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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Snakes
Don Jorge
Mojave rattlers have neurotoxins, Pacifics, specs, spotted, horned have hemo -- some specie have combos. Let google help - zillions of sites. I
protect snakes when I can. I have caught a rattler or two for dinner. I catch em with stick. Sometimes they flail about, bite themselves when
trapped by the stick. A friend asked me if the venom they inject in themselves could kill me if I ate the snake. I said it probably could so I just
make my little cuts, suck the venom out before I cook the snake.
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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
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Not just dogs get bit
Speaking first hand believe me; you do not want to get bit. Granted ,I was a small kid at the time but it was a horrific experience and I almost lost
my life.
Growing up in Manhatten Beach in So. Cal I was not aware of rattlesnakes in the hills behind our newer home in Portuguese Bend. That is where
Marineland of the Pacific was located and where we would go at night to sneak in and swim with the dolphins. Good , clean fun.. We would spend other
days exploring the sliding homes and debris associated with a perpetual slide. The whole hillside was moving into the ocean. It was neat to explore
the big cracks and look for cool rocks and stuff. One fateful afternoon I had ridden my new bicycle from our home which was not in the slide but
close, over to some friends house and then go explore the area nearby.
So there we were climbing up cracks and scaling small crumbling hillsides. Rocky and something like slate only white and small made it hard to climb
up the hill. But we were tenacious and just kept climbing till we reached the top of the rocky slope. With that last step to the top I felt I had
scratched my leg on one of the rocks. So lifting my leg I soon discovered a snake hanging on to my ankle. I freaked out and tried to shake the animal
off for which he held on pumping venom into me. He finally released his grip.
Now everyone was screaming "Rattlesnake!!, Rattlesnake!!" You cannot imagine the fear I felt. I knew they were around but no one really warned us or
told us what to do in case your bitten. So we screamed. Fortunately a Japanese gardener heard us screaming. He was tending his garbanzo fields and saw
and heard us. His name was Jim Ishiboshi, one of the earliest Japanese landowners in Palos Verdes and Lomita. He and his family raised many types of
crops on the foothills of P.V. I remember strawberries the size of small apples, bouquets of gorgeous flowers and fresh beans and produce. They had
the only roadside stands in the area and were known by thousands. People would drive around the penninsula just to get garbanzo beans. In those days
it was all rural country with scattered residences.
The Ishibosi Family operated in the area for 100 years and I believe they probably still do. A proud family who endured the hardship of being
interred in the Lone Pine Internment Camp for WW2 Japanese U.S. residents. They came back and settled in my neighborhood and kept a quiet existence. I
tell you this because this man , Jim did save my life.
"What are you screaming about over there? he yelled from across the gultch. "Snakebite!Snakebite!" we responded. Jim asked if I could get across the
gultch and up to his pickup truck? I said "sure" and proceeded to climb down and up the other side. What a mistake! By the time ZI reached his truck I
was narc-ed out and dizzy.He put a tourniquet on my leg of some sort. He told me we were going to the hospital and will call my folk from there. I
insisted that I will "die at home" and made him take me home which was a couple miles away. The nearest emergency room was in Torrance which was 25
min drive.
He carried me to the door and when my mom answered it and saw me she about collapsed. She called our regular doc Dr. Nieghmeyer and he instucted her
to rush me at light speed to a medical center. My brother John who was only 17 got to drive me at breakneck speed to Torrance in our '57 Merc. Of
course he was counting on the speed trap in Palos Verdes Estates where it seemed the cops had a ticket quota. Lo and behold here comes this old Merc
doing 80 mph in a 35 mph and a cop pulls us over almost immediately. My mom and brother explain hastily and we take off with a police escort only now
were only going 55mph and this peees off everyone. It seemed a longest drive in my short life.
We arrived at at small medical facility in Hollwood Riviera somewhere and the emergency staff proceedeed to cut away at me. My leg was immediately
packed in ice and then they made deep x shaped cuts up and down my right leg. I remember all these ugly red suction cups stuck all over my leg and
blood everywhere. I was really delerious and felt no pain. Then it was off to the South Bay Hospital in the Merc.with these things all over my leg.
Ah, the good ol days. One small -problem though. Not a whole lot of snakebite experts around LA back then. But there was one guy, Dr. Kiebler an
expert and author on the new anti-venom anti-toxin treatments. He was to leave for a holiday the next day. He stayed and administered the cure. Man,
you shoulda seen dem needles. To a child they appeared 2 feet long viewed as I went in and out of a stuper. They kept sticking me with shots until I
blacked out completely.
The first 12 hours are the critical hours and considering I had a full dose of a young snake and was not treated for at least an hour it was bad. My
toes looked more like plums than toes. Black and purple and swollen to the point where the skin looks to burst. The whole body swelled with adema and
toxin. My head the size of a basketball I was told later. My prognoses at best was not good. My foot and or toes was considered for amputation should
it gangrene. I would periodically, according to those around me, wake up and start having ludicrous conversations with imaginary thoughts.
My poor dad was the typical long hours type man who on that bad day decided to go play poker after work with the boys. He arrived at home at 3am to
find blazing lights and only my sister in bed. He took off for the hospital. Upon arriving he took one look at the swelled up kid with a black leg and
lost it. He was help to another room to recover. Now thats ugly! My condition stayed like that for many hours. Then , just as if to turn off the
faucet. My color started returning and the swelling receeded. I remember waking up a long time later . It was as if I had rigor mortice in my leg
and foot for days to come.. It was also very painful now that that toxins were waning. It was almost like a severe sprain for a couple weeks and
improved daily.I still bear small scars. I have not so far had long term probs but time will tell I suppose.
I always carry a snakebite kit in the desert outdoors. If you do not and you don,t do something you may die. Usually an adult will survive the strike
but it depends on many variables. This includes snake type and location, age and size, your health, and where you are bitten. A light tourney and a
sharp knife or razor and sucking it out are important for trying to minimize its effects. Then seek help immediately.Mainly, just keep yer dad burn
eyes open!
DON\'T SQUINT! Give yer eyes a break!
Try holding down [control] key and toggle the [+ and -] keys
Viva Mulege!
Nomads\' Sunsets
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Heather
Nomad
Posts: 370
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: National City, CA
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they're not just in Baja...
My sister was out walking her dog in Oceanside, CA. last week and the dog was bitten by a rattler! Sister called the vet when they got home and
quickly rushed her over for the anit-venom injection ($600+). Guess Maui's leg was pretty swollen and couldn't put much weight on it for awhile.
They kept her at the vet's for the day, but was able to bring her home in the evening. My sis' was glad that her girls weren't with her, but it sure
woke them up for their future walks!
This is in Oceanside on the bike trails down in the Valley. It was a great place for them to walk over and let the dog have her space, but am sure
they will modify their route (or stick to the paved trail!). Saludos, H.
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3786
Registered: 2-9-2004
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Just want to alert you to the rattler sighting in the rocky shore at La Gringa. It was almost totally camouflaged among the rock colors, and I never
would have thought there would be rattlers that close to the water.
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