View Full Version : Severed rattlesnake head bites man
Severed rattlesnake head bites man
http://www.14news.com/story/38361985/severed-rattlesnake-head-bites-man
MuddyWaters
06-07-2018, 07:52
He beheaded it with a shovel, but he soon found out how dangerous a dead snake can be.
When he tried to dispose of the snake, the snake’s head bit him, pumping all the venom it had into him, Sutcliffe said.
Well, he obviously tried to "dispose" of it by handling it poorly. Since a severed snake head cannot jump, strike, turn, or do anything but bite.
People used to be aware of things like this. I know we were as kids , having killed many snakes. I guess people raised in suburbia today lack knowledge that every child raised rural used to possess.
rocketsocks
06-07-2018, 08:12
I was really hoping for a video...poor bastard!
This video was attached to that report. Watch it and see how the woman teases her cat and makes it jump straight up. She teased the cat 2 times...poor cat :-(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4
rocketsocks
06-07-2018, 10:36
This video was attached to that report. Watch it and see how the woman teases her cat and makes it jump straight up. She teased the cat 2 times...poor cat :-(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4maybr she’ll have nightmares of being gnawed on by a bodiless snake head, but prolly not.
A few years ago in Tennessee this idiot neighbor killed a rattlesnake by cutting the head off and he had (as in used to have) this big hound dog who rushed over and in a flash gobbled it down. That dog was dead in 20 minutes.
Sarcasm the elf
06-07-2018, 12:24
He beheaded it with a shovel, but he soon found out how dangerous a dead snake can be.
When he tried to dispose of the snake, the snake’s head bit him, pumping all the venom it had into him, Sutcliffe said.
Well, he obviously tried to "dispose" of it by handling it poorly. Since a severed snake head cannot jump, strike, turn, or do anything but bite.
People used to be aware of things like this. I know we were as kids , having killed many snakes. I guess people raised in suburbia today lack knowledge that every child raised rural used to possess.
It’s a shame that he didn’t have access to a proper tool, such as a shovel, that he could use to safely dispose of the snake... :rolleyes:
Tipi Walter
06-07-2018, 13:45
When I see a pit viper either in the wild or at home, I like to sit close by within reason and talk to it for awhile. The natural inclination to kill it has to be suppressed until you calm down and think. And in the wild no snake whether poisonous or not has anything to fear from me. We'll talk and I'll prod him/her off the trail with a long stick---just to let him know there's humans about.
At home you have three choices: Kill it, relocate it (herpetologists take note), or let it be. You must make this decision. Everybody seems to love killing snakes---but I hate killing snakes.
MuddyWaters
06-07-2018, 13:54
This video was attached to that report. Watch it and see how the woman teases her cat and makes it jump straight up. She teased the cat 2 times...poor cat :-(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEh5_SbcNO4
Someone ran over oneabout 5' on our hunting lease once with truck on gravel road.
He brought it to camp and put it under another members 4 wheeler
A guy that was paranoid about snakes
Almost gave that poor guy a heart attack.
Btw dont let sun bake snake blood onto paint of hood of truck. It will not come off. Ever.
Btw dont let sun bake snake blood onto paint of hood of truck. It will not come off. Ever.
How did the blood get on the truck hood?
rocketsocks
06-07-2018, 15:47
Someone ran over oneabout 5' on our hunting lease once with truck on gravel road.
He brought it to camp and put it under another members 4 wheeler
A guy that was paranoid about snakes
Almost gave that poor guy a heart attack.
Btw dont let sun bake snake blood onto paint of hood of truck. It will not come off. Ever.same with sliced bologna
MuddyWaters
06-07-2018, 16:25
How did the blood get on the truck hood?
Where else you going to stretch snake out at to measure?
Where else you going to stretch snake out at to measure?
On the ground? :-)
42848
blue indian
06-07-2018, 17:37
Thats what he gets.
A little story. Skip it if you can't handle talk of dead animals and such.....
somewhere round about 30 years ago when I was in college, a few of us friends who had been out golfing, came across a copperhead in the parking lot back at school. We killed it with a golf club. I don't remember now, how exactly we severed the head, but I do remember burying it in the ground.
several hours later back at home, I was in the process of skinning the snake. Had the skin turned inside out like a sock, about half way down the snake's body when I laid it down for some reason....maybe to get a new grip or something.
Picture this headless snake body laying on the ground in front of you with the head end pointing straight away from you. You reach down and just touch the snake about halfway down it's side......Bam, the neck comes all the way around and hits your forearm hard and fast.
It still creeps me out to think about it....
shoot, can't edit....the rest of the story
Back then, I used to figure any snake had no business living around houses or populated places.
fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I saw a juvenile cottonmouth in the parking lot at work. After I thought about it a minute or so...like Tipi suggested in post #8 of this thread....I figured I'd let it be since it wasn't around a house with kids or something.
A coworker came by, then another as we were looking at it. I found it interesting that everyone had a different idea about what to do with it. I was going to let it be.... another guy in his car and was leaving tried to run it over but it was too close to a parked car to reach. Another guy went and fished a long handled ice scraper out of his car and was going to try to kill the snake. (no way would I have even considered doing that with a handle only about a foot long or so....). Anyway, just as he was lining up to strike, another guy came out and took the scraper away...and used it to gently move it over to the woods. Absolutely no way under the sun I could see myself picking up that thing with such a short handle. Yikes!
Anyway, I just found it very interesting that so many people each had a different idea about how to best handle a venomous snake....
Traveler
06-09-2018, 06:55
Best way to handle a venomous snake is not to. The "hold my beer and watch this" crowd provides enough examples of poor decision making in this type of thing for the rest of society to learn what happens.
When I see a pit viper either in the wild or at home, I like to sit close by within reason and talk to it for awhile. The natural inclination to kill it has to be suppressed until you calm down and think. And in the wild no snake whether poisonous or not has anything to fear from me. We'll talk and I'll prod him/her off the trail with a long stick---just to let him know there's humans about.
At home you have three choices: Kill it, relocate it (herpetologists take note), or let it be. You must make this decision. Everybody seems to love killing snakes---but I hate killing snakes.
Yeah, for every snake that’s killed, several rodents are allowed to live and harass hikers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Best way to handle a venomous snake is not to. The "hold my beer and watch this" crowd provides enough examples of poor decision making in this type of thing for the rest of society to learn what happens.
yeah, no kidding!
I should qualify though, in my story the guy that moved the snake didn't fall into this category, not even close. He's an avid outdoorsman and very intelligent. His wife is a zoologist or some such thing that works at a local reptile zoo and he's got lots of experience with snakes and wildlife.
Still, no way would I have done it.....to me it seemed foolish. Sorta like what Steve Irwin used to do...he knew the animals and knew the limits and how to care for the animals.....until he didn't.
DuneElliot
06-09-2018, 18:41
I understand killing rattlesnakes, and other venompus critters, close to the homestead or barn, but it pisses me off when any wildlife, including snakes, is senselessly killed because someone doesn't like them when on PUBLIC land where they have a right to be and are a thriving and necessary part of the eco system (I saw two dead just today because of peoples' prejudice).
Any animal can and will twitch after death and I have heard of jaws of snakes clamping shut after they have been beheaded just like the rest of their body moves after decapitation. I've seen it in dear too.
DuneElliot
06-09-2018, 18:42
I understand killing rattlesnakes, and other venompus critters, close to the homestead or barn, but it pisses me off when any wildlife, including snakes, is senselessly killed because someone doesn't like them when on PUBLIC land where they have a right to be and are a thriving and necessary part of the eco system (I saw two dead just today because of peoples' prejudice).
Any animal can and will twitch after death and I have heard of jaws of snakes clamping shut after they have been beheaded just like the rest of their body moves after decapitation. I've seen it in dear too.
Tipi Walter
06-09-2018, 19:04
I understand killing rattlesnakes, and other venompus critters, close to the homestead or barn, but it pisses me off when any wildlife, including snakes, is senselessly killed because someone doesn't like them when on PUBLIC land where they have a right to be and are a thriving and necessary part of the eco system (I saw two dead just today because of peoples' prejudice).
Any animal can and will twitch after death and I have heard of jaws of snakes clamping shut after they have been beheaded just like the rest of their body moves after decapitation. I've seen it in dear too.
I totally agree. I put snake killers up there with . . . well, you don't want to know.
rocketsocks
06-09-2018, 20:59
I understand killing rattlesnakes, and other venompus critters, close to the homestead or barn, but it pisses me off when any wildlife, including snakes, is senselessly killed because someone doesn't like them when on PUBLIC land where they have a right to be and are a thriving and necessary part of the eco system (I saw two dead just today because of peoples' prejudice).
Any animal can and will twitch after death and I have heard of jaws of snakes clamping shut after they have been beheaded just like the rest of their body moves after decapitation. I've seen it in dear too.its electric!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2YZJt_Bw3eo
Runner2017
06-09-2018, 21:47
Google search reveals that "[a] single vial of antivenom that would cost more than $14,000 in the United States". The poor guy had 26 antivernom, and that means 26 x $14K = $364K for antivenom alone. Welcome to Amerika!
Google search reveals that "[a] single vial of antivenom that would cost more than $14,000 in the United States". The poor guy had 26 antivernom, and that means 26 x $14K = $364K for antivenom alone. Welcome to Amerika!
You forgot to consider the wholesale bulk quantity rate discount :D
Runner2017
06-10-2018, 07:55
You forgot to consider the wholesale bulk quantity rate discount :DMore than $14,000 a pop is what the hospital charged the patient, according to the article.
They will keep moving after they are dead!
There is a video on you tube of a decapitated copperhead biting itself.
Those cats were cool. They'd probably make it so the rattlesnake wouldn't want to stick around permanently, den, or breed anyhow. Let the snake pass through. If you see it again safely relocate.
We don't have to knee jerk kill all the time to solve our problems. These creatures are valuable even if we don't understand how. Not every creature has to be a human's playtoy like kitty.
Where's the exhibition of forbearance - patient, self-control; restraint and tolerance?
Property, landscaping, vehicles, house, carport, the kitties, etc, are neat, tidy, orderly, formally controlled, and scrupulously maintained, almost antiseptic appearing. Those are signs of anal control freaks. See something not fitting that mindset remove, kill, or alternate so it does fit the picture. No wonder.
Five Tango
01-13-2019, 17:01
I generally will not kill a snake unless it is venomous and too close to the family living space.Last one I killed was in my garage.My wife would never notice it and my 5 yr old grandson would want to play with it so it had to go.I did think about moving it but figured it might return since it found a nice warm place.
bighammer
01-14-2019, 02:02
I killed a Massasauga at work many years ago. I cut off its head with a hoe on my lunch break and decided I wanted to take the body of it home to skin it. I found a cardboard box and put it in my passenger seat. I drove home and opened it up, it was still moving. :eek: It did make a nice looking hat band, though.
Feral Bill
01-14-2019, 20:03
The few times I've encountered rattlers they either slithered away or I walked around them. Fascinating creatures, really.44480 Had my birding on the camera this time.
Five Tango
01-15-2019, 08:53
its electric!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2YZJt_Bw3eo
Thanks for posting this!Could explain why a froggy old guy like me feels like kicking up my heels after drinking electrolytes.
Thanks for posting this!Could explain why a froggy old guy like me feels like kicking up my heels after drinking electrolytes.
What happens if we introduce electricity? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIJRex3Q_fw&feature=youtu.be&t=28)
44490