New pet

I called the California department of fish and wildlife today, anyone can keep up to two rattlesnakes in California, this thread is back open and he's staying with me until he's big enough to harvest for skin. Think I might get enough to cover a large sheath? The literature says they get 3-5 feet long...

A little lesson on rattlesnake venom, it is a hemotoxin, it destroys blood cells, cell walls and prevents clotting, causing the animal bleeds to death. An animal of my size has a considerable amount of time before any permanent damage would set in, if I was dumb enough to get close enough to it for it to bite me. This is in contrast to neurotoxins which affect neurotransmitters, they cause all of the nerves to fire at once and causes death by paralysis, of the lungs/heart most often. Neurotoxins act much faster...

I think some of you are confused, by "pet" I didn't mean I was going to pet it...

For a bunch of knife guys, a little snake sure does scare you ;)
 
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You lick it and you get a prize!




Wait, that sounds bad, or maybe it's just my dirty mind :D
 
You DO have a dirty mind. When I read that I instantly thought of the "Snake Surprise" scene from Temple of Doom.

Nasty man.
 
You're not going to let it grow up and use it like Bear Grylls to store spare drinking urine in? :confused:


;)
 
DanR217 said:
I called the California department of fish and wildlife today, anyone can keep up to two rattlesnakes in California, this thread is back open and he's staying with me until he's big enough to harvest for skin. Think I might get enough to cover a large sheath? The literature says they get 3-5 feet long...

A little lesson on rattlesnake venom, it is a hemotoxin, it destroys blood cells, cell walls and prevents clotting, causing the animal bleeds to death. An animal of my size has a considerable amount of time before any permanent damage would set in, if I was dumb enough to get close enough to it for it to bite me. This is in contrast to neurotoxins which affect neurotransmitters, they cause all of the nerves to fire at once and causes death by paralysis, of the lungs/heart most often. Neurotoxins act much faster...

I think some of you are confused, by "pet" I didn't mean I was going to pet it...

For a bunch of knife guys, a little snake sure does scare you...
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Not all rattlesnakes, the Mojave green has neurotoxic venom, nasty little buggers.
I've had a few hot reptiles and many other snakes and lizards, my favorites however are Monitor lizards.
The only time I caught teeth, I was grazed by a African rock python I had, my reaction was a bit slower than his action:o
Even though I like snakes and would never hurt a non venomous one, I just killed a diamondback two weekends ago at the homestead, I hated doing it but it's just not worth taking any chances with them if it's remotely possible someone or an animal could get hit.
Here is a before picture, right between a wood chair and picnic table.

 
I didn't know that salvo, thanks. That's a big, mean looking mother, well fed on rodents!

If they're not around my house or my dog, I like rattlers, and all other snakes, they clean up all the little vermin. Here there is a huge problem with ground squirrels. Not only do they tear things up, but they are the primary carriers of plague in CA. The CA vector control keeps tabs on ground squirrel colonies throughout the state and every year a couple test positive for bubonic plague. Those are the only things I kill to feed the vultures. So the snakes are after the squirrels and the rats, mice and gophers, it sounds like me and the snakes are trying to accomplish the same thing, pest control. I wouldn't know how to tan/cure/whatever you do to preserve snakeskin anyway.

I had this guys head pinned with a shovel and was going to finish him off, but I felt that compassion thing, or whatever it is. After looking at him closely through the glass, I notice one of his eyes might be deformed, so he might not have made it long in the wild anyway.
 
Growing her out for a sheath might not be very cost effective, depends how much you can get rodents for and how well she eats for ya. If you got hit by the compassion thing I believe relocating her might give you a better feeling than keeping her in an aquarium. Either way, be safe man. :thumbup:
 
jball1125 said:
Growing her out for a sheath might not be very cost effective, depends how much you can get rodents for and how well she eats for ya. If you got hit by the compassion thing I believe relocating her might give you a better feeling than keeping her in an aquarium. Either way, be safe man. :thumbup:
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Yeah, I'm under a bit of pressure to let it go, mainly from my girlfriend. She told me she's not going to come back over to my house while it's here...

Maybe it wasn't compassion then, maybe I just didn't want to kill it so I could keep it because, you're right, if I cared about it, I'd let it go. Wow, deep lol At least I know I'm not going soft ;)
 
California allows you to keep two rattlesnakes???

This, from the state that makes all hotels put up signs at every door that say "WARNING: This building contains things known to the state of California to cause cancer."

??? go figure.

In the high desert here in AZ, i typically get one rattler every year or two. Nasty, have to "dispose of them" promptly, as they are territorial, and it's really expensive (if not deadly) if they bite one of the pooches. Been waiting on this years trespasser, have a TGLB sheath all planned out ;-)

Oh, i'm not particularly brave, i just have a 6 foot "snake snatcher," made from some poles and wire.

Cypress, try making "snake cakes," it'll taste better ;-)
 
I am very, very glad there are no rattlesnakes in my neck of the woods. I would never leave my house.
 
DanR217 said:
Had my first run in with a rattlesnake on my front porch a few days ago. So what if it's a baby, its still cool :cool:.
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:barf: that would be my first reaction - we don't have snakes like this around here, cool reaction indeed.
 
I wouldn't worry about a rattler on my porch unless it was xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

The pictures I posted are from Rapelje, Montana. The farmers have problems with prairie dogs out there, so we show up to lay lead. They also ask that we destroy any rattlers we encounter (counterproductive in my opinion). What gets me is when you look into a hole in the rocks and find a nest... 20-30 rattlesnakes of all sizes wiggling all over each other hissing and whatnot. When you shoot into those holes, the key is to hit the rocks around an near the snakes so the ricochets hit as many as possible. The rattling becomes inconceivably loud when the lead starts flying!


We do NOT insult other folks' religions & beliefs here. :thumbdn:
 
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We should be embarrassed worrying about a little rattlesnake in front of all the Aussies on here. I'm surprised none of them have chimed in yet.
 
Lexi said:
I am very, very glad there are no rattlesnakes in my neck of the woods. I would never leave my house.
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Same here Lexi, NO SNAKES at all here:thumbup:. Eaten quit a few Rattlers back when I was in Texas, tasty little buggers!!!
 
My mistake. The comment was meant to be humorous. I used to be Mormon, and still have the utmost respect for anyone keeping with the traditions. A Mormon would have to be pretty uptight to not find the humor in that.

Won't happen again.
 
Cypress said:
My mistake. The comment was meant to be humorous. I used to be Mormon, and still have the utmost respect for anyone keeping with the traditions. A Mormon would have to be pretty uptight to not find the humor in that.

Won't happen again.
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Thank you & no worries. :)
Whether or not humor was meant, (and I do believe you, which is why I only made an edit), we've learned here time & time again that topics or jokes on religion & politics usually end up in a downward spiral the quickest, with good folks getting mad at good folks.

In addition to BladeForum's rules, I follow the Bartender's Rule concerning topics here... No religion, no politics. Keeps things from getting messy, and keeps people from getting into un-winnable arguments. ;)
 
RussMo said:
Same here Lexi, NO SNAKES at all here:thumbup:. Eaten quit a few Rattlers back when I was in Texas, tasty little buggers!!!
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I would be willing to try rattlesnake. I am not afraid of them if they are dead. :) How do you eat them? fried and dipped in ketchup?
 
From what my landlord was saying, it looks and tastes a lot like fish. He said it's white and flaky. Russ?

There I go, I should start a restaurant that specializes in snake.
 
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