Rattlesnakes at Pawnee

[ChunkyMonkey]

Tristan, wow you know a lot about them snakes. You gotta read it Steve Irwin style though!
"Crikey! Herein lies our diamond back rattlesnake. As you can see mate, they are just very instinctive to me. I've been playing with snakes since before I could walk. It doesn't matter where or what it is, from the biggest to the most venomous. No problem, mate!"

[Tristan]

Ouch!
Gosh, that made me laugh.
No, I'm certain no Steve Irwin, that's for sure. Just that once you get bit and go through all that, you learn reeeeaaaaalllll quick and rreeeaaaallll well. I've also been bit by a Black Widow (was WAY more painful than my worst ever surgery), a brown recluse (not allergic, thank God) and been treated for rabies. However, I think the rabies was from my brothers' girlfriend.....
Anyways, the rabies thing was back in the day. 26 needles 10 feet long and 3 feet big around in the tummy-that just plain sucked.
Oh, and I got shot by salt rock when I was a kid, too. Us Mountain Boys always learn the hard way, ya know. I had so much fun! But now the old body is paying for it. Who knew. But I do still catch snakes with my hands and no protection/Steve Irwin style. Just been doing it for 35 years or so.

[bimmer]

I've keeping and breeding ball pythons, and corn snakes. and catching all sorts of other things when i go to florida (those baby alligators are a-holes). i just havnt had any real experience with venomus snakes.

[theGinsue]

MB888 say it true - Tristan, you really do know your rattlers.

I think I might try Marlins advice and check out the Two Butts (er, Buttes) SWA.

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I was thinking of using something to capture the snake (broom handle/rope and perhaps a long pole with a bent end to hold it until I can get the broom handle/rope around it's head). I was also planning on cutting the head off (watching for potential bites - even after the head comes off), and skinning and gutting it on the spot. I'm not too fond of the idea of carrying a live rattler around - even (or especially) in a pillow case - mostly because of the getting it out of the pillow case part.

Tristan - I too was bit by a Brown Recluse, but snce I was just a young toddler, I dont remember it. My mom says I whined about the pain and it ate a hole through my abdomin (still have the scar ~ barely). I don't envy you your experiences - yikes!

[Tristan]

Wow, you're lucky you're alive! I'll bet your mum was scared shitless!
I was just sleeping one night and felt something run across my chest and onto my shoulder. SMACK! I got him! Next thing I know, my shoulder swelled up the size of a baseball. The lump, I mean. So my wife called the doctor and they said I had to put the spider in a jar and bring it to the hospital. So we spent the next 20 minutes looking for its' remains......but I guess they're only lethal if you're allergic to them. Ah, well.
Now the black widow was a whole different story. Nobody ever told me the bastards could jump! So there I am, 32 years old playing with a black widow and she kicked my ass. Guess that's what I get, lol. But you don't know pain until you get bit by a black widow. I have been shot, stabbed, run over (fell off the pickup), you name it. I have plates in my neck, back and hip-a plastic knuckle and so on and so forth. I've broken most major bones in my body. When a black widow bites you, it's like fire in your veins-and there's no escaping it. And morphine does nothing.
We'll see if I ever play with them again. I'm flat-out scared of them, now. I just squish them and don't even give them the chance.
Mr. bimmer-a snake's a snake. If you can handle corn snakes and pythons, a rattler is cake. Them damn corn snakes can get real ugly real fast.

[ChunkyMonkey]

We had some corn snake in our pond sometimes. I was told to leave them alone because they kill all the mice -- I never seen them in Denver area though.

[bimmer]

they arent native to colorado. you usually find them in the south

[rocktot]

Hmmm, Ive had a baby Milk snake up in Boulder a longgg time ago, the only one Ive ever seen, very cool, neighbors cat killed it a few weeks later. Not sure how or why it was up in Boulder, we really were not near any open fields.

I would use a plastic 5 gallon bucket for the rattlesnakes, and its about $20,000 in anitivenom/hospital if you get a bad bite or more, you REALLY have to watch the heads, they will still be active when you cut them off, and when you hold them, the fangs will be about 1/2 inch from your thumb, and they look very nasty with those green eyes. Evil I would say, but you have to be on your game if your going to mess with them. Leave the bags for the amatures. You have to make sure you get a good grip on the neck behind the head, and don't EVER grab anywhere but right behind the head, never ever ever, they can whip around fast as they will be pissed and pumped. Use the other hand to quiet the rattle. Taking a bunch live is insane, but its your arm, leg, hand, not mine.
Actually, if you can avoid handling that would be good, I regret picking one up, even though I did it the only real correct way, -way too dangerous.

Or better yet, just cut and gut and put them on ICE...! Please yes, bury the heads@!! Ugly ass mofos...angry green-ass cat eye staring at you...(shiver)

[rocktot]

Now the black widow was a whole different story. Nobody ever told me the bastards could jump!

Holy F****** Sh**.....glad I read that! Little F***ers...

Ive seen em milk those little Sh***. They put em to sleep, and I think they just palm em and put the milker on the fangs, like 10,000 times for a few drops or whatever. They milk all the nasties in Arizona..Then they start to 'wake up' and move the legs, but they are still wonked but jeez louiezzz

[rondog]

Mmmm, rattly snakes......but you wouldn't believe how bad a big mess o' rattlesnakes can stink.