Cascabelles - Rattlesnakes

Lots of comments about people seeing them here in Mulege. I have seen 3. Neighbor killed one in their kitchen...

My neighbor found a baby and being from the desert in AZ he asked me to move it. Baby rattlers are very dangerous as they don't have much control if their venom and release all of their load.

I used a shovel and relocated the little guy.

Oh, he was in 2 pieces when he was moved

thats the way I usually move them. I had a "live and let live" attitude for a long time, but after we bought our ranch in NW kansas it changed. Cattle, horses, dogs and me bitten...I now kill every one I see....Just sold the ranch, really full time in Baja now..but I doubt my attitude will change back...

rattlers in the Southland

With 7 long years of drought, not many animals survive. Those that do are hardy critters. I'm the local snake remover guy around town and here's one I took from a people place to the far boonies; a nice fat Pacific diamondback.

[Edited on 5-13-2012 by Osprey]

I give my dog the rattlesnake vaccine too. It's one shot then 30 days later another so plan a month ahead if you need it before a trip to Baja. Then it's once a year but you can get it more often if necessary. I get mine 2 times a year, both times right before I go to Baja, that way it's still working at it's best. And, if bitten, you still need to get the dog to the vet asap as they will need antibiotics, fluids and more than likely the antivenom. The photo is of a baby Baja California Rattlesnake I ran into a couple years ago.

Vaccine

Confessions of Skeet

Rattlesnakes: You never know when...or where?

This happened today at a Walmart in Washington state. I read it while having a streamside lunch on the Bighorn River in eastern Montana.

(Reuters) - When Mica Craig reached down to brush what he thought was a stick off some mulch in the garden section of a Washington state Walmart, it turned around and sank its fangs into his hand.

The Friday encounter with a rattlesnake sent Craig, 47, to the hospital, where he said he remained in excruciating pain and may lose feeling in two fingers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has apologized.

"I reached down to grab the stick to move it out of the way, and the snake stretched out, turned around and got its fangs in my right hand," he said. "I slung it off and I did a tap dance on it until it was dead."

Craig was rushed to the hospital by fellow customer Maria Geffre, who told Reuters she saw him crumple to the ground after crying out that he had been bitten by a snake.

"He had punctures on his hand and there was the dead rattler he'd stomped on," Geffre said, describing the snake as at least a foot long with four buttons, or rattles.

Craig, a married father of two, said the mulch was for his marijuana plants, which he is licensed to grow for medical reasons. It was unclear whether the snake came from an adjacent field or arrived at the store along with garden supplies.

Craig said doctors who initially thought the snake had inflicted only a "dry bite" - or one that did not inject venom - treated him with six bags of anti-venom after his right hand swelled to the size of a melon.

End of news article.

______


So..after that... What do I come upon at this Bighorn, Montana rest stop but this




Note: It's damn tough for me to 'hover' over the grass, but I managed pretty well.

There are some VERY big ones out there.

"Stay levitated, my friends."





[Edited on 5-15-2012 by Pompano]

See how dangerous marijuana is! I think it's time to watch reefer madness again Seriously, that is bad luck. I would hope I could tell the difference between a stick and a rattlesnake but I can see how your senses could be less than aware if you were in a store

Been too close too many times to Cascabeles to trust them.

I work in wildlife management for conservation in most of the ejidos south of El Rosario, we had one of our crew members bitten in 2005 near catavina on the road to el faro de san jose. Classic hero move, he tried to pick it by the tail for a picture and got hit in his right hand index.

Other coleague is a certified paramedic and stopped him from injecting the anti-viper serum we always carry in the camping kit. He explained us the danger of using a serum that may provoque an allergic reaction worst than the poison itself. We used instead a sirynge type venom extractor directly on the wounds.

I got to drive and the paramedic and the guy holding his hand in a clean shirt climbed on the back seat and headed to the way out, some miles ahead found a military patrol, asked if they had a radio or sat phone. Negative.

Short of options we rushed to the paved road and had to make a quick decision between driving 10 minutes to Cataviña and see if they can help us, or drive the 100 kilometers to El Rosario that i know they had a medic and a clinic (a graduated student at least). So far had been some 25-30 minutes from the bite and my friend just whines from intense pain and swelling but hes not shocking or collapsing, so we decide to go north.

The first hour its the most dangerous so we gave him lots of gatorade and kept him distracted while the paramedic used the venom extractor. As soon as we had cellphone reception called *112, thats the emergency number of Policia Federal de Caminos, explained the situation and they called El Rosario local police who waited for us at the town entrance and escorted us to the Seguro Popular clinic, there the resident medic had to split herself in two between taking care of the bite and two local girls that arrived at the same time because they smashed themselves and their ATV to a wall. No helmet of course.

The guy saved his hand but lost movility of the finger. The doctor explained the venom of this particular species is hemolytic, meaning it destroys blood, muscle and bone tissue.

(sorry, its the least gross picture i got from that day)


This guy is Lalo the park ranger in San Pedro Martir, hes always with two labs. He was the owner of the labrador we lost to a rattler in el Llano del Berrendo.

Thats why i dont trust snakes.

[Edited on 5-15-2012 by Archie]