Severed rattlesnake head bites Texas man

You've probably heard of this type of thing happening before... someone kills a snake by cutting off it's head and when they try to discard of it, or handle it for some other reason, the person gets bitten by the body-less head.

Well, in this case it was a rattlesnake.

What I didn't realize, is that a bite from a severed head of a poisonous snake is potentially exponentially more deadly because ALL the venom stored in the head of a dead snake will be released.

"Since there is no body, it released all its venom into him at that point, so he had a lot of venom," Sutcliffe told KIII.

I believe a few doses of antivenom is typically all that is needed for your standard rattlesnake bite but this man needed 26 doses, and last I heard was that this man was still suffering from a level of kidney failure and remains hospitalized.

Although doctors initially said Sutcliffe's husband "might not make it,” his condition is currently stable after he received 26 doses of antivenom, KIII reported.

Be super careful with those severed heads!

Source

I had the unfortunate pleasure of dispatching a large Western Diamondback that had taken up residence in my ex-girlfriend's yard... (nearly 5 feet long... big for a Diamondback)

I took it's head cleanly off with a big a$$ shovel.

I left the body for a full 20 minutes before I attempted to handle it... and it still tried to bite me. Rattlesnakes are worse than ex-wives...

(For the record, I tried to remove it without killing it. When that didn't work, she attempted to shoot the damned thing. In city limits. The shovel prevented criminal charges being filed.)

(...the snake, not the ex-wife...)

a reply to: madmac5150

Dang, that's quite an experience. Consider yourself lucky. I hear the hospital bills for poisonous snake bites are very high as the antivenom is ex-pen-sive!

Super dangerous... you essentially have to kill them twice. And the snakes are dangerous too.

originally posted by: six67seven
a reply to: madmac5150

Dang, that's quite an experience. Consider yourself lucky. I hear the hospital bills for poisonous snake bites are very high as the antivenom is ex-pen-sive!

Super dangerous... you essentially have to kill them twice. And the snakes are dangerous too.

Anti-venom is cheaper in Arizona than divorce lawyers...

a reply to: six67seven

It's an Indian folktale that if you kill a snake it can't die until the sun is down.

Some things are just truths wrapped up in a saying, but in my experiences on the Mojave the damn things keep going till they cool off. Especially the bigger ones.

I just have to add that if you've got a decent sized rattlesnake, a fire, tinfoil and any kind of picante sauce, skin it, gut it, pack it with salsa, wrap it in foil and put it under the coals.

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: six67seven

It's an Indian folktale that if you kill a snake it can't die until the sun is down.

Some things are just truths wrapped up in a saying, but in my experiences on the Mojave the damn things keep going till they cool off. Especially the bigger ones.

I just have to add that if you've got a decent sized rattlesnake, a fire, tinfoil and any kind of picante sauce, skin it, gut it, pack it with salsa, wrap it in foil and put it under the coals.

Wow. Going to pick up a rattlesnake's head bare handed.
I just dont know what to say...
Didnt matter if the head actually bit him, one scratch from them needle sharp fangs is all it takes
And he had a shovel. Just the right thing for picking up rattlesnake heads.

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: six67seven

It's an Indian folktale that if you kill a snake it can't die until the sun is down.

Some things are just truths wrapped up in a saying, but in my experiences on the Mojave the damn things keep going till they cool off. Especially the bigger ones.

I just have to add that if you've got a decent sized rattlesnake, a fire, tinfoil and any kind of picante sauce, skin it, gut it, pack it with salsa, wrap it in foil and put it under the coals.

You are correct. You are supposed to hang it over a fence or tree limb until dusk. Leaving it there is supposedly a deterrent from other snakes entering the yard.
I still go by that today.
Star for you for just knowing Native American folklore.

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: six67seven

It's an Indian folktale that if you kill a snake it can't die until the sun is down.

Some things are just truths wrapped up in a saying, but in my experiences on the Mojave the damn things keep going till they cool off. Especially the bigger ones.

I just have to add that if you've got a decent sized rattlesnake, a fire, tinfoil and any kind of picante sauce, skin it, gut it, pack it with salsa, wrap it in foil and put it under the coals.

You are correct. You are supposed to hang it over a fence or tree limb until dusk. Leaving it there is supposedly a deterrent from other snakes entering the yard.
I still go by that today.
Star for you for just knowing Native American folklore.

Couldn't hurt to put the head on a stick, too. Just don't get bit doing it.

This is like something out of a horror movie.

The average rattlesnake bite victim can expect about $100,000 to $150,000 in medical bills. The helicopter ride alone will cost about $25k.

We get lots of them around here. One of the dogs was bitten by one a couple years back (and it almost got the wife first if the dog hadn't jumped in the way). I just about got tagged by one on the four wheeler last year. It struck, but bounced off the side of the floor plate and the side of my shoe. Never even saw it until then.

I generally let them go on about their business unless they get up close to, or INTO, the house. Then they get a summary judgement, no exceptions. And yes, the head will still bite. And yes, as another poster posted, the best way to handle the head is with a shovel...straight into the dumpster. Had one get into the basement a couple years back, and another get into the garage last year. Those rattles were added to the collection.

The really spooky thing about rattlers is, as man continues to invade their habitat and kill them they evolve to deal with it. So one of the defense mechanisms they've developed is now many of them don't rattle at all. They just strike without warning. They still have rattles, but they don't use them so people don't know they're there. Fortunately, most of the ones around us still rattle, and where we are there is little risk of further development.

originally posted by: toms54

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: six67seven

It's an Indian folktale that if you kill a snake it can't die until the sun is down.

Some things are just truths wrapped up in a saying, but in my experiences on the Mojave the damn things keep going till they cool off. Especially the bigger ones.

I just have to add that if you've got a decent sized rattlesnake, a fire, tinfoil and any kind of picante sauce, skin it, gut it, pack it with salsa, wrap it in foil and put it under the coals.

You are correct. You are supposed to hang it over a fence or tree limb until dusk. Leaving it there is supposedly a deterrent from other snakes entering the yard.
I still go by that today.
Star for you for just knowing Native American folklore.

Couldn't hurt to put the head on a stick, too. Just don't get bit doing it.

This is like something out of a horror movie.

You ever saw a copperhead with part of it cut off ? They are even more vicious in that condition...

a reply to: Gothmog

I grew up on a ranch in southern California and I knew since the age of about 9 when you cut off the head of a snake you don't touch it with your bare hands ever. Pick it up with the shovel and you throw it in the garbage.

Jaden

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: six67seven

It's an Indian folktale that if you kill a snake it can't die until the sun is down.

Some things are just truths wrapped up in a saying, but in my experiences on the Mojave the damn things keep going till they cool off. Especially the bigger ones.

I just have to add that if you've got a decent sized rattlesnake, a fire, tinfoil and any kind of picante sauce, skin it, gut it, pack it with salsa, wrap it in foil and put it under the coals.

You are correct. You are supposed to hang it over a fence or tree limb until dusk. Leaving it there is supposedly a deterrent from other snakes entering the yard.
I still go by that today.
Star for you for just knowing Native American folklore.

Thank you for the star, but I'm Cherokee so it was just what Dad said... LOL

From an Aussie.

The only way to do it.

Separate snake's head. Pick up head with knife point. Carry inside and deposit head in toilet. Flush!

I would wait until the following morning before claiming snake was utterly dead.

Even when the snake is utterly dead, the poison is still there and if you handle the head incorrectly, you can still manage to stab yourself and the poison will still be released.

Put the head down the long drop! Can't hurt anyone down there.

P

originally posted by: Gothmog
Wow. Going to pick up a rattlesnake's head bare handed.
I just dont know what to say...
Didnt matter if the head actually bit him, one scratch from them needle sharp fangs is all it takes
And he had a shovel. Just the right thing for picking up rattlesnake heads.

Yup. And those puny western diamondbacks are small potatoes to the eastern...there was a FB pic (I know, I know, it’s provenance can’t be 100% verified) of a diamond back in the Sandhills of NC that was — allegedly — 8ft and 20+lbs...the pic was real, IMHO, and was a monster. Their were suscipions he had gotten a hold of a couple hour old fawn and that was a big factor in the weight. Biggest poisonous snake i’ve seen.

Did encounter a 4-5 ft timber rattler in the crawl space of a house during my summer job before leaving for college...deathly afraid as a 17-yr old.

Late summer day in the Uwharrie mountains and it was our last install of the day. Plus, we went home early that day — we weren’t installing a water conditioner with the largest snake I’d Ever seen. No way.

Yeah, this story isn’t surprising at all. I thought most knew better. Hope dude does fully recover, though.

a reply to: Cravens

Me and 3 of my friends were walking down a trail at night . I was last in the line. All of a sudden , the friend that was 3rd in line and in front of me dropped like a rock. 4 ft Eastern Diamondback strike to the ankle.