🚀 go-pugleaf

glena@bbs.cruzio.com writes:

>In article <50mrab$ld4@news2.texas.net>, 
>hhullar5@texas.net (Harold Arnold) writes:
>> 
>> I am of the old school so far as rattle snakes are concerne!.  Their
>> bite while not necessarily fatal is dreadfully disableing and subject
>> to a wide range of medical complications during the recovery period.
>> The necessary amputation of an arm or a leg often is the result.

>I don't mean to be a stickler for details (as most of my programs will
>stand as evidence), but is this a statistical fact or just hearsay?  I
>suspect that most rattle snake bites heal without lasting harm and that
>only if one is allergic to the venim will any real problems occur.

Most rattlesnake bites are not dangerous.  Most don't envenomate the
victim, since the snakes are smart enough to realize they can't eat you.

The vast majority of injuries related to snakebites in the US are
caused by overeager application of various snakebite remedies, the worst
of these being the discredited "cut and suck" method that is so
popular with the folks who carry those Cutter's Snake Bite Kits.  I have
photographs of injuries that have resulted in massive tissue necrosis, and
loss of limb, from those damned kits, as well as some fools idea to put
an icepack on to hold down the swelling.

The only appropriate emergency / first aid treatment for pit viper bites
is to remove any and all jewelry or constricting clothing, keep the
affected part immobile and dependent (below) the heart as much as possible,
and transport the victim (and snake, if it can be caught safely) to a
hospital.  Once in the hospital, most of the time they won't do anything at
all, sometimes they'll administer the antivenin. 

Few people are alergic to pit viper venom unless they've been exposed to
it before, and even then it's not too bad in 99+% cases.  I've only seen
one patient (out of  hundreds) who even needed antivenin (and he needed
a whole bunch of it, something on the order of 14 vials, more than the
total the 5 hospitals in the area (Ft. Hunter-Liggett, CA) had available.

>>  I
>> and my neighbor have seen 4 or 5 dogs pay the price for an encounter
>> with these snakes.  While I do not actively hunt for these snakes, I
>> immediately take the necessary action to terminate any found in the
>> vacinity of the house.  


>You prefer mice?

>> One that got away I discovered just last year about 4 feet from me as
>> I was opening the garage door.  It was about 4 feet long and coiled
>> and rattling in the attack mood.

>I *think* that coiled and ratteling is a *warning* mode -- not an 
>attack mode.  A snake that rattles before it strikes isn't going
>to kill too many mice.

>Remember, a snake isn't out to get you.  It just wants to warn you
>to stay away -- because it is frightened by you.

That's right.  A snake doesn't have to rattle, or even be coiled to
attack - they can strike further from a sort of "S" curve than a 
coil.  They do it to try to establish dominance (make themselves look
bigger).

>>  As it happened I was in the act of
>> opening the door which pivoting about its hindge came between the
>> snake and me just in the nick of time.  It hit the door.  Being
>> uncoiled it retreated into the garage under the rear part of the car
>> where it recoiled.  I had only a rake handy and my effort to drag it
>> out where I could hit a telling blow was unsuccessful,  It scurried
>> under the car and from there made it to the crawl space under my
>> office which is attached to the garage.  I kept an anxious eye for the
>> remainder of the summer whenever I entered th garage, but I never saw
>> it again.  

>See -- you scared it away.

>> I think my policy of killing snakes found around the house is fully
>> justified by the danger they present.  Also in my area, the South
>> Texas thornbush country,  the specie is certainly in no danger of
>> extinction.

>To me, extinction isn't the issue -- I end to prefer the snakes to
>mice and rats.  I guess we all pick our preferences, huh?

>Do not underestimate your abilities.  That is your boss's job.
>It is your job to find ways around your boss's roadblocks.
>_______________________________________________________________
>Glen Appleby  glena@cruzio.com  http://www2.cruzio.com/~glena/
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