Dead Rattlesnake Maybe Killed by Bunny - Pics Added
- Thread starter geekgranny
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Now how in the world did someone get a pic of me sticking my head in the window and trying to give the little girl a kiss? 
Boy this town's changed a lot since that was made...
Boy this town's changed a lot since that was made...
geekgranny said:257WbyMag said:
Shoes are mandatory especially outside. When I have to work in shaded areas with heavy vines I wear boots and snake chaps. Flashlights, always, where lighting isn't good, always going to the cars at night, and send them home with visiting neighbors (who never come over with one). We keep a box of cheap flashlights to send out. It is really easy to almost step on them when the surface is close in color to theirs. The juvenile ratsnake in the garage, the other night, looked like some water that was leaking from the fridge. I instinctively stepped over it and then saw it move. I should know, by now, not to get in a hurry, especially when the lighting isn't good. He was stretched out and not coiled but could have gotten me if I'd stepped on him. That bite would require antibiotics and I hate taking them. The absolute most aggressive are the newly hatched Green Racers. They start striking when you get near them. I had several of them in the pool drain (sans grate) when I had it drained for acid wash. They started thrashing in the small amount of water, like minnows in a bucket. The moment I reached in to get one another latched on to me. Couldn't even feel it of course. I knew they weren't venomous as they were so small and by color. Copperhead and Rattlesnakes look like adults when first born.
I've seen some pictures of really nasty reactions to Copperhead bites, humans only. But then again, you usually only come across the really drastic pictures. All of my dogs have always recovered really fast. The only ones that seemed overly sensitive are my two Labradoodles. They both started acting shocky before much swelling had even started. Both of those were on legs. The Mastiffs and Rotties, who rarely ever had anything but face bites, hardly even "complained", even after a lot of swelling had occurred. I guess it's the warrior in them. I did have one Mastiff who recovered from a Copperhead bite, on hock, but then developed a bone infection and went into renal failure. We saved him but he didn't live as long as we would have wanted. He was on IVs for a lengthy time. When he started eating the only thing he would eat for over a month was strained liver baby food, that comes in the tiny jars. Imagine how many jars we went through for a 180 lb dog, but he was down to about 150 by then. (High protein is not the best for recovering kidney failure but that's one of the few things dogs will eat when they have been off food for weeks.) I think dogs do better than humans with Copperhead bites. We've never had to give analgesics. In a day they are as good as new, even the sissy Doodles. A couple of little scars left or a few white hairs grown in.
I figured you are a doctor or RN. It certainly comes in handy for us to be medically trained, especially living out here.
Do you watch Dr. G or Forensic Files? We are totally hooked.
gg=alice
Alice! When a snake phobic like myself read about what you put yourself through in your daily life, is it almost like it isn't true. I guess you learn to cope with them and that you are use to live with them from an early age! But from a 42 year old swede's perspective(yeah I'm a coward...) I woulden't I put my foot anywhere near your place
no offense Alice 
Do you know what! I saw my second snake in my life last week. It was just a baby like 4"long, but still
I first thought it was a worm not a snake. A real unpleasant sight and I wish I never had seen it. I found myself looking real close at the ground every time I walked pass that place after that. It was in a nuclear power plant right in the middle of the plant. Wasn't expecting to see a snake in a place like that I'm not allowed to bring my cellphone in there so I have no pics to prove my case I have never heard that a bunny could take down snakes! Is a bunny equal to what you call a rabbit? If so, will I look upon them with different eyes in the future and welcome them to my yard instead of chasing them away
To be honest I don't think we have any snakes here where I live but a few rabbits can you see from time to time.//Mats
geekgranny said:I figured you are a doctor or RN. It certainly comes in handy for us to be medically trained, especially living out here.
Do you watch Dr. G or Forensic Files? We are totally hooked.
gg=alice
RN.
Don't really watch TV much, although I have seen Dr. G a few times. I like her!
You know, there exists a vaccine now for doggies to protect against Western Diamondback bites. The vaccine is specific to C. Atrox only though. Our vet said that the research hasn't been real conclusive yet as far as cross protection against other pit vipers (coppers, moccasins, and other rattlers) but this is because it is new. That might be something to think about for your dogs since you are out there on some rural property with them.
257WbyMag said:
Thanks, They all started on the vaccine Spring 09 and then get boosters, either every 6 mos or yearly. I forget. Little 5 mo Blue Heeler girls have had theirs this spring and all rest have had their booster. It is supposed to lessen the reaction to a Rattlesnake bite.
I've read that the jury is still out on cross protection too. The three boys all had Copperhead bites last year after having the Rattlesnake vaccine. We get on them really fast with benadryl and then start antibiotics, Ampicillin or what ever 'cillin we have on hand. Doodles were acting shocky even before swelling started; both leg or foot bite. Jake Mastiff, two bites, about a month apart, face, swelled pretty "normally" compared to other bites in past. Doodles crawled to the house, whining and whimpering. I had to carry one in. Jake Mastiff stayed outside playing until time to come in so he had considerable muzzle swelling when he came in.
Sure wish it was approved for humans.
We've only had two major secondary issues that may have been related to to the Copperhead bites. Sage Mastiff developed a bone infection near a bite site on hock then went into kidney failure. He was treated for the infection when it he first had symptoms and we thought it was taken care of. They are so stoic its hard sometimes to catch problems. Hilda Rottie, bite between eyes, where muzzle begins, developed a benign tumor that eventually filled her nasal canal. This started about 6 months after the bite. No positive proof that related to bites but entirely possible.
gg=alice
I guess I am a wimp but seriously, I got dizzy reading your posts I lived in SC for 3 years and they have rattlers and copperheads. I never saw either, but I also refused to go outside in the woods to try! I have a friend there that was a snake enthusiast and he caught snakes all of the time. He picked up a copperhead he thought was dead and it wasn't. It bit him on the hand and landed him in the hospital on IV meds for 3 days. Ever since that I have been freaked out even more.
I accompanied my honey 2x for work to Texas and snakes was ALL I could think about. I was walking my little dog on a dirt road one day and saw an enormous snake skin and freaked. As I turned around to go back, lo and behold a very large snake was in the road
I dropped the leash said take the dog and ran for it. The dog off course looked at me like I was an idiot...hehe I know I was but I wasn't taking any chances lol.
I lived in SC for 3 years and they have rattlers and copperheads. I never saw either, but I also refused to go outside in the woods to try! I have a friend there that was a snake enthusiast and he caught snakes all of the time. He picked up a copperhead he thought was dead and it wasn't. It bit him on the hand and landed him in the hospital on IV meds for 3 days. Ever since that I have been freaked out even more. I accompanied my honey 2x for work to Texas and snakes was ALL I could think about. I was walking my little dog on a dirt road one day and saw an enormous snake skin and freaked. As I turned around to go back, lo and behold a very large snake was in the road
I dropped the leash said take the dog and ran for it. The dog off course looked at me like I was an idiot...hehe I know I was but I wasn't taking any chances lol.whoozer said:I guess I am a wimp but seriously, I got dizzy reading your posts
I accompanied my honey 2x for work to Texas and snakes was ALL I could think about. I was walking my little dog on a dirt road one day and saw an enormous snake skin and freaked. As I turned around to go back, lo and behold a very large snake was in the road
Many people living in Texas have never seen a snake other than maybe a garter. About twice or three times a year I have a dream where I go outside and can't find a place to step in the yard because of all the snakes, hundreds of them. In the dream I'm not terribly scared rather ticked off because I can't get to the shed area. But I wake up feeling a little creepy.
Every time one of us has a close encounter, with any snake, it helps to heighten our awareness because we do let our guard down a little if we haven't seen any in a few weeks or months. Not much though. We look forward to November through February as they are all tucked away. All October and March they are moving around seeking dens or locating good food sources. At about 8:30 at night the frogs start making a lot of racket, this time of year. Our predominate frog is the Leopard frog. They are not true tree frogs but ours spend a great deal of time in the trees. They're populations are dwindling and they are considered an environmental indicator species as they are very sensitive to air and water pollutants. We have a very healthy population of them. We figure the snakes start heading out to hunt about that time. Dogs and people are discouraged from going into yards, even mowed areas. Several summers, when I was putting in low voltage lighting, I worked at night using portable flood lights. I was all over and in the vines at the drop off at the end of our pool. I didn't see or hear any snakes but I did make a lot of noise and rustling before going in there to give them a chance to slither off first.
I would rather not have to share an environment with the venomous snakes but we think and feel that the benefits of living here far outweigh the disadvantages.
gg=alice
whoozer said:I guess I am a wimp but seriously, I got dizzy reading your posts
I accompanied my honey 2x for work to Texas and snakes was ALL I could think about. I was walking my little dog on a dirt road one day and saw an enormous snake skin and freaked. As I turned around to go back, lo and behold a very large snake was in the road
I can associate so much with your post Whoozer and I'm not a wimp! Atleast not what I know of :-D
Yup, here in coastal SC there are Eastern Diamondbacks, cottonmouth and plenty of non-poisonous snakes. heck, we're even getting armadillos now!
I am a member of an off road motorcycling club, and we hold a race of about 65 miles on a private hunting preserve. Owners say "take out the armadillos and diamondbacks", so we do when we come across them. Armor-plated possums destroy building foundations and historic battle sites, and diamondbacks dont mix well with hunters who come from away!
Probably the most dangerous of the fauna, wild boar, we arent welcome to dispatch! More than once we've been chased by them, thankfully on days we were riding instead of walking!
Personally, I havent seen anything other than a hognose, and a young king snake eating a younger diamondback.
I am a member of an off road motorcycling club, and we hold a race of about 65 miles on a private hunting preserve. Owners say "take out the armadillos and diamondbacks", so we do when we come across them. Armor-plated possums destroy building foundations and historic battle sites, and diamondbacks dont mix well with hunters who come from away!
Probably the most dangerous of the fauna, wild boar, we arent welcome to dispatch! More than once we've been chased by them, thankfully on days we were riding instead of walking!
Personally, I havent seen anything other than a hognose, and a young king snake eating a younger diamondback.
When my wife and I bought our house, there was a snake skin laying next to the pool filter. A couple of months later, I was mowing the yard and happened upon a small (8") copperhead that met his demise at the end of a garden hoe. Then another a couple weeks later that was about the same size went under the mower (by accident). Saw another in the flower bed, but he got away. That fall, while winterizing the pool, I moved the filter base to find 16 "eggs" underneath. They're not really eggs since copperheads are live born, but more of a soft, flexible sac. All of them were empty. That was 3 years ago.
I started using a product called Snake Away around the perimeter of the yard. It claims that it bothers the snakes sense of smell, so they will tend to stay away from it. I can't say for sure if it works, but year 2 we didn't see any snakes. Last year, we found a copperhead (18") under the slide for the kids playset at the very end of the season (late September). I had not re-applied the Snake Away since April. The instructions say it only lasts for 2-3 months, I had just been lazy. You can bet that I'll be more diligent this year. I HATE snakes, so as far as I'm concerned it is good insurance, whether it's 100% effective or not. I could never live where GeekGranny lives.
I started using a product called Snake Away around the perimeter of the yard. It claims that it bothers the snakes sense of smell, so they will tend to stay away from it. I can't say for sure if it works, but year 2 we didn't see any snakes. Last year, we found a copperhead (18") under the slide for the kids playset at the very end of the season (late September). I had not re-applied the Snake Away since April. The instructions say it only lasts for 2-3 months, I had just been lazy. You can bet that I'll be more diligent this year. I HATE snakes, so as far as I'm concerned it is good insurance, whether it's 100% effective or not. I could never live where GeekGranny lives.
I've used the snake away and can't tell if it does anything. From my reading about it it seems to have little affect on copperheads but some on rattlesnakes.
There is a unit that you put in the ground that is supposed to be annoying to snakes. I sent three emails to the people and never got any answers. I was willing to try several out but the main thing I wanted to know was if it would drive my pet snake crazy.
We petty much limit our night time activities to the big deck and pool areas at night. There's enough lighting we can see the snakes if we pay attention. Bringing the dogs in before it gets too dark is a bummer for the dogs. And the puppy Blue Heelers frequently have to go into "time out" in the bathroom because they want to yip and bark and rough house through the night. When one of us tells either one that its time for "time out" she will run and jump up on the sofa and play like she's asleep; both do that. We usually know which one is doing the barking because one has a bark one octave higher than the other. They do have rope toys in there and fequently go in there to sleep, on their own, so it isn't really punishment.
The older dogs didn't do as much playing and exploring at night so didn't get as many bites after they matured. These were Mastiffs and Rotties so they were much more laid back than the Doodles and Blue Heelers.
DH does his snake run every night he is here. So far, this year, he hasn't seen any. Knock on wood. I think our obsessive hunting last summer helped a lot as we did catch some pregnant females and a whole bunch of young ones in addition to adults.
Our crime rate is really low out here and there is almost no traffic as we are at the end of a one mile dead end road, off of a 2.7 mile dead end road that ends at the State Park, with no entrance to the park. Kids have lots of room to play and people really do watch out for any suspicious cars or trucks. There's very little trespassing as this is Texas and, of course, everyone in Texas, has guns. Not really but close enough. Most, but not all people, are very wary of driving back into the woods down a private drive and most of the drives have gates at the road. We have had four or five people, in 24 years, enter into a fenced yard with dogs in the yard. Really stupid people but they were not hurt.
gg=alice
There is a unit that you put in the ground that is supposed to be annoying to snakes. I sent three emails to the people and never got any answers. I was willing to try several out but the main thing I wanted to know was if it would drive my pet snake crazy.
We petty much limit our night time activities to the big deck and pool areas at night. There's enough lighting we can see the snakes if we pay attention. Bringing the dogs in before it gets too dark is a bummer for the dogs. And the puppy Blue Heelers frequently have to go into "time out" in the bathroom because they want to yip and bark and rough house through the night. When one of us tells either one that its time for "time out" she will run and jump up on the sofa and play like she's asleep; both do that. We usually know which one is doing the barking because one has a bark one octave higher than the other. They do have rope toys in there and fequently go in there to sleep, on their own, so it isn't really punishment.
The older dogs didn't do as much playing and exploring at night so didn't get as many bites after they matured. These were Mastiffs and Rotties so they were much more laid back than the Doodles and Blue Heelers.
DH does his snake run every night he is here. So far, this year, he hasn't seen any. Knock on wood. I think our obsessive hunting last summer helped a lot as we did catch some pregnant females and a whole bunch of young ones in addition to adults.
Our crime rate is really low out here and there is almost no traffic as we are at the end of a one mile dead end road, off of a 2.7 mile dead end road that ends at the State Park, with no entrance to the park. Kids have lots of room to play and people really do watch out for any suspicious cars or trucks. There's very little trespassing as this is Texas and, of course, everyone in Texas, has guns.
Not really but close enough. Most, but not all people, are very wary of driving back into the woods down a private drive and most of the drives have gates at the road. We have had four or five people, in 24 years, enter into a fenced yard with dogs in the yard. Really stupid people but they were not hurt. gg=alice
I think the Snake Away claims around 87% effective on copperheads, and almost 100% on rattlesnakes. I haven't found any rattlesnakes in my yard, but we have lots of them in the area. The first year I used it, we saw a couple of copperheads dead in the road around our house, but none in the yard.
We have a Samoyed - a big, white, fluffy sled dog. He doesn't much care for the Oklahoma summer heat, so it's very difficult to get him to spend any amount of time outside. At least we don't have to worry about him wanting to go out and play and finding a snake. He wants back in the air conditioner ASAP. The times he wants to be outside, like in the snow, there isn't much call to be worried about creepy crawling things in the yard.
I'd really like to live in a secluded place like ya'll do, but it would be very hard to put up with the wildlife. Good luck on not finding many snakes this year.
We have a Samoyed - a big, white, fluffy sled dog. He doesn't much care for the Oklahoma summer heat, so it's very difficult to get him to spend any amount of time outside. At least we don't have to worry about him wanting to go out and play and finding a snake. He wants back in the air conditioner ASAP. The times he wants to be outside, like in the snow, there isn't much call to be worried about creepy crawling things in the yard.
I'd really like to live in a secluded place like ya'll do, but it would be very hard to put up with the wildlife. Good luck on not finding many snakes this year.