I hate rattlesnakes: take 3

[AZhitman]

I've been here since '85. Never saw a single scorpion until I bought this house (built in late 2007) and never saw a rattler until the first one Becky wrote about (the one that bit our Yellow Lab).

[ADDirishboy]

I took out a rabid one (about 45 lbs), but I wasn't in a location where it's legal to discharge a firearm.

He ate the front bumper of an intentionally-misguided Crown Vic Interceptor at 50 mph.

(STILL demolished the bumper and sent me off-course into the desert.... )

LOL. Come out hunting with us sometime. We see one, it gets shot. So do jackrabbits. Jackrabbits explode nicely when shot with a .300 win mag from 50 yards.

[flohtingPoint]

I've been here since '85. Never saw a single scorpion until I bought this house (built in late 2007) and never saw a rattler until the first one Becky wrote about (the one that bit our Yellow Lab).

Didn't see a single scorpion for over 20 years? Man, that's nice! I lived all over Phoenix and saw them at least once a month.

Any problems with Coyotes? We had one sneak in the dog door in the garage and then go berserk when it couldn't figure out it could go back the way it came in.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Rattlesnakes, including the Western Diamondback/Mohave in the picture, aren't that venomous.The Eastern's (largest, potentially most toxic) venom's effectiveness is measured in hours, and without an antivenom the survival rate is a little over 60%.Though for a child, I'm not quite sure. Not a game I'd want to play!

Uh, actually, they are. Read and learn... Neighbor is a herpetologist (and our Animal Control Officer).

Mohave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) - Up to 50" long - Widely considered most toxic rattlesnake in U.S. - Easily confused with Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake

Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) - Up to 66" long - Largest rattlesnake in the West - Responsible for more bites and deaths to humans than any other rattlesnake species in U.S.

The Eastern Rattler isn't the most venomous, but it's the largest. The two are not correlated.

According to Arizona Poison Centers, less than 1% of rattlesnake bites result in human deaths. However, kids and the elderly are most at risk.

Enjoy!

http://phoenix.gov/FIRE/bitessna.html#SNAKES
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4931459&page=1

None of that information conflicts with what I posted. Come on, man!

Note that for the Eastern I said largest, potentially most toxic. It and the Mohave both are contenders for that title.

As for overall venom potency (and my statement that they aren't that venomous [to kill within half an hour]), that's in comparison to Old World (and Australian) venomous snakes. Compared to those, the rattlesnake might as well be injecting saline.

[krimsonviper]

Nightengale? That's what they do. Not fun when they're outside your bedroom window though.

Dunno, I could never see it, we just aimed at the puny thing at the top of the tree and shot at it until it shut up.

I like the way you work.

[Razi]

[krimsonviper]

Lunch tomorrow? I have a job, if you're for hire and I'd like to explain the details more privately... :evilhaha

PS - We really need the old evilhaha smiley.

[Razi]

I like where this is going.

[krimsonviper]

[AZhitman]

Any problems with Coyotes?

No, but we hear them at night (when they get a kill) in the desert behind the house... unnerving when it wakes you up!

We saw one scale an 8' block wall in one hop. Not CLIMB the wall - He ran at it, hopped, and was ON TOP OF THE WALL. Graceful and smooth.

Bex and I just looked at each other like.... SO awesome.

[nissangirl74]

I've been here since '85. Never saw a single scorpion until I bought this house (built in late 2007) and never saw a rattler until the first one Becky wrote about (the one that bit our Yellow Lab).

Didn't see a single scorpion for over 20 years? Man, that's nice! I lived all over Phoenix and saw them at least once a month.

Any problems with Coyotes? We had one sneak in the dog door in the garage and then go berserk when it couldn't figure out it could go back the way it came in.

No way in hell I would ever have a dog door out here. If that big fooker had been in my kitchen floor I would have screamed, pissed myself, and passed out.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Even we have coyotes here in Oregon, and in the suburbs west of Portland too. Take my dog walking and sometimes I see a pack late at night. An unnerving experience to say the least. How they survive here in suberbia is beyond me.
The other night, they killed something in the wetland beneath our house. For like an hour the entire neighborhood was filled with the sounds of their yelps and dogs barking.
Coyotes, big? Maybe yours are mutants but the ones around here are pretty small.

[ADDirishboy]

No way in hell I would ever have a dog door out here. If that big fooker had been in my kitchen floor I would have screamed, pissed myself, and passed out.

They make dog doors that unlock when your dogs gets near it. It's a sensor that detects a thing you put on their collar, and only unlocks when it senses that deal. Pretty cool.

[Mr1der]

do you guys have a bounty on coyote pelts?

[AZhitman]

How they survive here in suberbia is beyond me.

Uhhh, simple.



Coyote Noms.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Uhhh, simple.



Coyote Noms.

Bah, Coyote nothin'. That's called cat food.