I vote bang.
Herpetologists (amateur or pro), please identity this.
- Thread starter LennyLames
- Start date
jlrhiner
US Veteran
Kill the snake! Kill the snake! Kill the Snake!
Texas Star
US Veteran
Does anyone recall what Skeeter Skelton said about how shooting snakes in the head was easy, because they focus on the barrel of your gun and align their head with it?
It was something along those lines, and I wonder if anyone here has tried that?
T-Star
It was something along those lines, and I wonder if anyone here has tried that?
T-Star
Yes snakes do go after rodents - Hawks, coyotes, rat terriers, cats and decon kill rodents as well without that deadly danger to humans. A dead venomous snake is a good snake - end of story.
John Eilertson
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I'm no expert on snakes, but anything RESEMBLING a rattler of any kind gets the kibosh from me and my pals. I think you should kill any others you see there, because you said it was large, yet you didn't truly see it till later. There are many, many snakes out there, especially in AZ, and while they do consume rodents they also will bite you or your family or your pets--bad medicine! Also, while I can't know about this snake, some rattlers rarely do rattle. I sarcastically say that man has killed off enough of the rattling kind that the silent ones have gotten more common. Bump this (or these) things off!
Texas Star
US Veteran
Any rattler, for reasons known only to itself, may or may not rattle on a given occasion. Some non-rattlers may vibrate their tails like a rattler, too, and make a noise in dried leaves.
Of course, water moccasins (cottonmouths) and coral snakes never rattle, but can cause you a world of hurt. Limb amputations after moccasin bites are fairly likely, the venom causing serious tissue destruction.
Rattles are thought to have developed on snakes living on the plains, where rattling might keep them from being trampled by vast herds of bison. But the Timber and Canebrake rattlers didn't live around bison herds, nor did most Eastern Diamondbacks. Go figure!
But pit vipers, including rattlers, are probably the most evolved of all snakes. Their heat-sensor pits let them hunt in darkness, and their rattles can used if desired. Some also have extremely deadly venom, and all have enough to give victims a terrible time.
I really cannot understand the snake lovers who ask people not to not kill these dangerous creatures where they are a clear menace to humans and pets. They remind me of those shark huggers who act like defense lawyers for squalids every time someone gets bitten. Thought of that because the current issue of, Playboy came and has a story about the recent shark attacks off of Egypt. I haven't read it yet, but saw a photo of a man whose comments I suspect will be to remind us that most sharks don't attack. That still doesn't mean that it's wise to swim where they lurk! And I feel that some species are as likely to attack as not. Hmmm...here comes a new thread! Might get some interest.
T-Star
Of course, water moccasins (cottonmouths) and coral snakes never rattle, but can cause you a world of hurt. Limb amputations after moccasin bites are fairly likely, the venom causing serious tissue destruction.
Rattles are thought to have developed on snakes living on the plains, where rattling might keep them from being trampled by vast herds of bison. But the Timber and Canebrake rattlers didn't live around bison herds, nor did most Eastern Diamondbacks. Go figure!
But pit vipers, including rattlers, are probably the most evolved of all snakes. Their heat-sensor pits let them hunt in darkness, and their rattles can used if desired. Some also have extremely deadly venom, and all have enough to give victims a terrible time.
I really cannot understand the snake lovers who ask people not to not kill these dangerous creatures where they are a clear menace to humans and pets. They remind me of those shark huggers who act like defense lawyers for squalids every time someone gets bitten. Thought of that because the current issue of, Playboy came and has a story about the recent shark attacks off of Egypt. I haven't read it yet, but saw a photo of a man whose comments I suspect will be to remind us that most sharks don't attack. That still doesn't mean that it's wise to swim where they lurk! And I feel that some species are as likely to attack as not. Hmmm...here comes a new thread! Might get some interest.
T-Star
DOEBOY1
Member
WHO CARES WHAT KIND IT IS?!!! KILL IT ! Then figure out later what it is. On the suject of rattlers not rattleing I had the fortune of seeing a timber rattler before he saw me while I was leaving a clients house in the road. We stopped and got out with a long stick a comensed to poke at it to make it rattle while it tried to get away. Well it wouldn't rattle at all even when we threw it back in the road and it coiled up. not a sound from those long rattles. We poked and poked but no strike or rattle we finally brained him/her thats when the show started it bit itself and flipped and flopped like a top. The thing that was a reality check was when we went to cut off his tail. I stood on his head all 260 lbs of me and I could still feel him move. My nephew pulled the tail straight back to cut it off with the strippers and when he started to clamp down I could feel the snakes head move back that way. I told a friend from texas about what I saw and he said that was the reason so many people got bit even thought the snake was dead when they went to cut off the rattles the reflex would cause the head to come back and stick a fang in the person. Good luck find that future dead snake. Doeboy
mamasfatty
Member
BOOM BOOM BOOM.....what snake?
In my AO, several species of rattlers are common --- Western Diamondbacks are common in the low desert, Arizona Blacktails range from the desert floor to at least 7,000 feet above sea level, and at +/- 5,000 feet, the Arizona Black subspecies of Viridis viridis, is often encountered. The latter are almost always quite docile and retreating, and seldom provoked to rattling. The Blacktails, invariably in my considerable experience, are sensitive to the degree of being "touchy" --- quick to rattle at the slightest ground vibration, quick to spring into striking coil configuration, quick to defend and hold a position. Western Diamondbacks are fickle in their responses, and are unreliable in the degree of warning they offer by rattling, but are usually more interested in escaping to cover than holding their ground.
The suggestion that the degree to which rattlesnakes rattle is somehow influenced by human interaction, i.e., by killing the "noisy" ones and not the "quiet" ones is silly. They do what they do, by instinct or individual impulse, without enough interaction with humans to influence their evolution.
The suggestion that the degree to which rattlesnakes rattle is somehow influenced by human interaction, i.e., by killing the "noisy" ones and not the "quiet" ones is silly. They do what they do, by instinct or individual impulse, without enough interaction with humans to influence their evolution.
red14
US Veteran
Facebook..
smith revolver cop
Member
+1! A 12-ga would be good, because I'm not sure I have a shovel that big! I have no problem with spiders, but I'm not at all fond of snakes.
smith revolver cop
Member
Another +1. We've got lots of Coopers Hawks where I live... one of my favorite things is to see them on my way to work. Rather see them than snakes!
My take is to remove it (dead or alive) from your homestead; out in the woods, leave them alone. Be glad you didn't step on the viper! I have been working and hunting around snakes for many years and try not to kill them, they have a right to live in their own environment.
williamlayton
Member
I beg to differ sir--a snake has only one destiny---to die where he is discovered.
Blessings
Blessings
Lenny, you want rodent control get a cat, you need more rodent control get two cats and don't feed them. As for rattle snakes in your yard, be nice and introduce them to Mr. 12 Gauge. Or why not kill two birds with one stone get a mongoose or two, and don't feed them.
Texas Star
US Veteran
That reminds me of a story in Readers' Digest Humor in Uniform column years ago. An officer wanting to release mongooses on a Pacific island before invasion, to kill local snakes, asked the veterinary department for mongooses. But he didn't know the plural of "mongoose", so he said, "Send me a mongoose, and while you're at it, send several more."
But mongooses breed and become local problems. And they weren't effective against habu pit vipers on the Jap-held islands. They strike much faster than cobras, and the mongooses died.
I'm not sure that it's even legal to keep mongooses in many states. Ditto for variants, like meerkats. I know a wildlife artist in Norway who's very interested in mustelids.
If anyone has questions about keeping them or their natures, I can ask her about it. I know that some keep ferrets. They probably kill snakes.
But keep in mind that bit about the habus: rattlesnakes are also very quick-striking pit vipers. The mongoose may well be killed.
This intrigues me. I'm gonna ask Hanna if she knows if mongooses can ever successfully kill vipers. The Russell's viper (Tic Polonga) lives in India, where mongoose -killing of cobras became a legend. I've never heard of them killing Russell's vipers. If that snake seems familiar, one was featured in a Sherlock Holmes story, "The Speckled Band." They are very dangerous. India suffers some 40,000 cases of snakebite death a year, according to figures from the WHO. I'm sure that a lot of those deaths are caused by the Russell's viper. The other big contributors are the cobras and kraits, of course.
T-Star
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As I recall, the snake in question had been trained to respond to a bell, and was fed with a saucer of milk --- how dangerous can a milk-lapping snake be?
Texas Star
US Veteran
Doyle was being pretty optimistic about training snakes, I think. His gun knowledge was also quite limited. I'd have hated to face The Hound of the Baskervilles with the sort of revolver that Holmes carried.
The guns used in his, "The Lost World" were also of questionable selection, and they had no handguns. * His more or less contemporary, Sir Henry Rider Haggard ("King Solomon's Mines", "She", etc.) was far more knowledgeable about firearms.
I've never heard of a snake lapping milk. Some authors take too much license!
T-Star
* The recent TV show based on this book, filmed in Australia, had much better guns, but the idea that Marguerite Krux could kill a dinosaur with a single shot from her .32 or .38 was just an effort to thrill girls who saw her as a PC-empowered superwoman. I have a lot of respect for the actress (Rachel Blakely), but the writers knew more about fantasy than they did about guns! BTW, in the book, there were no white women after the expedition left London, but TV provided some hot chicks to make the show well worth watching. And I liked Lord Roxton's Colt .45 auto, his ivory-butted Webleys, and his .416 Rigby.
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