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Change in rattlesnake behavior?
11/20/10

Posted on 11/19/2010 10:16:49 PM PST by roses of sharon

HUNTERS AND FARMERS AND THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY.....TAKE HEED....

My fellow friends and family,

We have killed 57 rattlesnakes on two separate ranches this year. 24 @South bend & 33 @ Murray, since mid May. Not one has buzzed! We provoked one fair sized boy with a stick and he coiled & struck at the stick a couple of times before he buzzed up and rattled. The purpose of this explanation is that I have been hearing the same from fellow ranchers and hunters in regards to the lack of warning with rattlesnakes.

I had lunch with a friend today and he offered a theory about the fact that these bugs aren't rattling anymore. He raised pigs for years and reported that when he would hear a rattlesnake buzzing in the sow pen, the sows would bee line to it and fight over the snake. For the uninformed, pigs love to eat rattlesnakes.

Therefore, the theory is they are ceasing to rattle to avoid detection, since there are plenty of pigs roaming the countryside. I have a neighbor ranching lady who was bitten 3 weeks ago 2 times by the same snake without any warning....she spent 5 days in ICU, after 22 vials of anti-venom she is back at the ranch and still may lose her foot or worse yet her lower leg.

The days of perceived warning are over. Keep your boots on and use a light when out and about. As you all know, one can pop up just about anywhere! You may wish to forward this to anyone that would be interested.

These guys think the rattlesnakes have stopped warning with their rattles before striking because the abundance of wild hogs has taught them that if they rattle a hog will come and eat them. The wild hogs are a problem (ferrule not Razorbacks which are not so plentiful but which must also eat snakes) to farmers and ranchers and now they have possibly made the rattlers a bigger problem. Just in case you guys get out in the woods or wilds.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Health/Medicine; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: farming; hiking; hog; hunting; pig; rattlers; rattlesnake; snake; wildboar; wildpig
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To: roses of sharon
Stealth-snakes-with-unlicensed-rattle-suppressors ping.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

61 posted on 11/20/2010 7:35:47 AM PST by The Comedian (I enjoy progressives, especially in a light cream sauce.)
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To: Lakeshark; Borax Queen

A lady will change her mind without warning.


62 posted on 11/20/2010 7:39:14 AM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: fish hawk

Here is the real reason: rattlesnakes are being shamed into not using their rattles at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9LzeDg8z-M


63 posted on 11/20/2010 8:02:00 AM PST by thethirddegree
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To: PLMerite

Is that Nasssty Pelosssssi.


64 posted on 11/20/2010 8:10:10 AM PST by clearcarbon
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To: x1stcav
Need to go down to about 7,500’ to find any.

That must not be in the Yukon, where you'd have to go A LOT lower (if any)! Here in eastern WA State, I would guess they range up to about 2,800 ft around Vantage.

65 posted on 11/20/2010 9:51:59 AM PST by steve86
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To: roses of sharon

How do the pigs avoid being bitten? Are they immune to rattlesnake venom?


66 posted on 11/20/2010 10:12:45 AM PST by Rum Tum Tugger
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To: seemoAR

No kidding? I never heard that. Does it work with copperheads? Those things are nasty and their bite will have your leg off.


67 posted on 11/20/2010 3:36:23 PM PST by West Texas Chuck (US out of the UN - UN out of the US)
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To: West Texas Chuck

I don’t know about copperheads. They may have a scent that I don’t recognize.


68 posted on 11/20/2010 8:58:12 PM PST by seemoAR
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To: steve86

I have personally found them at 5,700’ and have been told that in Southern Colorado they go up to about 7,500’. My buddy who lives in the southern Sierras in Kali is overrun with them every few years at 5,200’.


69 posted on 11/21/2010 6:56:04 AM PST by x1stcav (Charter member of the Yukon Army..)
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