Huge Rattlesnake Shot In Manor, Texas (With Pictures)

reply to post by jam321


Goodness gracious, those guys could eat me!!
Thank you for sharing.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
en.wikipedia.org...
These guys? Oh man, apparently they have those around here...

Yep, that's them. Crotalus horridus... Fitting name.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d05c67b85313.jpg[/atsimg]

Wikipedia says that the maximum reported size is about 6 feet 2 inches. But that's Wikipedia, for one thing, and it's a "maximum reported size" for another thing. I'm really, really certain of the 7' lengths, however, because my little brother was a taxidermist (and he still is), and he has tanned their skins and mounted them for customers in the past. Some exceeded 7 feet, easily.

You can still go into homes down there in the Big Thicket of East Texas and see the skins of Canebreaks pinned up on the walls, many exceeding 7', although now I understand they are ranked as a "near threatened species"...

Tell you what, if you saw one of these things coming at you, you'd forget all about "endangered species" and you'd either open fire or run like a jackrabbit.

— Doc Velocity

[edit on 8/1/2009 by Doc Velocity]

Poor guy... least he got his last meal
Course the snake-pole is always invariably shoved closer to the camera to make the snake look bigger too!

dude that snake was a beast, honestly what the heck kinda world are we living in? This world is real and livid, I can honestly say I am very afraid of that slaughtered mythical creature I just witnessed in that picture. We cannot stand for this insanity, that thing will killllll you. But serial, what do you guys think?

SVE

reply to post by ravenshadow13


Why shoot a beautiful creature like that?

Poor thing, it didn't have a gun.

reply to post by ravenshadow13


But why did they have to 'shoot' such a wonderful snake? It was probably resting after a good meal ( as the photos reveal) and someone goes and shoots the poor one. The guys posing with the rattlesnake should be behind bars.

I've seen videos of those rattle snake round ups. They are snip stupid and completely unnecessary. I think it' s a disgrace that Texas still allows such a stupid and worthless activity. Upwards of 20K snakes are caught and killed. 20K !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is an annual event. And we wonder why so many species are extinct? snip

And I realize there is antivenom for people. That wasn't my point. The antivenom for people comes from horses and sometimes it can cause sick serum reactions in people. My point was this is the 21st century and we can't even come up with a cure for a rattlesnake bite in the form of an epipen ala bee stings yet we can build an F22 and send men to the moon. It's completely backwards. There are several hundred thousand people that die a year in the world from snake bites. Only about 15 of those happen in the US. Some 100K die in South America and Asia.

It freaks the hell out of me to be caught out in the wilderness and becoming bit by one. I live in CA and am an avid backpacker and hiker. I'd almost rather, (ALMOST) rather come upon a cougar than get bit by a rattlesnake. Atleast I can shoot a cougar and if it bites me chances are it won't kill me.

There are several people (Tim Friede) who have self vaccinated themselves against poisonous snakes starting with small doses. It's fascinating. Just seems very backwards that the scientific community is still creating serums from horses.




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[edit on 2/8/2009 by Sauron]

reply to post by blkraven7


You might be right because the rabbit inside looks domestic to me. Maybe this snake got in Thumper's backyard cage or...a rabbit was tossed in the snake's cage! In that area a wild rabbit would be a Cottontail. They are fairly small. Cottontail

Originally posted by Zosynspiracy
I've seen videos of those rattle snake round ups. They are Snip stupid and completely unnecessary. I think it' s a disgrace that Texas still allows such a stupid and worthless activity. Upwards of 20K snakes are caught and killed. 20K !!!!!!!! This is an annual event. And we wonder why so many species are extinct? Morons!

Whoa. So, let me get this right, in your perfect world, 20,000 rattlesnakes are not killed annually on some little patch of earth down in Texas because those reptiles are on the brink of extinction or something? Hm.

Do you have any idea of how rattlesnake-infested West Texas is? It's a huge place, with a lot of space, and you're liable to find a rattler sunning itself on every flat rock from horizon to horizon, and there are 4 more of 'em under every flat rock. We're talking about millions and millions of rattlesnakes.

20,000 dead snakes per year doesn't even put a small dent in the rattlesnake population.

And do you know why they "round up" the rattlesnakes in Texas? And New Mexico? And Arizona? And Nevada? And Utah? And Colorado? And Oklahoma?

They round them up because the poisonous bastards are drawn to human civilization like a magnet. How come? It's because humans are disgusting, filthy animals who create garbage, and garbage attracts rodents, and rodents attract...rattlesnakes.

It's a nonstop battle against the snakes out West. God only knows how many billion rattlesnakes are actually out there. Think of it like this: When ya live up North in th' northern states, ya know, ya hafta shovel snow. It's just a fact of life, goes with the territory, right?

Okay then. When ya live in the Southwest, you have to shovel snakes.

Hey, don't waste any tears on those scaly bastards, they're not endangered. If anything, they're stronger now than at any previous time because of the growth of human civilization and human waste.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 8/2/2009 by Doc Velocity]


[Mod edit - quote]

[edit on 2/8/2009 by Sauron]

I've seen a few beauties in my time, sliding their way around the good ol' Queensland country outback, big ones and deadly ones. But i can't say i've ever witnessed a whole dead rabbit being released from the stomach of one of them. Ugh.

My appetite has gone missing

reply to post by Lookingup


www.wildtexas.com...

They are also wild in this area.



Good identification, though.

Alrighty. So. I have to run out to my friend's baby shower soon, but I wanted to throw my input out there.

A good number of you have been like "Why did they shoot it? That's so sad. Those people should go to jail."

Let's analyze the situation.

Quoted from my OP

This snake was shot by a police officer in Manor yesterday. It was shot in
> the backyard of a house in the middle of a big neighborhood (not near any
> woods, fields, etc.). The woman's four children were playing in the yard at
> the time when they heard the rattle.

Police Chief Robert Snyder shot him this morning INSIDE a homeowner's nice yard in ShadowGlen, on the north side of 290. The lady had FOUR kids playing in the yard at the time!!!
Please be really careful to watch out for snakes. In this drought, they are coming in closer, looking for water. They just mentioned today that local ER's are noting a substantial rise in snakebite cases.

Yes, there were children playing in the yard but they did not know how many. It seems the woman (owner?) was raking the yard and discovered the snake and called the police. The Chief showed up and dispatched the snake with a .410 shotgun in the backyard and not inside the house as some claim.

Here's what I think happened. The women was outside with her kids. They heard the rattle and saw an enormous rattlesnake.

Some facts about rattlesnake venom:

Although the venom of the diamondback isn't particularly toxic, the size of the snake allows a larger capacity of venom which is released from its two prominent fangs. ...All pit vipers have the ability to control the flow of venom through their fangs, allowing the diamondback to release most of its venom in a single strike (though often a pit viper will not release any of its venom).
Most of the toxin released is proteolytic like all other American pit vipers. Proteolytic venoms are, in fact, advanced and concentrated fluids that destroy tissues and other cells through intramolecular digestion. A few toxic effects include: cytotoxic (destroys cells), hemotoxic (destroys red blood cells), myotoxic (causes paralysis and muscle destruction), hemorrhagic (causes persistent bleeding). Smaller amounts of neurotoxins are also present. Unlike neurotoxins, hemotoxin envenomations becomes quickly apparent; the area around the wound swells at a rapid rate. Discoloration and pain are also experienced shortly after being bitten. Professional medical attention should be sought immediately, especially when the victim is a child. The smaller the victim the less time it takes for the venom to spread. ...The amount of venom delivered is a much more important indicator of the bite's danger than the venom's concentration, and since larger (older) snakes can deliver much more venom, larger rattlesnakes should always be considered more dangerous even though many bites

The larger the snake, the more dangerous. There were kids around. Also, I personally know that area, and I bet when she called the police there was not an animal control expert or a snake handler around. I think that they shot it, because it was found in a neighborhood. It's territory is the same territory as humans and they did not want anybody to get bitten.

Yes, it's wrong. But because they did not have the means to properly relocate this specimen, they did the only thing that they could do.

These snakes are not endangered in this area. In fact, finding one of this size indicates that they are doing very well. It's unfortunate that they did not have the ability to move the snake somewhere else safely, but it's better that they did not try to do it themselves. If they called in somebody with the knowledge to do so, the snake would have moved from the area by the time the person got there.

I love animals as much as the next guy (maybe moreso), but it's my full opinion that they could simply do nothing else about this situation at that time.

reply to post by Doc Velocity


You have ZERO clue what you are talking about. Why don't you post some actual facts regarding rattlesnakes and these round ups instead of spewing unscientific garbage. You can sit here and defend these stupid round ups all you want but the fact of the matter still stands it's animal cruelty above anything else. Just because it's a scary, poisonous snake that makes it alright? The exploitation of wildlife or a species of snakes for the witless amusement of Texans is ignorant.

If has nothing to do with culling the population of rattlesnakes as people like you so adamantly try to argue. If Texans are serious about controlling the population of rattlesnakes they can do it in a professional, responsible, and intelligent manner. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE BIT BY SNIP DOGS AND KILLED BY DOGS PER YEAR THAN RATTLESNAKES!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't see you advocating Dog Roundups buddy!

Your logic and absolute back wards thinking is all too prevalent in our society nowadays.






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[edit on 2/8/2009 by Sauron]

reply to post by ravenshadow13


No one is advocating arresting people for killing a dangerous poisonous snake in their back yard. If so they should be arrested for stupidity. Killing a rattlesnake on your property, especially one of that size and the haphazard, wanton destruction of thousands of them for the amusement of hick Texans and other people in various states are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Throwing gas into their dens? Plus THE AVERAGE DEATH FROM RATTLESNAKES IN TEXAS IS 1-2 per year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Oh and as far as extinction goes I'm sure settlers and fur trappers had your same attitude about beavers and lots of other species that were hunted and slaughtered to near extinction. Any difference between a rattlesnake and a beaver? What about coyotes? Or like I said what about dogs? Your logic is flawed buddy. Nice try!

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
The 3' and 4' rattlers mentioned earlier sound rather small, in my experience. I was born and raised in East Texas, on a ranch, and it wasn't uncommon at all to encounter 6' and 7' rattlesnakes on a regular basis.

We often ran into the so-called Canebreak Rattler (Timber Rattler) during its mating season, and that is something that will scare the living hell out of you...

During the mating season, Canebreaks become very territorial and will chase much larger animals, including humans and horses. This wouldn't be so bad, I guess, because you can outrun them, but a pursuing Canebreak Rattler will raise up until it's supporting maybe 3/4 of its body in the air, as it is chasing you.

We've seen big Canebreaks raise up to 5' off the ground, meaning there's still about 2 feet of it on the ground. What's worse is when there are 2 or 3 Canebreaks moving in on you in the raised posture — creepiest thing you've ever seen, enough to give you nightmares.

— Doc Velocity

Nice visual there doc, had me laughing for a good minute.

reply to post by Zosynspiracy
If you're so concerned about the welfare of rattlesnakes why aren't you doing something about it? How come you're not in Texas working with the legislature on passing laws against round ups? How come you're not standing in front of the vipers' dens protecting them from the ignorant hunters? How come you're not out on the ranches where they lose livestock showing them how wrong it is to thin out the population, thereby thinning their losses? Just where are you? In New York or Chicago? New York where we ALL KNOW the REAL VIPERS live and work to ruin our economy, how come you're not working to fight the snakes in your own back yard? Edit to add: I guess you like poisonous snakes, no matter what form they come in.

You're all talk, no walk.

STM

[edit on 8/2/2009 by seentoomuch]

I live in Michigan but am considering moving to a state with a warmer climate.(scrathes texas off list)But not that bad!

reply to post by seentoomuch


Oh please! Why don't you go back and take a 3rd grade reading comprehension class. I never said there is anything wrong with killing a rattlesnake out of necessity. Especially one in someone's backyard where their kids play. But you guys are making it sound like they are everywhere and killing humans and livestock left and right! THAT"S COMPLETELY FALSE! Like I said 1-2 people die from rattlesnake bites in TX every year. And I have no problem with going out and culling the rattlesnake population. But throwing gasoline in their dens and gathering thousands of them for display and human amusement is not the way to go about it. A round up and population control are two very different things.

And AS A MATTER OF FACT I live in rattlesnake country!!!!!!!!!!! I live in Southern California and I've happened upon 4-5 last summer. One my dog ran up to and it started rattling. I left it a lone and grabbed my dog and it slithered off. The other ones were RIGHT OUTSIDE my door and unfortunately had to be exterminated because there are way too many people and animals around. It didn't sit well with me at all. But does that mean me and my fellow neighbors are going to go traversing the hills behind our complex throwing gasoline into their dens rounding them up by the hundreds and chopping off their heads and playing with them like they are toys.

[edit on 2-8-2009 by Zosynspiracy]

Originally posted by Zosynspiracy
You have ZERO clue what you are talking about. Why don't you post some actual facts regarding rattlesnakes and these round ups instead of spewing unscientific garbage... Your logic and absolute back wards thinking is all too prevalent in our society nowadays.

I not only have a clue, but I've participated in rattlesnake roundups in Texas and elsewhere in the Southwest, and I've bred and raised reptiles for over 35 years.

You, on the other hand, are one of those [snip] who have no clue about Science or species overpopulation due to human incursion.

All you know is that snakes and rednecks scare the crap out of you, but rednecks scare you more, and you hate those rednecks, and you don't know a goddamned thing about rattlesnakes or reptile populations, but you have a grudge against humanity (for your own sick reasons).

And that's all you know.

So, to borrow from Rudy Giuliani, [snip].

— Doc Velocity



Removed personal attacks


[edit on 2/8/09 by masqua]