Cautionary Tail

[jayco]

I overheard a couple of guys at the local hardware talking about seeing copperheads around here recently.

The funny thing is that these snakes are scarce for a few years, then,....they're everywhere. Must be a big year for copperheads around here!

One of the things that makes me a little afraid of being bitten is that from what I can learn about snake bites, everyone has a different tolerance level to the venom.
I've heard of old folks who just put a poltice on the location of the bite and claimed to be alright after a couple days.

My aunt was copperhead 'bit', 40 years ago, and went into extreme shock. If my uncle hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened to her.
She spent 2 weeks in the hospital and was 'poorly' for the rest of the summer.

[Dan OHare]

Originally Posted by JAFO

We have a lot of whats called pygmy rattlers around here. About 6-8 inches long the xxxx things look just like pine or rotting bark. I've had two run ins with them in the last 8 months.
I actually had one strike the toe of my shoe and have one fang hang up in the leather. Fortunately it didn't penetrate. But I did have to pull the xxxx thing off my shoe. The second time I reached to move a downed pine limb and had one actually strike my thumb nail and skid off. Scared the xxxx out of me. While not life threatening, they can cause the loss of a finger or toe or a fairly decent portion of soft tissue.
Xxxx, if its poisonous and crawls, we probably have it in northern Florida.

Hey JAFO, was just wondering if these little critters you have there might be baby timber rattlers? I once saw a snake show on t.v. which explained how baby rattlers are particularly dangerous because of the amount of venom they inject when they bite. The big ones just give a quick little squirt, not all of it as they know to conserve their ammo. The little ones though, well they aint so smart yet and they just latch on and give all they've got all at once.
Around here believe it or not, being so far north, we have in these parts what is said to be the most venomous of all the rattlers, the massasauga rattle snake which is also the smallest usually 25 inches or so and rare. I have never seen one and I aint- a- goin' lookin' niether! They are protected by law so you can't kill 'em. Around here such vermin gets the 22 gun salute such as a coon that was snooping around the yard in broad daylight and did'nt care people were around and a fox that was really acting odd. I pulled in one night and found this fox next to my deck chewing on an empty milk jug. I walked right up to the edge of the deck and told it to SCRAM! No response from the fox, just kept right on a-chewin' and never looked up.I went in the house, got my trusty shooitn' iron and came back out. Still there, still gnawing on that plastic jug. Pop. Done. And a whole gallon of bleach on the little puddle of blood it left. Then on the shovel to the firepit along with the jug for the cremation. The instant my headlights swung into the driveway that fox should have been G-O-N-E but it never so much as looked up once, just kept on biting that plastic jug. That fox looked perfectly healthy, in fact in was quite a nice looking fox. Too bad. Dan

[keykeeper]

Yep, sounds like that fox had it coming. I once had a possum like that just looked at me as I pulled in one night. Six shots with a pellet pistol to the head, nothing, just looked at me. So, got out the .22 and point blanked him with a birdshot round. Still nothing, just that stare. So, I choked his lights out with a contraption I made some time ago for snarin' critters outta houses. That "critter gitter" still sees used from time to time. Just a piece of 3/4 inch aluminum conduit, with a 3/8 inch nylon rope doubled and pushed through it. Works like a charm.

(We got a lot of calls like that when I served as a Vol. Firefighter. "Can you send someone out, there's a squirrel in my refrigerator." True story, ya just can't make this stuff up. Oh yeah, I forgot the possum under the mobile home sink. Caller stated "When I opened the cabinet, something hissed at me, so I called you guys! Not to mention the iguana and its owner rescued from a tree. The lady climbed up to get iguana, then couldn't get back down. Again, you just can't make this stuff up!)

[Bentiron1946]

I asked my vet about dogs and copperheads, he is also a herpetologist in addition to being a veterinarian, he said that usually there is not much harm to coon hound sized dogs or humans. There is no specific antivenin for them but that there is for rattlers. There is also a vaccine for dogs for rattlesnake bites but is not FDA approved. He does recommend it for bird dogs as he feels that it will get the dog to the vet if you are way out yonder and need the extra time to get your dog into medical treatment.

[jayco]

Dan, Aaron, the animals you guys describe as not paying any attention to your presence,........sounds a little the symptoms of rabies.

My dad always said that if you see an animal that seemed to be in a daze or oblivious to your presence........that it could be rabies.

A few times in my youth I remember seeing dogs(sometimes cats, too) rapidly trotting up or down the road near my home.

Dad would shout at them or call to them........if they looked around or responded in any way, he figured they were probably rabies free.

We haven't had any outbreaks of the disease in years(that I know of)

just something I remember from when I was a kid.........Funny, I hadn't thought about that in years........

James

[coltpax]

I hate snakes. I keep my 20 ga. loaded if i see one and have a chance to go get it. Might be overkill, but atleast they are dead. Done killed 3 baby copperheads and saw about 5 more.