Rattlesnakes

[Narrock]

Are all over the place in the sierra foothills where I live. I just saw 3 in one week. We have the "Northern Pacific" rattlesnakes around here, which just happens to be one of the most venomous rattlers out of the 9 species that we have in California.

My roommate's g/f works at Mercy hospital in Folsom. She said some huge weightlifter/bouncer type dude came into the emergency room last week with a rattlesnake bite on his foot. She said he was SCREAMING in agony. He's still there and probably won't be released until next week.

Apparently, with today's antivenin, rattlesnake bites aren't that deadly anymore, but the injected venom is supposed to be unbearingly painful. If you live in rattler territory... watch out. They're starting to come out in droves right now.

http://www.calpoison.org/public/rattler.html

[Drem]

Did you catch one yet? Rattlesnakes are cool

[Harrison]

I prefer to keep pets that can't kill me.

That being said, I still want a leopard or a cheetah.

[mofish]

I watch that Venom ER show on Animal Planet. Fuck snakes

[Drem]

if you get bit by a rattlesnake it's your fault

[mofish]

If you play with poisonous animals on purpose/keep them as pets because you thin youre cool and get bit, its your fault. I totally agree.

If you step on one accidentally in some brush and get bit. That is not your fault.

[Spazz]

Isnt alchol involved with most snake bites in the usa ?

[Drem]

I don't have a pet rattlesnake and I don't know why anybody would. Anyway, in the wild, 99% of the time the snake finds you before you find it and it coils up and starts rattling. Rattlesnakes aren't aggresive... they won't rush you and bite. They just sit totally still rattling until you get too close. And at that point, it's your fault. They aren't like some abomination that was solely put here to bite humans..

I know a lot of people that have caught and killed rattlesnakes on their property... I know 0 people that have ever been bit by one.

And when it comes down to it, they're pretty easy to catch....

[Minrott]

In Wisconsin it is. DNR reports something like 70% of the timber rattler bites involved "the abuse of" alcohol.

[Tuggan]

i can see myself wasted in the desert crossing paths with a rattlesnake and thinking to myself "if that idiot australian guy can catch them, why the fuck cant i?"

[Drem]

haha. it's really pretty easy if you just have a stick and you're not afraid

[Gaazy]

heh i walk behind the house and can find them anytime of day.

Slate dumps around the coal mines I work at are full of em. I have stumbled upon nests of em before that had hundreds. I will try to find the pics but I think my cousin has em. Also, a guy I work with killed a rattler outside of a mine that was bigger than anything i'd even heard of. They said it was so big a bite could have killed a smaller person in a very short time..

[Narrock]

if you get bit by a rattlesnake it's your fault

Yup, 7 out of 10 times bites occur because the animal was provoked.

[mofish]

I don't have a pet rattlesnake and I don't know why anybody would. Anyway, in the wild, 99% of the time the snake finds you before you find it and it coils up and starts rattling. Rattlesnakes aren't aggresive... they won't rush you and bite. They just sit totally still rattling until you get too close. And at that point, it's your fault. They aren't like some abomination that was solely put here to bite humans..

I know a lot of people that have caught and killed rattlesnakes on their property... I know 0 people that have ever been bit by one.

And when it comes down to it, they're pretty easy to catch....

Yeah I wasnt saying you did personally or anything. And Ive seen several rattlensakes/other poisonous snakes myself and cant imagine how I would get bit. Just sayin shit happens.

We were out a few miles in southern Arkansas forest looking for projectile points, friend was about 1/2 inch away from a water moccasin bite in the calf. Stepped right on the rock he was under in a small stream. Dunno what we wouldve done had he been bit, so far away from a road, with zero gear.

[Narrock]

Did you catch one yet? Rattlesnakes are cool

Rule #14 on my hyperlink:

Don't keep rattlesnakes as pets. Many bites occur when people, usually intoxicated males in your 20's, tease their "pet" rattlers.

Yes, I have caught them before but the risk of ownership is not worth the "coolness" factor. Last night I stopped my car because I saw one in the street 6 houses down from my house that somebody had just run over. It was a baby or at most just a yearling, and was about 14" long. I picked it up and put it on my hood draping it around the windshield wiper nozzle so it wouldn't slide off. When I got home I showed my roommate. When he saw it he shuddered and screamed like a bitch. lol I guess some people just get really freaked out about snakes. I didn't even lunge it at him while yelling, "RAAAWWWRRR!" He was even scared just looking at a dead one.

[Arlos]

Yeah, I heard abotu one case where drunk guy was trying to prove how many he was by holding the snake up and holding it's head up near eye level. It promptly struck and bit him on the nose and face.

Now there's someone who I wouldn't mind seeing purged out of the gene pool...

BTW, Mindia, the Mojave green rattlers are worse than any of the others. They have the most potent venom of any Rattlesnake in the US (and it's a Neurotoxin, to boot). It's venom is literally about 2x as powerful as that of normal rattlers. Oh, and not to mention, it's one of the most aggressive species as well. Friend of mine was running along a trail in the Mojave at one point, half-heard rattling and rustling of brush, leaped into the air as he was running, and a mojave green struck right across the path at ankle height, right where he would've been if he hadn't have jumped.

-Arlos

[Narrock]

Yeah, the Mojave's and the Western Diamondbacks are the most venomous, followed by the Northern Pacific rattler. There are 9 species in California... as if ONE wasn't fuxing enough.

[Gaazy]

or Eastern Diamondbacks are just annoying more than anything. Same with copperheads. Its fun to whip snakes across the back of the neck with a switch and watch them curl up like an accordian~ Damn copperheads are so easy to miss its unreal. One year at a family reunion my little cousin would have been bit by a baby one if i would have stepped on it a second later

Baby copperheads are a lot more dangerous than adults are @@

[Captain Insano]

Are all over the place in the sierra foothills where I live. I just saw 3 in one week. We have the "Northern Pacific" rattlesnakes around here, which just happens to be one of the most venomous rattlers out of the 9 species that we have in California.

My roommate's g/f works at Mercy hospital in Folsom. She said some huge weightlifter/bouncer type dude came into the emergency room last week with a rattlesnake bite on his foot. She said he was SCREAMING in agony. He's still there and probably won't be released until next week.

Apparently, with today's antivenin, rattlesnake bites aren't that deadly anymore, but the injected venom is supposed to be unbearingly painful. If you live in rattler territory... watch out. They're starting to come out in droves right now.

http://www.calpoison.org/public/rattler.html

I want a rattlesnake on a stick...and you could pull it tail a bit and its head would thrash around and it would bear it's fangs and be scary.

No one would ever fuck with you if you had a rattlesnake on a stick.

[Arlos]

Oh, a rattlesnake on a stick is nothing on the Ultimate BadAssery scale.

You want the ultimate in BadAssnesss, look no further than one of the characters in the novel, Snow Crash, Raven.

Raven has a medium sized nuclear weapon mounted in the sidecar of his motorcycle. On top of that, he has a medical implant that broadcasts his brainwave pattern to a receiver on the bomb. It's set such that if he were to die, bomb goes off. Nuke on Harley with deadman switch is a bit above Rattlesnake On Stick, methinks.

-Arlos

[Gaazy]

rattlesnake tastes real yummy too~!

[Minrott]

wtf now I have to find and read that book

[Xaiveir]

rattlesnake tastes real yummy too~!

It tastes like chicken!

Me and my friends use to catch them in Central California. Yes acohol was involved as well as stupididity. I have no idea how never were bit.

[Captain Insano]

Oh, a rattlesnake on a stick is nothing on the Ultimate BadAssery scale.

You want the ultimate in BadAssnesss, look no further than one of the characters in the novel, Snow Crash, Raven.

Raven has a medium sized nuclear weapon mounted in the sidecar of his motorcycle. On top of that, he has a medical implant that broadcasts his brainwave pattern to a receiver on the bomb. It's set such that if he were to die, bomb goes off. Nuke on Harley with deadman switch is a bit above Rattlesnake On Stick, methinks.

-Arlos

thats the greatest idea ever!

[Narrock]

Next time I see a rattlesnake that's been run over, I'll cut off his buttons and send you the rattle so you can tie it to a stick and shake it behind people. Ixnay on the fangs though. I pryed the mouth open with a pencil on this dead rattler I found last night and some of his venom dripped onto my finger. I ran inside the house and washed it off immediately. I don't know if any seeped into me but I'm not too worried about it. It was only on my finger for about 15 seconds total. Then I was thinkin... hmm, it's only saliva. But then I found out that rattlesnake venom is just poisonous saliva. lol