Posted on 10/10/2016 7:57:04 PM PDT by Rebelbase
As the mother of a four-year-old girl, I can affirm that “Ouch!” is exactly the right word. She makes my fillings vibrate.
That’s the one.
Sorry bud - I’ve seen it happen
She ain’t a “bud.” :-P
I’m surprised they didn’t manage to blame Trump for it in the article.
I’m your bud.
;)
The night is young...give ‘em time.
;D
[they blamed it on the cold snap...which of course, was caused by global warming, which also, of course, Trump calls hogwash, therefore, Trump is responsible, by extrapolation]
Well, aren’t you sweet. ;-D
That is incorrect
They are the most aggressive North American snake
I’ve almost been bitten many times
Friends bitten
Even Steve Irwin refused to handle them freehand
Lol
Eh...not really.
:D
This one is baffling
They aren’t serious fighting or they’d be biting
Amazing
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHA81Tfk3og
It’s a mating ritual.
Most people do not know that snakes only have a finite amount of venom reserves, at any given time.
But the snakes know this, therefore, they are loathe to ‘waste’ it by wantonly biting anything/everything that frightens them.
Every single time they do actually envenom something, they must then wait for the venom glands to produce *more*, which renders them temporarily defenseless, and it is *not* a particularly rapid process.
For the want of better analogy, they never waste their ammo.
Hence, all the instances of “dry bites”, where the snake simply seeks to frighten a predator, rather than kill it.
Every snake bite is a defensive bite, *never* an offensive one.
Snakes just don’t work that way.
They are well aware of their own limitations.
Regarding the video, it’s pretty kinky to see two different snakes battling it out for mating rights to a girl who has a 50% chance of not being one of their own kind.
[not that there’s any wrong with *that*]
:D
You’re right that cottonmouths are overrated as chasers
I think their stark slimy appearance and ribbon like squirmyness and quickness plus how they blend into the primordial muck makes them appear more ominous
They are like owls
By the time you see one up close he’s testing the air in your direction ready to hit
Being raised amongst cypress balds and mossy treed swamps in Mississippi and Alabama they were a fixture for us growing up
I’ve seen hundreds in the wild and almost bit as in truly almost 3-4 times and yes because I was on top of them
I was stringing old 36 inch pipe on three mile creek in mobile Alabama after Frederick came thru in 1980 and we scooped up a nest of them
Literally over 50 snakes in a medusa like clump scurrying everywhere on the creek sandy bank
They were scurrying in their chilly slumber
I lept upon the four foot tracks of the excavator
I had just been in that very hole stringing that section with a wire sling
A friend of mine was bit swimming and another catfishing
I give them a berth
Do copperheads and cottonmouths interbreed or is that light one a highland moccasin ?
That was our term for the lighter pattern water moccasin
I just remembered I had a friend bit near here in 2012 bush hogging and got out to untangle baling wire from the blade
He killed the snake with his pocket knife and got bit a couple more times and took it to the hospital to prove identity for the antivenin
He’s a self made home builder and he’s done real well but his redneck still rises to the top .. He’s pretty tough
He is from Yazoo city originally and ironically like you he’s a herp aficionado...grew up collecting all manner of snakes near Panther Burn
He was shocked he got bit by a water moccasin high on dry ground in the middle of a cow pasture several 100 feet above closest water source
I respect cottonmouths
They are as much a symbol of Dixie as a gator or a Kappa Delta
Three Mile Creek...you really have been in my neck of the woods. Think that is my water supply if not mistaken. I’m not too far from Prichard ;)
Those cotton mouths freak me out...When bass fishing, i have seen them roll and roll with a bream in their mouth...Kinda creepy....Don’t know how they eat a fish that size actually.
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