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PRB
04-27-2013, 19:21
No idea how long he's been hanging out in my garage

Paragrouper
04-27-2013, 19:37
Thats one fat bastard there.

The eats must be good in your garage :D

PSM
04-27-2013, 19:40
No idea how long he's been hanging out in my garage

Far bigger than what we've been whacking down here! :eek: Nancy found shed skin in the garage last year.

She got her first one of this season a couple of weeks ago. It was a youngster without rattles. It had a deformed head, also.

Pat

MR2
04-27-2013, 19:42
It had a deformed head, also.

Pat

Before or after she got a hold of it?

Ambush Master
04-27-2013, 19:43
If you aren't already aware of this, get a good smell of it!! You can smell snakes WAY before you will see them or hear them!!!

Later
Martin

PSM
04-27-2013, 19:46
Before or after she got a hold of it?

Before. One side was much larger than the other. She got it in the neck just behind the head. It was kind of greenish, so I'm guessing it may have been a Mojave.

Pat

PRB
04-27-2013, 19:54
If you aren't already aware of this, get a good smell of it!! You can smell snakes WAY before you will see them or hear them!!!

Later
Martin

Yeah, my dog was with and he's a good snaker but the 'garage smells' hid the scent and the little devil was under a car. I saw him when we pulled out.
Our own fault, we put in a drip system for the cactus etc so bunnies show up, ground squirrels etc...food, water, shade...perfect.

The Reaper
04-27-2013, 20:34
Before. One side was much larger than the other. She got it in the neck just behind the head. It was kind of greenish, so I'm guessing it may have been a Mojave.

Pat

Pat:

In case you didn't know, Mojave's have VERY nasty venom.

TR

Last hard class
04-27-2013, 20:36
Caught one that fat on a survival FTX once. Turned out to be preggy. Slit it open and it was like snakes on a plane.:D


LHC

PSM
04-27-2013, 20:50
Pat:

In case you didn't know, Mojave's have VERY nasty venom.

TR

Yes sir, we do know. If it was one, it was the first we've seen here. My wife is a volunteer at the BLM's San Pedro House and is getting a pretty good education on snakes.

The Mojaves are supposed to be very aggressive and this one was. The Western DBs (coon tail) are pretty laid back, so to speak. I hate killing the WDBs, but we do when they are in the garden, because of the dog.

Pat

Ambush Master
04-27-2013, 20:55
Pat:

In case you didn't know, Mojave's have VERY nasty venom.

TR

I concur here!! The Mojaves have a dual toxin both anti coag and a neuro!!

I don't even think they have an anti-venom for them, they usually kill them before they can make it to the Hospital!!

Last hard class
04-27-2013, 21:15
PSM:

Save the dog. Use the BFR.


LHC

PRB
04-27-2013, 21:15
I concur here!! The Mojaves have a dual toxin both anti coag and a neuro!!

I don't even think they have an anti-venom for them, they usually kill them before they can make it to the Hospital!!

They've been know to drop a horse in 100 meters ( mojave's)...I kill the diamond backs because they are territorial, they don't roam much....I've literally had them knock on the front door and had a bull snake living in a living room potted plant til my wife saw him. He got a pass, good snake.

mojaveman
04-27-2013, 21:21
No idea how long he's been hanging out in my garage

Nice kill. Are you going to keep the skin? Last year when I was working out in the desert we were killing one about every other week. I squashed one when I was driving a piece of heavy equipment. It was six feet long and as big around as my forearm.

Regarding the Mojave Green, a boy was bit by one last summer here in California and it took 42 vials of anti-venom to save him. If I remember correctly, that type of anti-venom costs about 5K per vial to produce.

In another incident, a young college student was bitten by a Pacific Diamondback in San Diego County and saved with anti-venom. The hospital then handed him a bill for $150,000. He didn't have health insurance either.

Ambush Master
04-27-2013, 21:50
They've been know to drop a horse in 100 meters ( mojave's)...I kill the diamond backs because they are territorial, they don't roam much....I've literally had them knock on the front door and had a bull snake living in a living room potted plant til my wife saw him. He got a pass, good snake.

You Guys need to import some Texas Rat/Corn Snakes!! They are in the "King Snake" Family and will keep your AO clear of the Bad Guys!! The only problem will be keeping OTHERS from killing them!!
Here's a link to the Rat Snake then Corn Snake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaphe_obsoleta_lindheimeri

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_snake

PSM
04-27-2013, 22:29
I kill the diamond backs because they are territorial, they don't roam much...

A woman that volunteers at the SPH with my wife had 4 dogs killed by WDBs but she wouldn't kill them. She would catch them and move them several blocks away. Last year she said that she moved 19. I told Nancy that she probably only moved 4 or 5. To find out, she painted one with an orange spot and took it a mile away. It came back. She took it 10 miles away. It came back. She gave up and killed it.

Pat

PSM
04-27-2013, 22:40
PSM:

Save the dog. Use the BFR.


LHC

You never met the pup, did you? He was with us in PHX but went to sleep before you found us. :D ;)

Pat

SOF_VET
04-27-2013, 23:36
CroFab is a polyvalent antivenin that is available for treating envenomations from a variety of Crotalids and North American Pit Vipers. Reportedly, one of the four immunogens used in the production process by the company is derived from the Mojave rattlesnake's neurotoxic venom. However, it should be remembered that a number of factors are involved with the severity of clinical signs including the volume of venom injected, concentration of the venom, age of the snake, location of the bite, etc.

A vaccine for dogs has been developed, but the results are not overwhelmingly significant compared to nonvaccinated dogs. You'll have better results if you PMCS your yard with a .22 or a garden hoe as has been suggested already! :D

For your information:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/pharmacy/pdfs/pharmnewsvol4-1.pdf
http://www.crofab.com/about-crofab

Dale

akv
04-28-2013, 13:29
PRB,

That would get my attention Sir. Do you use snake shot for rattlers?

Ambush Master
04-28-2013, 13:52
I live in and have hunted in some Serious Rattler country and when I'm out in "the sticks", I carry a Model 29 loaded with #9 shot!!

PRB
04-28-2013, 15:04
PRB,

That would get my attention Sir. Do you use snake shot for rattlers?

.22 shot in a small pistol does the trick....or a .38 shot shell...every store in town sells them this time of year.

mdpatterson
04-28-2013, 15:48
What did you use to take this bad boy out with? My neighbor just had his first of the year in the driveway a couple days ago, and foolishly went at it with a shovel instead of the .22 snake shot he had in his pocket.

Mike

PSM
04-28-2013, 19:41
My wife has snake shot as her first round in her .38. The rest are JHP +P. I only carry .45ACP at the moment, but I don't run into snakes as often as she does. In fact, I've never been "rattled" or hissed at.

@AM: I've heard about smelling them first, but I guess my smeller doesn't work 'cause I don't smell anything. I was told that they smell like rotten cantaloupe.

Pat

Dohhunter
04-29-2013, 10:57
Y'all are giving me the heebee jeebies.

The only venomous snake we have up here is the Eastern Massassauga and it only grows to a max of around 25".

My father accidentally/blindly stepped on a Western DB in Arizona about twenty five years ago when I was walking behind him on a morning desert walk. It was as big around as my then thirteen year old neck and damned if it didn't turn around to look at us as if to say "Seriously?" and kept going.

Luuuuuuuuucky.

PSM
05-13-2013, 21:11
My sister called last week and told me that a rattlesnake bit my nephew’s dog. She knew that we have a snake problem and told me his Vet suggested a rattlesnake vaccine and spreading crushed mothballs around the outside of our fence. My wife agreed with this advise but I told her that the crushed mothballs was just an “old wives’ tale” and refused to do it. She said that she’d do it if I held down the moths. ;)

Pat

mojaveman
05-14-2013, 22:59
...and spreading crushed mothballs around the outside of our fence. My wife agreed with this advise but I told her that the crushed mothballs was just an “old wives’ tale”... ;) Pat

I had an old cowboy tell me onetime that he used a rough hewn lariat emplaced around his sleeping position at night to keep unwanted rattlers away. Supposedly they don't like to slither over obstacles but around them.

Never tried it, but it too could be an old wives tale.

Sdiver
05-14-2013, 23:19
I had an old cowboy tell me onetime that he used a rough hewn lariat emplaced around his sleeping position at night to keep unwanted rattlers away. Supposedly they don't like to slither over obstacles but around them.

Never tried it, but it too could be an old wives tale.

I've heard it's supposed to be a Horsehair rope.

This is taken from this site ... http://www.bayequest.info/horsetalk/snakes.htm

The old tale of a horsehair rope stretched around a campsite or bedroll keeping snakes away is just that, an old tale. Snakes will crawl over cactus needles and objects a lot sharper than the hairs in a horsehair rope.

I know in True Grit, you see John Wayne do it, and if you can't believe J.W., who can you believe?

Maybe one of our resident "Snake Eaters" can shed some light on this.
:munchin

PSM
11-14-2015, 21:59
No idea how long he's been hanging out in my garage

Got one this morning in our garage. This is the first time, in over 50 years living in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California (and now AZ again), that I have been rattled...sort of. It was my wife that got rattled as she used the rake to drag it outside where I shot it with my .45. It was a small one and not very loud, but damn I'm impressed with the HK USP!. My first shot, DA, was pulled to the right about 2" from where I was aiming (I was about 2 1/2 to 3 yards from it), but I hit him. The second and third were exactly where I wanted them just below his head. I shot twice more just for practice then I realized I hadn't swapped mags and was shooting my $1 a round self-defense ammo. Well, $5 doller live small target practice. Not bad. ;)

ETA: This is our third 'rattler this year and the first diamondback. The other two were Mohave, were far more aggressive, and didn't rattle. My wife shot them.

Pat

GratefulCitizen
11-14-2015, 23:13
Just about stepped on a young sidewinder at the gym about 6 weeks ago.
Lower level of the gym is just a large garage of a former boat shop and the floor is painted grey similar to the snake.

My son noticed it before I stepped on it.
Shooed it outside with a pvc pipe before it could hide under/behind equipment.

The gym manager was there and is very scared of snakes.
Occasionally I'll grab one of the workout rubber bands, loop it on my ankle so it drags behind me, and startle him with it.

Great fun.
:D

PSM
06-28-2018, 21:53
Didn't shoot it, but after a combined 14 years in AZ, I finally saw my first Gila Monster. My wife saw two in her first year. BTW, I've still never seen a bear in the wild. I've seen just about everything else to include walking up behind a cougar on a trail.

I was trying to get closer but it got in the weeds. I've spotted sign of a larger one but haven't seen it yet.

Pretty coloring on it. The pix don't do it justice.

PRB
06-28-2018, 22:03
Didn't shoot it, but after a combined 14 years in AZ, I finally saw my first Gila Monster. My wife saw two in her first year. BTW, I've still never seen a bear in the wild. I've seen just about everything else to include walking up behind a cougar on a trail.

I was trying to get closer but it got in the weeds. I've spotted sign of a larger one but haven't seen it yet.

Pretty coloring on it. The pix don't do it justice.

Hey, that's good luck! We had a big fat one come to our back door 10years ago...beautiful booger he was (or she?)...Right to the screen door...very cool...never saw him again.

Had a baby rattler in the pool last week.....got sucked into the clean out basket and wrapped around the lid base...lucky on the opening for me...eventually unlucky for him.

PSM
06-28-2018, 22:09
Had a baby rattler in the pool last week.....got sucked into the clean out basket and wrapped around the lid base...lucky on the opening for me...eventually unlucky for him.

Had that happen with a full grown one back in '75. I learned to expect the unusual in the pool after that.

Golf1echo
06-29-2018, 15:18
Remembering the days in Avra Valley, we found a Ghila Monster not long after starting our encampment... Later the neighbor killed many and always hung them in a mesquite tree by the road as if it were a tradition? Several rattlers made their way to dinner.
Here the issues can be a little bigger, out the back door yesterday... This is junior he's getting bigger, I noticed he tried to climb an Aspen to get at baby woodpeckers, his reach pulled a chunk off there entry but mom drilled a good nest, I measured the entrance at 12' up the trunk...

Chucko
06-29-2018, 15:35
Last weekend I walked from my workshop building into my attached garage. I opened the door and stepped squarely right in top of something about 1-1/4" diameter and moving. I let up and hopped over and saw it was a black snake..

He squirreled into a corner and was facing me. I tried shewing him outside with a piece of carpet but no way was he going. I backed up and honked the care horn so my wife would come out and see it but she heard it and thought I was just playing. I hope I never have a real emergency. Finally I saw a couple 18" bars which I could hook him and fling him outside. By the way I hate all snakes. No more leaving my garage doors open to cool off.

PSM
06-29-2018, 15:56
No more leaving my garage doors open to cool off.

We've had two in the garage and the doors were closed. :D Watch your step. ;)

Chucko
06-29-2018, 16:25
We've had two in the garage and the doors were closed. :D Watch your step. ;)

I am not telling my wife snakes can get in anyway. I think she would leave me.

Requiem
06-29-2018, 18:43
Here the issues can be a little bigger, out the back door yesterday...

At least you won't accidentally step on one of those... :eek:

I'm happy to live in a place with no snakes. Y'all's close calls with slithery things creeps me out. <shudder>

S.