Sssssnakes

TBGibb said:

In article said:

There was one rattler partly on the trail. I just stopped for a while and it finally went away. We
have mtn rattlers here.

I envy you, I've never seen one here, perhaps our extra 1,000 feet of elevation makes it a little
too cool for rattlers. We do have some great gopher (or bull) snakes. The sight of a 5 footer
stretched across the trail is not to be forgotten. Of course when that happens I just have to get
off the bike to see if there are any rattles on the tail (and avoid running it over).

Tom Gibb <[email hidden]>

I once saw a rattler on the top of the Wasatch Mt. Olympus, 9600'.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

mark freedman said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>..

Quoted message said:

stop well short (10 feet) of a rattlesnake parked in the middle of the road. I waited it out,
stomped my foot a few times and it mosied off the road. I let it live.

Proper technique is to stare directly into it's eyes while saying in your best stern father
voice

"BAD rattlesnake. BAD rattlesnake. Go home ......"

(maybe Jobst's ping-pong racket across the snout(?) would help)

Ah, that's where I went wrong. It completely ignored me when I told it to "Scram."

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

mark freedman said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Rick Warner wrote:

It's nice to hear that our rattlers are passive, but for a

You've never heard the term "passive-aggressive?"

They force you to kill them, and you die from the guilt?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'd be happier to learn that their venom is not particularly

destructive. Do you know?

No GOOGLE where you live? From:

Google, Usenet. Same difference.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

mark freedman said:

No no .... don't thank me.

Oh. Thanks.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Rick Warner said:

It is moderate toxicity. There used to be a good venom research unit at the VA Hospital in SLC, so
there was a lot of knowledge in the area of the venom and how to deal with it. The best course is
to stay away from the snakes, and know how to deal with a bite if it happens.

Thanks for the info. There's a similar thread in a.m-b (that I forgot about earlier), but what is
your advice on what to do if bitten on a trail or remote road? Call 911 on your cell phone (which I
have for the first time this season) and do what they say? Ride downhill or easily to the nearest
EMS access point? Sit and glare at the snake? Try to kill it for EMS ID?

One handy tip from the other thread is to mark the bite location with a pen, or I guess dirt if you
don't have a pen.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

"Raptor" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I happened to catch a show on Animal Planet just a couple

days ago,

Quoted message said:

before my encounter. The Mojave Green was called the most

deadly snake

Quoted message said:

in the country. Aggression and deadly venom in one little

package. As

Quoted message said:

clear a case for killing every one you see as we'll ever

get.

Leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. They keep the rats under control, and those carry
rabies, hantavirus, and bubonic plague.

Matt O.

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I thought that the large majority of snake bite fatalities

were young

Quoted message said:

men (late teens to thirty) who had too much to drink -- in

other

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words, what really got them was a combination of alcohol

and

Quoted message said:

testosterone poisoning -- the snake just happened to be

there in the

Quoted message said:

mix.

Close -- the most common scenario, according to a ranger I talked to, has to do with a full bladder
and alchohol-affected judgement. People step off trail or out of their campsites to pee
"discretely," in the bushes where the snakes are hiding.

Matt O.

"Raptor" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You seem to overlook the obvious and reasonable solution, that of riding around the snake. I
would have stopped and shooed it off the road for its own protection. There is no reason to kill
a snake out in the veldt. Who are these "aim for the head" folks. Gotta kill them varmints,
they're taking over the world. Probably the same ones who shoot at road signs. You know, it's
either me or them... BLAAAM!

Jobst Brandt [email hidden] Palo Alto CA

I think there was probably room at the road edges for me to pass safely, but then the bugger would
have decided to slither to the same side I selected. It's about a 15' road, and the snake was
about 2-1/2' long, parked very near the center, stretched out perpendicular to my path.

Your option would also have involved actually decreasing the distance between myself and a
rattlesnake that I can see. I don't do that. It could've been a "harmless" mature garden snake and
I wouldn't have done
it. "I hate snakes."

How close do you let 2000+ lb. cars going 45 mph get to you?

one of the six billion said:

"Raptor" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Your option would also have involved actually decreasing the distance between myself and a
rattlesnake that I can see. I don't do that. It could've been a "harmless" mature garden snake and
I wouldn't have done
it. "I hate snakes."

How close do you let 2000+ lb. cars going 45 mph get to you?

About 3 feet is the limit of my tolerance. I'm not sure what that has to do with snakes though.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Even if the snakes don't get you as they pass, they may try to bite your tires... Thus causing those
nasty to repair snake bite punctures!

I know ...it's bad...

NS

In article Zn%Ca.819732$OV.775985@rwcrnsc54 said:

Even if the snakes don't get you as they pass, they may try to bite your tires... Thus causing
those nasty to repair snake bite punctures!

I know ...it's bad...

NS>

better the tires than your [censored]! 🙂

Once while riding near Sawanee, Florida, the group in front of me had stopped because of a very
large rattler in the path. The snake had coiled up and was buzzing away.

Then suddenly behind us came a low growl and this humongous 14' alligator ( it was probably about
8ft ) came out to sun itself behind us.

The snake turned to go back in the grass. Never saw a bunch of guys move faster, ever.

Would gatorskins have worked?

--
"Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness"

- Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution

Raptor <[email hidden]> brightened my day with his incisive wit when in
"]news:[email hidden] he conjectured that:

Quoted message said:

one of the six billion said:

"Raptor" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Your option would also have involved actually decreasing the distance between myself and a
rattlesnake that I can see. I don't do that. It could've been a "harmless" mature garden snake
and I wouldn't have done it. "I hate snakes."

How close do you let 2000+ lb. cars going 45 mph get to you?

About 3 feet is the limit of my tolerance. I'm not sure what that has to do with snakes though.

He's trying to draw a parallel that doesn't work.

A 2000+lb car doesn't lash out with a venemous bite leaving you to die in agaony when it
gets spooked.

--
Walter Mitty.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> brightened my day with his incisive wit when in
"]news:[email hidden] he conjectured that:

Quoted message said:

one of the six billion said:

"Raptor" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

>Your option would also have involved actually decreasing the distance between myself and a
>rattlesnake that I can see. I don't do that. It could've been a "harmless" mature garden snake
>and I wouldn't have done it. "I hate snakes."
>

How close do you let 2000+ lb. cars going 45 mph get to you?

About 3 feet is the limit of my tolerance. I'm not sure what that has to do with snakes though.

He's trying to draw a parallel that doesn't work.

A 2000+lb car doesn't lash out with a venemous bite leaving you to die in agaony when it gets
spooked.

It's called hit-and-run :-/

--
David Kerber An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good Lord,
it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

"archer" <ns_archer1960@ns_hotmail.com> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> brightened my day with his

incisive wit when in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"]news:[email hidden] he conjectured that:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A 2000+lb car doesn't lash out with a venemous bite

leaving you to die in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

agaony when it gets spooked.

It's called hit-and-run :-/

...and I bet it's a lot more common than snakebite.

Matt O.

Walter Mitty <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> brightened my day with his incisive wit when in
"]news:[email hidden] he conjectured that:

Quoted message said:

one of the six billion wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

About 3 feet is the limit of my tolerance. I'm not sure what that has to do with snakes though.

He's trying to draw a parallel that doesn't work.

A 2000+lb car doesn't lash out with a venemous bite leaving you to die in agaony when it gets
spooked.

You've never been "doored?" :-)

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

"archer" <ns_archer1960@ns_hotmail.com> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> brightened my day with his

incisive wit when in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"]news:[email hidden] he conjectured that:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A 2000+lb car doesn't lash out with a venemous bite

leaving you to die in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

agaony when it gets spooked.

It's called hit-and-run :-/

...and I bet it's a lot more common than snakebite.

Yep.

--
David Kerber An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good Lord,
it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

mark freedman said:

Quoted message said:

Proper technique is to stare directly into it's eyes while saying in your best stern father
voice

"BAD rattlesnake. BAD rattlesnake. Go home ......"

(maybe Jobst's ping-pong racket across the snout(?) would help)

Ah, that's where I went wrong. It completely ignored me when I told it to "Scram."

--

I was paraphrasing advice from a thread discussing what to do when
faced by "The Hound of The Baskervilles" looking for a bite to eat :-)

Someone DID suggest carrying doggie biscuits and making friends. I haven't been near a pet store
for years. Do they even SELL snakie biscuits?

Re: USENET (groups) versus GOOGLE (Websearch)

Groups are best for opinions, anecdotes, and entertainment.

GOOGLE will find sites maintained by product manufacturers, government agencies, etc.

I'm always amazed that people would rather argue about the volume of ink a particular HP
cartridge contains, than go to www.hp.com and find out.

Same for snakebites. Given the variability of the venom, you might
prefer information from a local hospital or government agency. Or not.

I wonder why you'd need to mark the location of the bite. Surely the painful swelling is a dead
giveaway? :-)

mark freedman said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

mark freedman said:

Proper technique is to stare directly into it's eyes while saying in your best stern father
voice

"BAD rattlesnake. BAD rattlesnake. Go home ......"

(maybe Jobst's ping-pong racket across the snout(?) would help)

Ah, that's where I went wrong. It completely ignored me when I told it to "Scram."

--

I was paraphrasing advice from a thread discussing what to do when
faced by "The Hound of The Baskervilles" looking for a bite to eat :-)

Someone DID suggest carrying doggie biscuits and making friends. I haven't been near a pet
store for years. Do they even SELL snakie biscuits?

Re: USENET (groups) versus GOOGLE (Websearch)

Groups are best for opinions, anecdotes, and entertainment.

GOOGLE will find sites maintained by product manufacturers, government agencies, etc.

Google will also find you archived discussions on Usenet, which frequently contain contributions for
some very expert people.

Quoted message said:

I'm always amazed that people would rather argue about the volume of ink a particular HP
cartridge contains, than go to www.hp.com and find out.

Same for snakebites. Given the variability of the venom, you might
prefer information from a local hospital or government agency. Or not.

This is a fair point, but I'm already here at the keyboard, and the phone book is in the
other room. :-)

Quoted message said:

I wonder why you'd need to mark the location of the bite. Surely the painful swelling is a dead
giveaway? :-)

You mark the point of the bite to document the entry of the venom, so docs can measure the rate of
spread and diagnose volume of anti-venom. Plus, the bite itself might not be especially visible, and
you may be incapacitated. (My first aid book mentions nothing on this, but I saw it on TV so it must
be true... Can't hurt.)

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

mark freedman wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Re: USENET (groups) versus GOOGLE (Websearch)

Groups are best for opinions, anecdotes, and entertainment.

GOOGLE will find sites maintained by product manufacturers, government agencies, etc.

Google will also find you archived discussions on Usenet, which frequently contain contributions
for some very expert people.

Google Groups, formerly known as dejanews.

Google also has an "images" section which is neat.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Same for snakebites. Given the variability of the venom, you might

prefer information from a local hospital or government agency. Or not.

This is a fair point, but I'm already here at the keyboard, and the phone book is in the other
room. :-)

No online phone directories for your area?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You mark the point of the bite to document the entry of the venom, so

Hmmm .... another reason to carry a ballpoint pen (I plan to whip it out and start writing down
particulars when confronting what passes for a "driver" in these parts).

Or a single use camera for $5. So you can take a portrait
of the snake and your leg before it turns into a purple balloon.

I know - a time-lapse camera so you can document the
progress of the venom as you die a slow and horrible death.

tfn

mark freedman said:

[email hidden] (TBGibb) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (mark

freedman) said:

Someone DID suggest carrying doggie biscuits and making friends. I haven't been near a pet
store for years. Do they even SELL snakie biscuits?

Mice.

Tom Gibb <[email hidden]>

Great idea. I'll get the Voler-par-la-Nuit (maker of the Seatless Seatpost(tm) and Tireless
Wheel(tm) ) development group working on a mouse launcher right away.

Analogous to the depth-charge launchers on a destroyer. Similar to the "Rat-a-pult" on a
smaller scale.

If you can hook the mice into the drivetrain until they're launched, so much the better.

Quoted message said:

We're also developing one to distract pursuing dogs, which launches cats. But we're stumped for
a name.

tfn

I believe there are plenty of former dot-com marketing types who need work, maybe something along
the lines of "Cat-ion". I'm looking forward to the Superbowl commercial.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.