Rattlesnakes

[july1952]

This is the biggest (size wise) rattlesnake I've ever seen. However, it's an allusion in size.

It’s one of the oldest photography tricks in the book — take a camera with a wide-angle or short lens, stand back from the subject (which is very close to the camera), and snap a photo. It’s a trick used by bear hunters and deer hunters on a regular basis . . . and people with dead snakes on the end of a stick. (Side note: A few years ago, a poor photocopy of a dead snake on a stick in similar manner circulated in Scott County. It was supposedly a snake killed by local utility workers who were working under a house in a remote part of the county. Needless to say, it was easily proven false.)

This is a nice-sized rattlesnake, but obviously it isn’t as big as the photo would suggest. If it were, it would be at least 10 ft. long (assuming the man is an average 6 ft. tall). It is an eastern diamondback, which averages 5.5 ft. in length. The very largest of the species are seldom larger than 7 ft. in length, and there is certainly no documented evidence of an eastern diamondback nearly 10 ft. in length.

These next two pictures are the real deal. My nephew and his son killed this gigantic rattler, with a baseball bat! Five feet two inches long and 20 rattles.

 

[vonn]

Sure would like to see a tape and weight on that ,it looks huge.

 

[westy39]

Wow beats the he)) out of the little three foot one I killed a couple of days ago. I just don't like them dam things.

 

[jinx]

My wife walked by just as I was looking at the photo. She is now passed out on the floor.

 

[Roadtrash]

Being as far from the guy holding it makes it look larger than it probably is. But it ain't little by any means.

 

[6518John]

This is the biggest (size wise) rattlesnake I've ever seen.

You know when it is a big snake--look CLOSELY at the picture? (Lower right). The young gentleman had to put down his beer to hold up the snake! Now that is a big'en!

 

[Texas Star]

I think that's a canebrake or timber rattler in the two right hand photos. Can't be sure of the coloration, and the two forms are subspecies of the same snake. The Timber has more tan tones where the other is gray. It is pretty big for that species.

But the Sports Afield Almanac, I think it was, published an old photo some years ago that showed several men holding what was supposed to be the record Eastern Diamondback. It measured about 11 feet. The photo was B&W and dated from the early 20th Century. Others think the record is of a confirmed one at 8 feet three inches. Source: U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and their Mimics, by Scott Shupe. In the book, there is a color photo of one well over six feet being held by employees of the former Ross Allen Reptile Institute.

I've heard the record for the Western Diamondback is about seven feet, but wouldn't be astonished to see one longer.

The longest pit viper is probably the tropical American Bushmaster, Lachesis muta. They are known to reach at least 14 feet. No rattles, but it can vibrate its tail in leaves to warn. Sometimes... It is named for the ancient Greek mythical Fate who supposedly snipped the threads of mortal life, Lachesis. That should tell you a lot about its reputation.

 

[islamoradamark]

twenty rattles on that snake they usually break off in time that is cool

 

[4011]

Baseball bat is not long enough for me!

 

[Ray]

Texas, that critter, the Lachesis Muta is known here in Brazil as Surucutinga,and it´s known for its mamba like attacks body up and running over the tail.Must be really scaring.They say its lenght goes up to 3,5 meters and with a venom load of 5 ml.
Regards, Ray

 

[Broker50]

The dogs look like they're not taking any chances, & don't trust it to be dead............

 

[16thVACav]

Dang it! Would you guys please stop with the snake threads?

How do you expect me to get any work done outdoors now?

 

[JJEH]

Dang it! Would you guys please stop with the snake threads?

How do you expect me to get any work done outdoors now?

Just for you... yum yum

 

[VictorLouis]

I knew there was a reason I didn't HIKE!

 

[feralmerril]

A deputy showed me a picture of a guy he took on a call, bitten by a timber rattler. He was hiking and leaned against a mountain side. The rattler got him right between the shoulder blades just below the back of the neck. It split him open like a axe! The blood actualy boiled! Killed him. It was a gory picture.
Many years ago when I worked in yosemite another guy and I were assigned to follow a creek, map it and grub out gooseberries for blister rust control. There was a path along it. I was walking ahead of my partner and he yelled out, "You almost stepped on that rattler!" Even with him pointing at it I couldnt immediately see it, as it blended in with the surroundings. Rules be damned, we killed it. It was about 4 ft. We took it back to camp and skinned it. The boys cooked it somehow on a hot water heater and claimed it tasty. I had just one bite to claim I ate snake but wont again. Another time Theresa and I were riding our quad. I had pulled over on the trail next to a cutbank a few feet away. She screamed for me to move or take off. Turned out a rattler was sitting coiled up under a rock sticking out about shoulder level maybe two feet away from our shoulders. Didnt or couldnt get him as he slithered away in some brush and rocks as I was turning around. Another time I and a GF took my daughter swimming on a mountain creek in S. california. I went back later to pick them up and I was carrying their gear to the truck. A rattler was on the path. Just then Martines Pomeranian came running up to investigate it. I shot the rattler. I caught hell both from my daughter and martine plus some more people walking up that I was "Gun happy" etc. I knew it would have bit the dog but none would acknowledge that!

 

[Texas Star]

Texas, that critter, the Lachesis Muta is known here in Brazil as Surucutinga,and it´s known for its mamba like attacks body up and running over the tail.Must be really scaring.They say its lenght goes up to 3,5 meters and with a venom load of 5 ml.
Regards, Ray

Hi, Ray. Haven't seen you here lately.

That snake's venom isn't as potent as some, drop for drop, but as you noted, it has a lot and can inject a deadly amount very easily. You also have the Tropical Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus terrifcus.) The Brazilian race is the biggest of the species, hence the subspecies name of terrificus. I'd have to look up the length, but they get to at least six feet, I'm sure, and the venom is quite toxic, with strong neurotoxic elements not seen as often in US rattlers, other than the Mojave species and a couple of others.

And you have that interesting lancehead pit viper on an island off the coast near Sao Paulo. It's the Golden Lance-head Pit Viper, Bothrops insularis. I haven't time to discuss it now, but it's worth looking up. It's so common there and so dangerous that the Brazilian government bans landing there except for a few scientists and lighthouse inspectors. It's a subspecies of similar snakes like B. atrox, etc. on the mainland. People here usually call those the Fer-de-Lance, but that is really a snake limited to the island of Martinique. However, these pit vipers of the genus Bothrops are all pretty similar from a danger standpoint and look a lot alike.
A bite from any is a grave matter.

What about the Eyelash Viper, which hangs out a lot on bushes and in trees? I'd have to look up the scientific name (B. schlegeli?), but scales above the eyes give it its English name. I don't know the Brazilian Portuguese name. It causes a lot of bites. I think they're serious, but not usually fatal?

I know that your coral snakes are deadly, too, and quite unlike ours in appearance. Bigger, too.

I know the Instituto Butantan in Brazil is a major producer of antivenin.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

Here is one that my brother killed in 2009 in front of his daughter's house. That is me in the purple.

 

[JohnK]

My now deceased collie cross, would instantly kill, any non-poisonous snake.

If a poisonous snake (copperhead/moccasin/rattler) came around, I'd hear a "come here, and help bark". He would keep back an exact 6 feet from that blasted snake. Never varied.

He would remain highly agitated, until I sent the offending snake, to snake heaven.

I can only guess that there is a smell/odor associated with the bad ones.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see, especially in the intersphere.

 

[16thVACav]

Just for you... yum yum

Hope you're happy - took a half hour to roll up the water hose last night - kept poking it with a shovel just to be sure.