Snake bite news, one death or 2

[Texas Star]

No one else has mentioned this, so I will.

Last week, a man in OK died after picking up an unidentified species of rattlesnake on a road to move it for its protection (!) Bitten on both hands, he expired before reaching a hospital.

He had some heart condition, which may have been a factor. Wife, maybe others, witnessed the event and transportation was at hand. Age of victim not stated.

Bite no. 2: Coral snake. Victim picked up the snake, thinking it was a king snake, to give to his brother, who likes snakes. Victim was paralyzed and on life support when I saw the news. May or may not survive. If he lives, he's probably looking at a bill over $250,000.

I hope no one here is dumb enough to pick up a venomous snake, but tell your kids and other acquaintances who may not be as wise. The sort of people who pick up a gun and pull the trigger without checking to see if it's loaded also pick up snakes.

They're out there...

 

[glenncal1]

#2 was probably the first Coral snake bite victim in a long time.

 

[nachogrande]

VICTIMS LAST WORDS....

I could of sworn it was red next to yellow... I always get those 2 mixed up. A tie for the Darwin award?

 

[Texas Star]

Coral snake bites are uncommon, but I gather that this means that the correct antivenin is also uncommon. And if available, I bet it costs more than, say, polyvalent crotalid antivenin.

I've seen only one coral in the wild, in an east Texas forest. I was sitting on a log and looked to my left and it was crawling about 25 feet away. I had a pistol, but it wasn't approaching, so I didn't shoot. But I did move away, looking carefully for other snakes.

My two close calls were from water moccasins, but I sure wasn't trying to handle either. They just appeared suddenly. One was under some dead grass. He shot out a foot or two ahead of me and into a stream. Another step or so and he'd have probably tagged me.

 

[italiansport]

Also please tell your kids that a severed poisonous snake head can still deliver a venomous bite hours after it has been cut off. Poisonous snakes are Nothing to mess with either alive or dead. I have posted a picture in the past on here of yours truly picking up a rattlesnake with a severed head by the tail and the snake repeatedly trying to rise up and bite me head or not!
Jim

 

[Texas Star]

I could of sworn it was red next to yellow... I always get those 2 mixed up. A tie for the Darwin award?

Red and black, friend of Jack. Red and yellow, kill a fellow.

This holds for both genera of North American corals. Tropical species have different color schemes.

But our Brazilian members like Ray in Rio and Barbarella probably realize that.

If Artilleria de Villa or other Mexican members see this, do you have coral snakes in Mexico?

I think of coral snakes as sort of New World kraits.

 

[wingriderz]

Me being life long Florida Boy Scream like lil girl at all snakes. Most are very dead if they aren't on a fast move from me and yard

 

[Milton]

That Eastern Coral snake tragedy was actually near Gilbertown Alabama.I have spent a lot of time on the ground there but I did not know the Eastern Coral snake ranged that far from the coast.

 

[Texas Star]

That Eastern Coral snake tragedy was actually near Gilbertown Alabama.I have spent a lot of time on the ground there but I did not know the Eastern Coral snake ranged that far from the coast.

They range throughout the land and into eastern Texas. AZ has a different coral.

I think the Eastern coral is genus Micrurus (sp?) The AZ one is genus Micruroides. Going by memory on both spellings. M. fulvius is the Eastern dude. Has sub-species.

Patvince may see this and correct my spelling. He's a pro herpetologist. And Bear Bio knows snakes well, too.

 

[Watchdog]

I hope no one here is dumb enough to pick up a venomous snake, but tell your kids and other acquaintances who may not be as wise.

Often it isn't a question of being dumb. Some people simply don't know the difference between venomous and non-venomous. They don't know a water moccasin from a blacksnake or a rat snake from a rattler.

People who live in areas where there are snakes should educate themselves and their children about which is which.

 

[dsink]

I will only kill the poisonous ones. If it rattles its a rattle snake. All the other ones are copperheads.

No fear of me picking up any kind of snake unless its soaked up a load of bird shot and only then with a shovel.

 

[eb07]

I kill rattlers for three reasons, all safety related:

1. I encounter them in my usual hunting areas.

2. They are on or around the property.

3. They are around the area I shoot in.

Otherwise I let them kill all the four legged vermin they can.

I do however skin and tan them if I kill them and give them to a local so he can make hat bands and knife pouches and such.

I kept this guy because he ALMOST got me while I was quail hunting. My fault really but he needed to go. He is on my wall over my gun bench as a daily reminder not to blindly jump down into washes chasing quail without first checking. Oh and ariat work boots and saved my bacon.

 

[Texas Star]

Often it isn't a question of being dumb. Some people simply don't know the difference between venomous and non-venomous. They don't know a water moccasin from a blacksnake or a rat snake from a rattler.

People who live in areas where there are snakes should educate themselves and their children about which is which.

Picking up a snake without already knowing what it is, is DUMB, and I'm staying with that judgement.

Actually, even non-venomous snakes will bite and it smarts and can get infected.

I knew a man who ran a pet shop. He was bitten on the hand by an Emerald Tree Boa or Green Tree Python; I forgot which. Hand was a mess and the rear-curving teeth were very hard to dislodge.

Several years ago, a python got loose in a pet shop at night, went through the A/C system into an adjoining apartment and fatally constricted two young boys. Didn't swallow either, though.
Maybe meant to, but was found first.

This was in New Brunswick, and RCMP were investigating to see if any laws were broken. But it's just unwise to have a store selling animals next to a residence.

 

[Texas Star]

I kill rattlers for three reasons, all safety related:

1. I encounter them in my usual hunting areas.

2. They are on or around the property.

3. They are around the area I shoot in.

Otherwise I let them kill all the four legged vermin they can.

I do however skin and tan them if I kill them and give them to a local so he can make hat bands and knife pouches and such.

I kept this guy because he ALMOST got me while I was quail hunting. My fault really but he needed to go. He is on my wall over my gun bench as a daily reminder not to blindly jump down into washes chasing quail without first checking. Oh and ariat work boots and saved my bacon.

Highlighted sentence doesn't make sense. Did you lasso the snake with a lariat after he bit your work boots? ??

I think I'd just have shot him. Whatever shotgun you were carrying for quail would suffice.

 

[ChuckS1]

With the exceptions of the garter and black snakes on my property, all the snakes I encounter are soon-to-be-dead ones. I've killed more copperheads than I care to count, all of which were in the yard, on the walkways, on the driveway or down around the barn.

 

[CalmerThanYou]

I treat snakes like any other wild animal with teeth. I head in the opposite direction swiftly.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I remember as a kid staying with my oldest Sister during the summer, a seeing a BIG ole rattlesnake.

To me the first sight of it looked like a crawling telephone pole. It managed to get into a hollow log on the edge of the yard and my BIL, a certified gun nut, was not armed that day. He took some trot line cord and a stout sapling, tied the cord to the end and made a loop.

When he stuck the sapling with the loop into the log, the snake struck and Dewey pulled it out of the log. His brother cut it's head off with a hoe.

I remember very well that you could touch the body of the snake with a stick and the headless business end would attempt to strike.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[HARDWARE]

ive seen several in the wild and a couple in the front yard. this is from several years back.

 

[eb07]

Highlighted sentence doesn't make sense. Did you lasso the snake with a lariat after he bit your work boots? ??

I think I'd just have shot him. Whatever shotgun you were carrying for quail would suffice.

He bit my boot and he went in but not all the way ( saved my bacon)

He got kicked off and shot in the head with a 158gr speer JHP... cut head off, bury, throw the rest in the vest.

The coach gun was on my back in the scabbard. I was jumping down a 10-15 foot wash cliff to cut off some quail.... no way I was carrying a firearm doing that.

There is the Boomstick and scabbard. I carry it ASH style

 

[growr]

Snakes are VERY prevalent here in Montana! I have no shame in telling you I do not like to get close enough to ANY snake to identity it......

Randy