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Get your heart rate up!

Brent Dowell

Brent Dowell

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Location
Reno NV
You know what gets my heart rate up? :huh:

Finding myself 2' away from a 3' long rattlesnake... :eek:

He didn't make any noise, but was coiled up and ready to strike. I was just doing an irrigation check and was doing a lap around the property.

Now that will wake a person up.
 
Jeff Bower said:
My heart rate is up just thinking about this...how did you go about relocating him?
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Well, Relocated is kind of a relative term. He's pretty much been permanently relocated.

I do have a friend out here that will put a rattler into a 5 gallon bucket using sticks and garden implements and then transport them a ways a way, but I'm not that optimistic that they wouldn't come back.

I'm good with all the other reptiles around here, but I just don't want any rattlers taking up residence where the dogs might get involved with them.

allen levine said:
isnt that why people have 12 gauge shotguns?
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My little .410 does a pretty good job at short range...
 
Rattlesnakes are all but extinct in Ontario, although I have encountered some in the southern part of the Niagara Peninsula. Was asked by a neighbour at a camp to remove a baby rattler from their tent once, so I did. As for getting my heart rate up, two words: Heather Locklear. :bounce:
 
Mark Muhr said:
There's a vaccine for rattlesnake bites you get your dogs for a little insurance.
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Our vet was rather ambivalent about that when we first moved here. We did get our dogs at the time vaccinated. The basic jist of it was that it wasn't a 'complete' vaccine, but that it might buy you some time to get to the vet and save you maybe 1 vial or so of the anti-venin.

They also have avoidance classes you can take your dogs to. From talking with another neighbor who has quite a few dogs, once a snake starts rattling, it triggers a deep rooted instinctual avoidance mechanism in most dogs. I saw it with one of our previous dogs. She was out front and encountered a rattler on the front porch. She was always pretty birdy and had a strong prey drive, but when that snake started shakin, she started scratching on the front door to be let inside.

Still, as much as I fear these creatures, I've come a long way from when we first got here. I can tolerate all the rest of the snakes that show up and have even come to like some of them. I will admit to letting loose with a less than manly scream today when I encounter this guy.

My neighbor that actually does relocate them (which is kind of illegal) actually runs a farm animal sancturary. His wife is the one who has scooped the rattlers into a bucket and put the lid on it so he can relocate them later. To me, that's just a little to much messing around with them.

I admire them and find them to be kind of fascinating creatures. I don't go out of my way to find or harm them, but I do have my limits as to how close to the house I will let them roam.
 
Brent Dowell said:
Our vet was rather ambivalent about that when we first moved here. We did get our dogs at the time vaccinated. The basic jist of it was that it wasn't a 'complete' vaccine, but that it might buy you some time to get to the vet and save you maybe 1 vial or so of the anti-venin.

They also have avoidance classes you can take your dogs to. From talking with another neighbor who has quite a few dogs, once a snake starts rattling, it triggers a deep rooted instinctual avoidance mechanism in most dogs. I saw it with one of our previous dogs. She was out front and encountered a rattler on the front porch. She was always pretty birdy and had a strong prey drive, but when that snake started shakin, she started scratching on the front door to be let inside.

Still, as much as I fear these creatures, I've come a long way from when we first got here. I can tolerate all the rest of the snakes that show up and have even come to like some of them. I will admit to letting loose with a less than manly scream today when I encounter this guy.

My neighbor that actually does relocate them (which is kind of illegal) actually runs a farm animal sancturary. His wife is the one who has scooped the rattlers into a bucket and put the lid on it so he can relocate them later. To me, that's just a little to much messing around with them.

I admire them and find them to be kind of fascinating creatures. I don't go out of my way to find or harm them, but I do have my limits as to how close to the house I will let them roam.
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Yeah, the vaccine doesn't keep you from having to get vet care, but it is supposed to keep a lot of tissue damage and necrosis from occurring. I've seen an untreated rattlesnake bite on a dog and it ain't pretty. Most ranchers out where I used to live don't take their dogs in for anything. Most ranch dogs out there have been bitten at one point or another and a lot of survive without a vet. A lot of them build up their own immunity. Funny thing was that the guy who was showing me the dog was married to another Vet at my wife's clinic. They had house dogs that she took care of, and a kennel of fox hounds that were left to him. All he was doing was cutting off the necrotic tissue and keeping the wound packed. The dog was fine and made it through. He just had a nasty scar on the side of his chest where all that tissue died and the new skin granulated. Anyway, our dogs are vaccinated for the bites. The vaccine is made for western diamondbacks, but according to the literature my wife looked up, there is a crossover in protection for other pit vipers since most pit viper venom works on the same mechanism. We vaccinated after my wife took out a decent sized cottonmouth in the back yard when we were staying with her parents right after we moved back to Texas. That snake now lives in a jar of formalin on my shelf.
 
Mike Muhr said:
We vaccinated after my wife took out a decent sized cottonmouth in the back yard when we were staying with her parents right after we moved back to Texas. That snake now lives in a jar of formalin on my shelf.
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Hmmm, Not a bad idea. Both dogs are due pretty soon for another visit to the vet, so I might just ask again.

They are, to be sure 'house dogs' :D

If I'd had a little more time today, I might have tanned this ones hide, but I did save the rattles. The last rattler I skinned and tanned was doing good, but the rats in the garage ate most of the skin.
 
Yikes, not a big fan of rattlers. I realize that they have as much of a right to go around as we do, but I have as much of a right as an eagle to take them out - in my opinion :rolleyes:

Luckily they're pretty rare where I am now, my one dog is about as bright as a 30w lightbulb about that sort of thing and I'm pretty sure he'd be gone if there were any to speak of, I'm pretty sure he'd have to investigate "whatcha doing there mister rattler?"

I remember climbing in Arizona years ago and pulled up over a ledge to come eye to eye with a coiled rattler... Never went back down a cliff as fast before or after!
 
Brent Dowell said:
He's been re-located away from the house. Really wouldn't want Logan finding him instead of me.
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Sure! that wakes one up! but... what do you mean with " relocated away from the house..." Snakes Heaven? I would not dare to approach one and less picking it up even with one of those long tweezers specially built for that. :eek:
 
That sudden jolt of clarity is an interesting instinctual reaction isn't it :eek:? I work on 1200 acres of desert basin that sort of divides the city from the non-city. We get a lot of rattlers in season. Lots of bunnies in the spring. Bobcats make their annual cycle through and it is not unheard of to find a cat between my car and the front door to my office building. As a rule none of these critters care for bipeds and move off as you move toward them (but don't turn your back). Its part of the joy of living or working near a natural environment. We move a scorpion or two per year out of someone's office and over to the gully between my building and the botanic gardens. I can look out my office window at "Bobcat Rock" where the critters sometimes like to do the "pride rock" scene from 'The Lion King' :D. In general, sightings are few and far between enough to make folks break out their cameras but, often enough to keep you alert.
 
I always found a sharpened shovel was the most useful. I would keep two or three around in different places in the garden, so there'd be one handy. Tried carrying a machete on my belt for a while, but it was always getting in the way, and it meant I needed to get too close... :crossed:

This is what's good about mini Australian Shepherds. In spite of the name, they were actually bred in the west. They're very quick, faster than any rattler, and have a thick mat of hair on their chest, just in case. If a mongoose were a dog, it would be a mini-aussie... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Sharon Korn said:
I'm so used to them giving a warning when near...guess they surprised each other. Figure I'll have to get out the old snake chaps when I start trimming the juniper bushes this month. They're pretty thick (junipers, not snakes, I hope :eek::eek:).
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Yeah, No warning from this guy. Nice set of rattles on his tail, but he just wasn't using them for the intended purpose...

Bill Lantry said:
I always found a sharpened shovel was the most useful. I would keep two or three around in different places in the garden, so there'd be one handy. Tried carrying a machete on my belt for a while, but it was always getting in the way, and it meant I needed to get too close... :crossed:

This is what's good about mini Australian Shepherds. In spite of the name, they were actually bred in the west. They're very quick, faster than any rattler, and have a thick mat of hair on their chest, just in case. If a mongoose were a dog, it would be a mini-aussie... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
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I prefer a little more of a long range solution. The .410 single shot shotgun my dad got me when I was probably 10 years old :D
 
Gees, Brent, you are scaring me. I was looking forward to coming to see you and Sharon, but snakes.....? OK, they have their place in the world, just not in MY world!

Definitely not my thing! I wouldn't want to hear of one snoozing on Bob's seat. :eek:

Well, still perusing my calendar to find a suitable time before I leave Nevada. When is it not snake season?
 
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