker Coral Snake, once you see it, side by side, to a King snake, there's almost no comparison.

As to "Happy Cottonmouth", you can lump them in with "Honest Politician", and "Military Intelligence". Moccasins are the most aggressive snakes I've ever dealt with. Never seen a docile one.

I love to see them in the wild, and will move out of the way if I see them. I was bit by a dead western diamondback when I was 13 in the palm, as i was pulling stocks from a combine, the head was all there was but in its death spasm it clapped on my hand, thank god the doc said he was a dry snake or i would have lost the hand.. I stand by the first line , but if they surprise me, or are found in my yard they die

Leadbutt said:

the head was all there was but in its death spasm it clapped on my hand, thank god the doc said he was a dry snake or i would have lost the hand..

Click to expand...

I'm glad you came out of that with your hand still on the end of your arm. That was a close call!
When I was a kid, one of the farmers I worked for killed a rattlesnake near his barn with a shovel. He chopped off its head. He should have buried the danged head good and deep. But he didn't, and a few minutes later that head latched on to his Brittany Spaniel's nose. It wasn't a dry bite. The dog survived, but it was touch and go for a couple of weeks.

With this one it was it or me. I was walking backwards while composing a photo. Almost stepped on it, entirely my fault. But, it did rattle and I was amazingly fast drawing my handgun (never ever been that fast before). I actually missed but I hit a rock and barked it. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.