snake bit

[Stinky]

well, it finally happened, 3 foot long black snake finally got ahold of my leg yesterday. I tried to shake him off but he wanted to hang on. Fever this morning and a swelled leg, but other than that just a normal day

[sheppard]

One of my big fears is that I'll get tagged by a copper head or (God forbid!) an eastern diamondback that's sitting in a clump of bushes as I pass by with my hedger.

This is snake season in North FL. Had a coachwhip get scared and run underneath my deck as I accidently traped him against a wall.

Normally I leave snakes alone...all except the cotton mouth. Those things are nasty and don't run from people half the time. They don't have a rattle and are mean tempered!

The mouth of a snake is often so septic that getting a disease or tissue damage is quite common.

Good luck.

Cordially,
S.

[Albemarle Lawn]

My mother was babysitting my bobcat hybrid (domestic cat and bobcat mating)

She was bit, get the fever, chills, etc, then felt better. She ignored it and eventually nearly had to undergo an amputation of her leg...

It's not the copperheads you should worry about, they have antivenom, you just calmly go to a hospital, try not to get excited and get your blood puming fast.

It's the black snakes that have the dirties mouths, and the INFECTION not the venom that is dangerous.

Just my $.02

KB

[jsr2741]

A few years back while fishing I was walking through some high grass around a pond when I got nailed on the back of my ankle. My initial response was to kick it off and the snake went flying through the air, therefore I could not tell what kind of snake it was. Knew it wasn't a rattler but wasn't sure if it was a blacksnake or watermocacin.

Went to the doc a.s.a.p., she said it was probably a black snake but made me get a tetanus shot. She said snakes have a lot of bacteria in their mouths.

You might want to look into the tetanus shot just to be safe.

[Birken Vogt]

I had a nasty old cat like that, that would bite you too. If it broke the skin you would get an infection every time.

Birken

[Dan1944]

Well it just so happens that I was cutting a customers lawn last week, Wednesday 4/9, I was making a pass near the side walk with my Z and noticed (BIG TIME) this 4 ft Diamond back on the sidewalk, I am sure it was on the lawn that I had been cutting. It was not injured, We had a pretty cold morning for Central Florida so this guy was very sluggish. Well since I was in a development with children visible to me, I dispatched him with my longest handle shovel. He had not moved in the time it took me to stop the Z and get the shovel out of he truck. Some may criticize what I did or consider me an idiot, but under the same conditions I would do it again. I leave rat and black snakes alone. I have the skin mounted on a board and I am in the process of tanning it.

[crs]

I was up under a mower changing blades when I looked over eye to eye with a rat snake. I calmly got up and tried to shu him out of my shop when he got all bent out of shape about it. I threw him out and he came right back in the shop. I did decide to kill it because I have kids in the 'hood and a very curious black lab.

If it would have just stayed out of MY shop...


BTW get thee to a doctor and get checked out. I know of a couple of folks that have gotten nasty infections

[awm]

black snakes are usually prettyharmless,except to baby birds , rabbits ,rats etc.if id been under that mower tho. they would have had to do major surgery to sew my head up,i suspect.:)

[crawdad]

Originally posted by Dan1944
Well it just so happens that I was cutting a customers lawn last week, Wednesday 4/9, I was making a pass near the side walk with my Z and noticed (BIG TIME) this 4 ft Diamond back on the sidewalk, I am sure it was on the lawn that I had been cutting. It was not injured, We had a pretty cold morning for Central Florida so this guy was very sluggish. Well since I was in a development with children visible to me, I dispatched him with my longest handle shovel. He had not moved in the time it took me to stop the Z and get the shovel out of he truck. Some may criticize what I did or consider me an idiot, but under the same conditions I would do it again. I leave rat and black snakes alone. I have the skin mounted on a board and I am in the process of tanning it.

Dan,

I believe that what you did was illegal, though I am not sure. It's illegal to kill a rattler here in east TN. So of course, no one here would think of breaking the law. Besides, the copperheads'll run off the rattlers, won't they?

Stinky,
A blacksnake, or rat snake, would be a dirty bite indeed. Look at their diet, rats. You should maybe get it looked at, or self-prescribe some Dickel. Hey, a three-footer, at least it was just a little guy. I got bigger than that in the spring house.
Crawdad

[bastalker]

Ya know I was sittin here havin a couple a drinks, listenin to Trace Adkins, Ya know the :"I'm Tryin". Then I came to this thread......My God I hate snakes!!!!!:eek: If it is illegal to kill em, well just throw me in the slammer right now!!

If I see one he will be mince meat in bout 5 secs. If I was in a boat an a maccasin decided to drop in. There is no way that boat would be able to float after that! Oh Man I hate the damn things!!!!

[NYRookie]

This is why I live in upstate NY. I'd have to carry my glock if I worked in snake country. God bless you guys. I did get stung twice last year by ground bees. I know, what a trauma. Ha, ha.:D

[CMLLawnServices]

Ya i know how you all feel about rattlers, our friends have a cottage up on the Bruce peninsula ( not shure how to spell it)
and they have massisaga rattlers up there ( they are endangered and only about 3000 left) but I hate em, this area is all rock and they blend right in and we had our boat up there but due to the low water levels u had to walk over 200 yards of rock to get to were we had the boat, and just that week a 13 yr old girl got bit and almost died 20 miles up the road , i was a little freaked out . that week i was drivin with my old man into town and a big female was in the other lane so I swerved over and tryed to lock up the wheels goin over it (damn ABS) but i got it , it was a nice 3 footer , still movin so we moved it to the side of the road and come back with the truck to get it( my old lady wounld ever get back in the montana if we had of put it in the back) but it was gone the time we got back , about 15 minutes later i saw a golden eagle with it in its mouth a 1/2 mile down the road.
anyways If i got caught it would have been my *** on the barbie. its 3 yrs prison or 50 gs for killing one. but i`d do it in a second.



Dan what ru gonna tan it with ? is the head and rattle still on it ?, if you were gonna put it ona display board u could just salt it , there is also a commercialy avalible product just for snake skin. I`m sort of an ameture taxidermyist, right now i`m doin a squirrel hide with the tail attached , it was hard to get it all fleshed out, i`m just saltin it to harden it i don`t think i`ll tan it . I have access to a tanning facility that does sheep skin, deer and leather. have you ever tryed brain tanning ?