Snake Stories: The Mojave Green Rattlesnake
92Snake Encounters In Snake Country
What on Earth is a Mojave green rattlesnake? Until this morning (September 2, 2009), I'd never even heard the term. The diamondback rattler and I have been on unfriendly terms for most of my sixty-five years. At least the reptiles must consider the terms unfriendly: When I see one of the pit vipers anywhere within a five mile radius of our desert home, the snake dies.
Not that I have anything against the critter that tempted Eve and ran a strong campaign to be elected as our national critter-emblem during Revolutionary times. They fill a strong niche in the ecology, they're not generally aggressive toward humans, and they even give birth to live babies after the snakelets hatch from the eggs inside Mommy. What's not to love?
Um...Fear Rules. In the case of the rattler it does, anyway. Quite frankly, I don't want to get bit...and more than anything, I don't want my wife, Pam, to get bit. She's five feet tall, ninety-five pounds of slim, gymnastically built redhead...and she has COPD. Yup. Emphysema with chronic bronchitis. Bad breathing and not enough of that.
And now I find out that the Mojave green rattlesnake has a dual action venom that doesn't start destroying tissue like diamondback rattler venom does. It's worse. The Mojave green's venom goes after the blood and the nerves both and shuts down the respiratory system. That snake wouldn't even have to bite Pam; one good hiss at close range could send her to her grave!
It Ain't Friendly Being Green
The first thing to remember about the Mojave green rattlesnake is that it's not necessarily the slightest bit green, although it can be. The second thing to remember is that this most deadly of all North American reptiles does not live just in the Mojave Desert. True, it is reported to like relatively flat desert country better than anything else, but we have that here in the Sonoran Desert of southeastern Arizona, too. And just as we have the desert, we have the Mojave green.
How do I know this? It started yesterday in the late afternoon as I was heading out in our Subaru Outback to snag some gasoline from the station five miles upvalley from our relatively remote home acreage. We hadn't seen a single snake of any sort on our four acres since moving here in April, although a couple of weeks ago I did spot a jet black Slytherin on the dirt street just a few hundred yards out. No venomous rattlesnake is jet black, we don't have cottonmouths in country this dry, and the king cobra and its cousins are thankfully far, far away (though some idiot in Montana was keeping several of the latter and milking their venom a few years ago). Knowing that, I steered wide of the four foot black crawly and simply waved to it as I went by.
Yesterday was different. At pretty much the same spot on the dirt street, just about three hundred yards from our property line, what I thought might be a diamondback rattlesnake was lying there, calmly sunning itself. I'd already gone past without being sure but stopped and backed up the car to get a better look. Yup. Rattlesnake anyway, about three feet. A few whoop-to-do vehicular maneuvers later and it was a terminated rattlesnake. A neighbor had ridden past on his bicycle as I was doing that...but hadn't seen the snake. His best guess was that I was trying to flatten the rut ridges from the last rains!
He stopped long enough to take a look at the remains of the reptile--which I left "as is"; scavengers would get a meal sooner or later.
Half a mile farther on...repeat the process. That one was smaller, about two and a half feet, and definitely a diamondback. Both carcasses were still there when I returned from the gas station half an hour later; both were long gone when I headed to town this morning. Somebody ate well.
However, on the way out this morning, I met a neighbor's son-in-law for the first time. He'd been bowhunting for mule deer a bit farther back in, and he knew about the Mojave green. In fact, he'd seen one a day or two earlier, and he knows his rattlesnakes well enough that there seemed little doubt his identification of the species was accurate.
Which got me to thinking: The one I'd killed so close to our property hadn't been a diamondback after all. For one thing, the "diamond" pattern didn't stand out all that well, and it looked more triangular than diamond shaped. The snake had also been fairly heavy bodied for its length. A Mojave green. When I got home this evening and mentioned the Mojave green to Pam, she just nodded. Turns out she knew all about them already, having lived in Cochise County for many years in the past (which I had not). Additionally, there had also been a bit on the local news today about that very venomous viper.
Well...she hadn't known all about them. She hadn't known their venom was qualitatively different from that of the diamondback, a whole bunch of times deadlier than the sidewinder, a Death Arrow pointed straight toward her own personal struggle to draw air into her already seriously challenged lungs.
If you happen to know an editor at the Rattler Tattler, that tabloid read so assiduously by reptiles everywhere, feel free to pass the word: Anti-Rattlesnake Racism is alive and well in our area. You would do well to take your mouse hunting excursions elswehere.
If you are a Mojave green, you would be very wise to do so.
Update As Of October 18, 2009
Just at dusk today, I took a couple of buckets of scrap lumber over to our temporary storage pit. Sometimes, as I'm homebuilding, the little bits of leftover wood get to be unsightly. If we don't need them by the end of the project, they'll just get buried and "go back to the land".
I don't like going to the pit that late. Snake country. Covered the path with no problem, though. Dumped the white bucket, sat it down by some bunch grass, and dumped the green bucket.
The Flying What The--?!
Just as I started to turn after emptying that second pail, my left side peripheral vision caught a flash of motion. There was sound, now that I think back, but not much. By the time I could focus, I was staring down at a good sized Mojave green rattlesnake...in the pit! What's "good sized"? I'd say about four feet.
Best guess is that the snake had been spooked when I placed that first bucket too near the bunch grass. It was not being aggressive at all, just trying to get out of Dodge, or at least I don't think it was coming after me. Mojave greens have a reputation for ferocity and aggression, but it didn't rattle either before, during, or after its Flight 101.
And flight it had been. It's not like it crawled out over the edge a bit and then slipped; it sailed through the air and dropped a good nine feet or so, landing on a big, stray piece of cardboard that happened to be in the right place to act as a cushion.
At least "sailed" is the best term I can manage. Its landing point was a good eighteen inches out from the edge of the pit wall.
Was it thrown out there by a spiritual Master who happened to be acting as my guardian angel? It's Flight Time angle of travel was more toward me than otherwise, now that I think about it.
Of considerable interest is the fact that Pam and I had both "sensed" the critter's existence just about three weeks ago, each of us having gone to the pit at different times but on the same day and both of us certain what our sixth senses were saying. Matter of fact, it's equally interesting that I had no awareness of the beastie whatsoever tonight...until it was literally airborne.
I watched the down-pit critter lying there, likely a touch stunned from the event it had just experienced, squiggled in close S-curves to itself but not coiling defensively and not rattling, just sort of seeming to think, "What the $&@!*!! just happened ?!?!"
Then I headed back to the camp trailer to fetch my .410 shotgun, 'cause them's the rules. By the time I returned, it was gone from sight. That didn't bother me too much, in large part because I don't believe it can climb the walls to get out of the pit. Our desert grassland whiptail lizards can and sometimes do run up and down those walls like they're on level ground, but rattlers don't have long, sharp claws on their scales...and the Mojave green is a fairly heavy bodied snake to boot.
Dang. The more I ponder, the more convinced I become that it was silently attacking and that a spiritual presence saved my life on the spot.
How did it disappear so easily? Best guess is that it slithered under the very cardboard piece that cushioned its fall. Am I going down there after it? Do I look like a crocodile hunter trying to get nailed by a stingray to you? Not a chance, Vance! Will it eventually starve to death? No. Snakes are feast-or-famine sorts of animals. They can go a long time between meals. And a rodent--mouse, rat, or mole--falls in there every now and then, not to mention a stray frog and possibly even one of our beloved whiptail lizards if she (whiptails are all female) gets too cocky. So, when all is said and done, the snake gets a free buffet and an easy life.
But it surely does put a new meaning to the term "pit viper".
Update as of 11/12/09: Scientific Observation
I was returning from a brief stroll around the property this morning when I suddenly stopped in my tracks. Some distance down the curving path that winds between scattered bushes and clumps of bunch grass, a stretched-out, slowly traveling snake was extremely visible. I'd come past that point just a few minutes earlier and could well have been quite close to the critter, but then is then and now is now. It wasn't alarmed, wasn't looking for a fight or anything, and had simply turned its head back to see what sort of being might be approaching from the rear.
Since the reptile was directly between me and the camp trailer, continuing on my existing flight path would have been suicidal. So, choosing the obvious course of action, I looped wide to the left in a big semicircle (watching very closely that I didn't step on another snake in the process), calling out our standard, "Coming in!" before opening the door. Pam's usual seat is right next to that door, and no one wants to be startled by a rather noisy door suddenly snapping open at close proximity.
"Heads up!" I told her as I grabbed the single shot .410 shotgun inherited from my late father. Since the snake-in-the-pit incident, that firearm has been kept handy, just inside the door.
"Another one? Where?" She asked.
"Close in." I was already moving out, reversing the semicircle route to arrive back at the point from which I'd first seen the rattler. And rattler it was, an instantly recognizable--what else?--Mojave green. Now armed, I was in "hunt mode"...but where had the snake gone? Not that I'd expected it to just wait there patiently while I got something with which to kill it and returned, but it was going to be an uncomfortable time in the campsite if it couldn't be located. Scan, step, stop, scan. Scan, step, stop, scan, extend inner senses. Scan...and there it was! It had moved about 20 feet on down the trail, getting ever closer to the trailer, but was now turned around, lying next to a clump of bunch grass, head calmly raised to see what I wanted.
So I killed it. For those readers who get upset about such things, perhaps I should mention that I understand. To me, Soul is Soul, and whether it occupies the body of a venomous reptile, a kangaroo rat, or a human...makes no difference. The only difference is that a Mojave green rattlesnake can kill you in half a heartbeat...and I have the responsibility as head of household to keep our people safe. Including, of course, me. Does it affect me emotionally? Yup. Will I do it again...and again...and again? Yup. I long ago chose the role of family leader, chose to live in this particular place as the best choice for all of us, and that's part of the price to be paid.
Now: You may already know that simply removing a snake's head does not result in a swiftly motionless body. In this case, a single blast of birdshot from a range of about 20 feet had done just that. The head was instantly gone. That's good on two counts: (1) Death was lightning fast, extremely limited suffering for the departed Soul. (2) No human was going to get bitten by this particular viper. However, the headless body was still actively writhing, curling back and forth, hanging onto life with a tenacity the likes of which ought to make any human more than proud. I studied this at length. And I learned a couple of things:
1. Touching even a headless body will result in a strike by the Mojave green! Say what? I took my trusty #2 shovel and pressed down--not hard, but thinking that I might try eventually shoving down the blade to sever the rattles from the tail--and the headless head end instantly curled back to strike the shovel! Dang! What this tells me is, no, you can't afford to let this beastie be seen near your disabled wife's abode without doing everything possible to remove the threat. These snakes are extremely well camouflaged for this land. Touch one by accident, even lightly, and you're gonna get bit. Not the snake's fault or anything; that extreme reflex no doubt saves their lives countless times in the wild. Just a fact of life...or death. Clearly, they don't have to think about it--obviously hard to do when you have no head--it's just the way their bodies are wired. Scientific Observation number one.
2. The Mojave green's body knows it's okay to let go if it's upside down! It was bothering me, watching the snake's writhing form. It's not that I haven't been there before, but still. Then for whatever reason, something flashed into my awareness: What if that body, that genetic form, was built with other triggers than just striking at obvious threats even with the head gone? Specifically, what if being on its back with that glistening white underside staring at the sun--what if that meant, "Okay, you're dead now; it's okay to let go?"
And it worked. Using the shovel, I flipped the snake body over...and within moments, its struggles had ceased. It was entirely motionless. It was, I choose to believe, at peace.
Out of respect to the departed Soul, the photo taken of the upside down body will not be shown here. Since that picture was the one with the tape measure in it, the length of the beastie can't be shown, either, but the total length (allowing for an inch of shot-off head) came to just an inch under three feet. There were "ten rattles plus the button". Not a Jurassic monster, but big enough to carry a fair enough boatload of death. Not the one that jumped into the pit, by the way: That rattler is about a foot longer and noticeably darker in coloration.
A photo sequence of the right-side-up body is being included here. It seemed important to let new-to-rattler readers understand how much movement a supposed-to-be-dead pit viper can generate. Why? The deadhead bite, that's why. A friend who used to work in Emergency Medical Services told me a (true) story today of a man who called 911 after being bitten by a rattler. When the ambulance arrived, the guy had killed the snake that had bitten him and had cut of its head, putting the head into a box just in case hospital staff needed to determine exactly what kind of snake it was.
When they wheeled him out of the ambulance on a gurney, the box was also on the gurney--and fell off, the lid fell off, and the snake head wound up under the ambulance. Yup. One of the attendants decided he'd just reach under and get that head...and yes indeed, it bit him. Moral of the story: If there's any doubt that a snake is really dead, it's best to err on the side of lots and lots of caution.
Sleep well tonight.
vote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (10)
- Funny (2)
- Awesome (9)
- Beautiful (1)
- Interesting (4)
CommentsLoading...
Geez, Fred! I don't like them either! They are all long reminders that there exists in this world a plethora of fear! So because hate is a negative word, I'll opt to using the word fear. I fear these snakes and as you've gracefully articulated, for good reasons! Thanks!
Wesley, Dohn, thanks for the Comments. I was raised at the foot of Rattler Hill (not named for crickets!) in Montana, and now I retire in the preferred territory of the most dangerous rattler (the Mojave green) in Arizona?
Gotta be karma.
"that tabloid read so assiduously by reptiles everywhere"
LMAO
makes me think of some of the evolution debates that argue whether we are descendents of apes or of serpents.
Darwinians or Ophiucans???
I'm not sure what the point of running over every snake you see is. If anything, you're destroying adults who have made their network away from your house, opening up a niche, which will be filled with babies. It may feel to you like you're doing some good and protecting your home, but you're not. If you truly want to keep snakes away from your house, there are much better, more effective ways to do it then to attempt to wipe out the entire population in the area.
The black snake you saw was a coachwhip. There are indeed rattlesnakes in AZ that get jet black, but not where you live. I have an Arizona Black Rattlesnake from Maricopa county that is solid black head to tail.
Think I would be doin the same thing Ghost. Don't feel bad about it for a second. There are more where they came from and if I wasn't running them over, it would be lock and laod every time I saw one. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do and what you gotta do is keep em away from your house....they wouldn't go inside, would they??
I do not like snakes. I can deal with most any animal but snakes and bats I just would rather not be around. I dated a guy a long time ago who kept them in the house in glass cages...it creeped me out every time I went over there...guess that's why I quit dating him, never knew if those things would stay where they were or start roaming the house at night...creepy...why would you want to keep a snake of any sort as a pet anyhow??? Beyond me..lol
Excellent hub as always, enjoyed it!!
Bryan, I don't run over every (rattle) snake I see. Some I slice and dice with overhead swings of a #2 shovel. Some I shoot. And some I smash with handy rocks, if rocks are handy.
The Mojave green might have established its base elsewhere, but it was near my property line with its head pointed directly toward my house.
As to babies, I kill them, too, if I see 'em.
Lenny, I do love it when a reader "gets" something I wrote. Thanks for the Comment.
WealthMadeHealthy, thanks--I certainly don't feel bad about doing what I feel I need to do. If I let even one go and Pam later died from snakebite, I'd be convinced to my own dying day that she'd been nailed by the one I gave a free pass. And as far as I'm concerned, no pit viper's life is worth risking that.
We can also point to a couple of little critters whose Mommy was most likely et by a snake of one sort or another--or at least by a predator, not to exclude the possibility of a coyote or a bobcat. Namely, we've acquired 2 new house pets, baby kangaroo rats who turned up in a hole I've been digging. They're truly darling and seem to consider the parakeet seed a feast.
Now to go do a Hub about that....
As to their going into houses (or any building), it does happen--where I grew up, we had diamondbacks DEN under our log ranch house, but fortunately never got one inside. Did have them turn up in barns and sheds. We're not much on leaving doors wide open, if you know what I mean.
Pam watched a TV show recently about a rattler that entered a home through the dryer vent and had somehow found a way to take up residence in the house, even shedding a skin behind the dryer.
Gotta love it Ghost! I was hooked on your article from the opening and stayed the whole distance. I'm going to add myself as a fan and invite you to do the same. I've just posted the first of my four episode series about snakes - I conclude the series with an Arizona adventure but won't go into that here. Follow them if you're a mind to - we write in a similar style (I think).
Slice and dice . . . . lol
WW II
Wes, thanks for your Comment. I'm on my way to check out YOUR snake stories....
I used to live out west and I miss the rattlesnakes. Now I have cottonmouths and copperheads and they do not warn you first. They simply stay put and then bite if you get too close.
Ben, that's why I don't live where you live. Of course, rattlers don't always warn you either, but at least the odds are much better.
Snakes give me the creeps just about more than any living creature... Your story was well told, confirmed by the shivers down my spine. In the summer of 1993, I tore out my kitchen ceiling to replace it after it had been damaged from a long-leaking roof. The first day not much more got done than taking out the old ceiling. About midnight I look up into the kitchen and spy a huge snake slithering around in the insulation. A few minutes later I saw a smaller snake. I was ready to sell the house on the spot. I understand what the folks telling you not to kill the snakes are saying, but my friend, I'm with you on this one. If it's me or the snake, it's gonna be the snake every time.
Good story, but now I gotta worry about having another darn snake dream and the dreams are always worse than any real story. Except,of course, you always wake up alive.
This reminds me of the guy who drove over a rattler in a state park in Florida a few years back. Naturally enough he reported this deed to the ranger at the gate fully expecting a pat on the back, but instead incurred a hefty fine! He had to cut his vacation short since he could no longer afford to stay. But there was a happy ending (not for the snake) because the story made the paper and enraged people sent the snake killer funds to insure his deed did not impoverish him. I'm sure you would have contributed had you known about his misfortune.
Mike, I totally understand...except I probably wouldn't have sold the house; I'd have GIVEN it away!
Charlie, I'm with you on the snake dreams for sure. As to the fellow who got fined for killing the rattler, I might indeed have sent him a donation...to attend a class designed to reduce his ignorant trust of any bureaucrat. The only part of your comment with with I'd never agree is the "naturally enough" part; I don't tell ANY dude (or dudette) with a badge what he (or she) does not need to know.
Ghost, this is your best snake story yet! You have the makings of a cowboy poet. We were in a well-established paved neighborhood out in Wickenburg but it was still the desert and we saw a lot of snakes. Always careful with the kiddos, but not expecting to see too many here in Surprise. Except maybe in the BBQ? I think I saw a mohave snake near the Hassayampa river one time but it was dusk and I was scared to death. We had just moved to AZ. Mojave rattlesnakes are very aggressive too. I don't think I'd leave one alive if I had the right means of disposal at the time.
It wasn't until after I'd written the hub and was searching for really good, relevant links that I came across the info confirming the Mojave's frequently extreme aggression. As for dusk, that's a great time for being scared to death, all right--not like the dead of night exactly, but you can just see well enough for the mind to turn a relatively ordinary rattler into some sort of super-Jurassic monster. And then of course you can't get to sleep for a month or so. Good times!
Ah, and when it comes to my street cred as a poet (cowboy or otherwise), feel free to Google "poetic humor" and click on the first thing that comes up.
Hey Ghost - what a fun story! Yeah I know, not much fun if you have to deal with them. I just love snakes though - the benign kind I mean. It's sad that you have to "remove" them but I completely understand the necessity. We used to get tons of black widow spiders in our woodpile in CA. John was always out there stomping on them when he went to get wood. And then we lived in Santa Fe for while and we would get centipedes - yuk! I'm not really squeemish but I never could get near those things - John to the rescue again!
Anyway, fun hub - and stay safe :)
Odd...thought I'd added a comment since the one by Madame X.
I do find in intriguing that despite this hub getting a number of views each and every day, no one seems to be commenting on the snake-in-the-pit part of the tale. Maybe it sounds just too unbelievable and readers are assuming it's a tall tale. After all, it's my experience and I still have trouble believing it happened the way I described it.
Did, though. No exaggeration whatsoever. And no interest in trips to that pit at (or after) dusk ever again, either.
Sure we have mojave greens where we live in California, but I mostly see giant gopher snakes which I don't bother as I know they have an important joeeb to do!
Happy Hub-Halloween, you have been Hub-Treated, ...Boo! as I remembered to hit the Up button to rate your hub!:)
Deborah-Lynn, thanks for the comment. I returned the Hub-Treat, and thanks for that, too.
Don't know if I'd recognize a giant gopher snake on sight. As long as I don't see that classic, triangular, pit viper head or a noisy tail, though, I'm not likely to click into "Terminator Mode". The only reason venomous vipers are not acceptable in our immediate vicinity is because they're...uh...venomous!
I had one run in with one while jogging on a lonely country dirt road. It was coiled and ready to strike and I jogged passed it about 5 feet away and didn't see it until it rattled. I of course threw gravel at it to shoo it away, and it was very aggressive, it almost seemed like a cobra, it slithered away with its head facing me up in the air while its body went the other way. It was a marked green. A few minutes later, I ran right past two huge bulls fighting each other a few feet away from me. I didn't see them because I was tired and they were quiet at the moment straining to push each other. If I had come at a different moment, it might have been bad for me. I'll never go running on that road again.
Wow. I wouldn't go running on that road again, either.
History has it that the Mojave Green is half cobra and half rattlesnake. The story goes that way back in the 30's or 40's that truck carrying deadly snakes from overseas wrecked and some of the deadly cobras exscaped. The reason for this load was because the snakes were being transported to a lab in California to process antivenom for the military overseas in the areas in which these snakes were from. The wreck was suppose to have happen on the road between Las Vegas and Barstow.This kinda explains 2 things known about the green 1) that the green has 2 types of venom in it's bite and 2) that people with encounters are saying that the green is aggressive and seems to stand up like a cobra. It's really something to think about and explains why it is so much more deadlier than the normal diamondback.
Lynn, I'd read a version of that theory, except that it was in the form of a legend of a war between cobras and rattlers with all the boy rattlers losing and the girl rattlers being impregnated by the winners. I'm a bit skeptical that the two species could interbreed, but then I'm just as skeptical of authoritative sounding statements that say they can't.
I do know there are more cobras hanging out in the U.S. than Charlie Citizen would generally guess. For four years I was retired (before the money ran out and I had to reenter the workforce for a while) at Anaconda, Montana. One of the Anaconda residents kept a pair of--no, not anacondas; the irony wasn't that perfect--of king cobras. Apparently he milked their venom regularly and sold it.
Not my idea of a fun way to make a living. Then again, I wouldn't want to run into one of the runaway African rock pythons in Florida, either:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/new-super-
True, I was BORN in Florida, but nah. The Arizona desert will have to do.
The thought of playing w/ cobras, let alone keeping a pair, gives me the chills. I am doin some research on the previous mentioned theory about the green and if find some convincing evidence, I will forward it to you. Something had to account for this dangerous breed w/ 2 different venoms.
Thanks, Lynn. If you do find some evidence worth forwarding, I'll more than glad to have it.
(Side note: Since I believe absolutely in the Law of Karma, it does make me wonder what sort of Cosmic Connection "persuaded" me to retire right in the middle of 'em....)
You did good. We live on the edge of the desert and have had a rattler in the yard before, and don't believe one half of what these "snake experts" tell you. I have seen rattlers CHASE people, apparently they are so afraid of us that they enjoy hunting us. If you see a rattler, kill it, preferably with a shotgun, don't get too close. If you are bitten, you are guaranteed some loss of mobility in the affected limb at an absolute minimum - you never come back 100% from a rattler bite.
Interesting, Mike. I've not seen a rattler chase a person...and I'm in no big rush to do so, either.
I can well believe you never come back 100% from a rattler bite. As for using a shotgun to kill 'em, I've done that (as described above) but have also used "closer" weapons: Shovels, rocks, pretty much anything that comes to hand. My first rattlesnake kill was at age 10 with a Smith & Wesson .45 Long Colt revolver of my Dad's, as detailed in another hub.
The shotgun is definitely my first choice, though.
WOW--great photos--check out my snake hubs--some of my photos are original, a few not. I just finished one on the Mojave Green.
Thanks. I'll head on over to your place, check out that Mojave green hub immediately.
Great entertaining article!! Yes that is a screen name I actually have been using for about 4 years. Great article. However the venom actually does more than you mention. I attacks from 3 different "angles". The first being the Respiratory system. The second being the circulatory system. and lastly the nervous system. Unless you are really really lucky to get to a hospital and have seriously well trained professionals on hand to deal with that serious of envenomation. I.E. Dr bush at Loma Linda University Hospital. You WILL die in about 15 minutes or less. I too live in the desert and don't like the idea of kill the critters that inhabit this area. However unlike a true diamond back (the Mojave Green is also refered to as a false diamondback due to the diamond pattern near its head) where I will simply monitor them from a safe distance until they get too close to the house. I wont hesitate to shoot a Mojavegreen if I see it on my property. Simply because of how deadly it is. As an EMT I can handel snake bite from a Diamondback. Due to it only affecting the respiratory and circulatory system. CPR comes in here (unless im the one bit lol) I can't do anything for a neurological problem. That is beyond my scope of capabilities. A 410 is more than enough to kill it. A 22 with snake shot will kill it. I myself use a 12ga.
1. Hate Trailers, I denied your comment due to its hostility content. I may be, as you stated, a "retarded redneck" but--like African Americans reserve the right to use the "n" word--I prefer not to allow non-redneck folks to shout about it on my page. This is a hub, not a forum for less-than-civil debate.
2. Mojavegreen, THANK YOU for providing such a clear picture of the Mojave green's envenomation methods. May your 12 gauge continue to serve you well!
thanks for giving such useful information about snakes ...... pics are really awesome .......
You're welcome. The Mojave green in particular has fascinated me--didn't even know the critter existed until we moved to Arizona in the middle of 'em last year.
Ghost32,I apologize for my use of language on my earlier comment,simply because you answered me back like a gentlemen.But I would appreciate if you would answer my question regarding the senseless slaughter of a animal that was put here to do more good than harm.How can you kill something that you so-call a" fascinating critter"?
Apology accepted.
Hate Trailers, the key in the discussion between us here lies--obviously--in the term "senseless slaughter". It's simply that I see killing Mojave greens not as "senseless slaughter" but rather as "necessary threat elimination". My wife has severe COPD, arthritis, feet and ankles damaged by bullet shrapnel, osteoporosis, epilepsy, diabetes, various sports injuries, several forms of mental illness, brain demyelination... that's not the total list, but it's enough to give you the picture.
Quite literally, the fear alone from even a close encounter with a Mojave green could kill Pam almost instantly. On most days, her balance is not good. And if the tiniest of juvenile Mojave greens got so much as a single drop of triple-acting venom into her bloodstream, she'd be gone in a heartbeat. Or rather, a heart that wouldn't beat.
I chose to be her protector in 1996, until death do us part. But neither of us wishes for that death to arrive by any messenger we could logically have avoided.
In truth, though I might find it hard to live with myself later, I could and would terminate not only a rattlesnake but anything or anyone--plant, mineral, animal or human--if necessary to keep a deadly threat from touching my beloved. I put her life above any other life on the planet...including my own.
I do understand what you had to say about mice and the hantavirus. We don't take that virus lightly. However, when it comes to reptilian mouse-eradicators, we choose to depend on the nonvenomous snakes in the area. So far, we've seen bullsnakes, coachwhips, and a few other varieties.
The dual benefit of the bullsnakes, of course, is that they will eat rattlers about as quickly as they will eat rodents.
Bottom line about "How can I?": I can because I see this as a Warring Universe with peace being something we can and should achieve individually and internally--but which will never become a global fact of life.
Ghost32 I appreciated your article and the information I've read on your hub. Today my wife and I were on our land at around dusk and I came about one shoe length from stepping on a Mojave. It was not coiled to strike but was just in a resting coil (whatever that is). Since we move to Arizona from Calif. we have seen several Mojave's. One was near the Dragoon's. It was about 4 feet long and very green. It coiled around a Agave plant and reared back like a Cobra and followed the heat of my truck as I slowly went forward and backward to see what it would do. I get chills just thinking about the sucker.
As for the one today, we called our neighbor friends to come over to, as they call it, "dispatch" the snake. It was done nicely with a 12Ga. Then we took the 9 segment rattle off for a souvenir.
I had heard that these critters were "endangered" and until reading your hub thought so. But my philosophy is that I am an endangered species. I happen to be the only one of my kind on this planet, thank you very much!!
Again...loved your article. Thanks.
No, they're certainly in no way an endangered species.
Wouldn't mind if they were.
Based on your "shoe length" story, I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you that dusk is traditionally the most dangerous time for snake encounters. As the heat of the day is lessening, many reptiles are getting ready to go hunting for supper--and in the low light, we humans feel like we can still see but in fact are likely to overlook a rattler nearby until it's too late.
We don't even allow the harmless snakes to hang around anywhere near our place if they so much as slightly resemble a Mojave green. I "dispatched" (as you put it so accurately) one such innocent critter just a few days ago. Pam had nearly stepped on that one, saw it, retreated, and woke me (early a.m.) to go do the deed.
We justify the action on two counts: (1) Fear factor. Scaring Pam badly enough, with her COPD and various other disabilities, could possibly result in her leaving the planet without even being bitten, and (2) this latest snake, while not venomous, definitely ate things like our desert grassland whiptail lizards and great horned toads (lizards), all of which live on a diet of ants and thus keep those little sixlegged beasties down to a low roar around the homesite.
So, we figure that single shot (.410 again, not 12 gauge) possibly saved one human life (Pam's) and, over time, 50 or 60 cool anteating little lizards we appreciate a great deal.
Plus, Pam has now seen me neatly decapitate two reptiles in a row with one shot each and is giving me the girly googly-eye look of admiration for her husband, the mighty marksman.
Doesn't get any better than that.
Would you consider moving and taking care of my mosquito problem? They probably kill more people around the world than all other members of Kingdom Animalia put together (LOL). Thanks for a very entertaining hub. You've got a fan on the Isle of Enchantment. Blessings, JR
I consider myself reasonably capable in most situations, but hardcore mosquito swarms are beyond me.
During the summer of 1962, I once ran out of money while on the rodeo circuit. Happened to be near a rodeo buddy's home area at the time and was given the chance to buck a few bales of hay in return for enough cash to give my '52 Chevy an oil change and a tank of gas. This was in northeastern Montana.
I'll never forget watching my friend's Dad as he drove a tractor to a nearby field and began mowing. You could see the tractor, but the mosquito swarm about the man's upper body was so thick that nothing but skeeter could be seen above the rear tractor tires.
Once I had that tank of gas, I never went back! :)
Happy to hear you appreciated the hub. May the blessings be.
FREAKY!!
I HATE SNAKES!!!! This hub was hysterical. You write with such zest. I had no idea that a mojave green existed. I never want to see one either. I HATE SNAKES!!!! I would carry that .410 every time to the pit. I truly enjoyed this hub...
Jrsearam: Hadn't thought of that term (freaky)--but it'll do!
Mrs. J.B. I'd never heard of the Mojave green, either, until after moving into southern Arizona. Pam knew about them, but she'd lived here before.
I don't carry the .410 every time, but have taken to strapping on a .22 caliber pistol.
Hey Ghost, I dearly appreciate what you have taught me tonight about rattlesnakes . We have had three here where we live in the southeast.Two very large ones and a small one. They were all killed. The small one killed by me ,and only because I new I would never be the same if it got away.I've never had an encounter with a viper before.So you can imagine how terrified I was. They do have a presence about them that sets them apart from the oak or rat snakes that are usually found here. I don't kid with myself though . I know there are others around ,but, I have only had encounters with just the three in the 18 years we have lived here.I Do Have a dreadful Fear of them and I appreciate the things you helped me understand about being careful even if you think they are dead, and not let your guard down.Thanks very much.
Ali, I can't thank you enough for your comment. Knowing the information in the Hub has actually been of practical value to you--that's what it's all about.
And you DO get some big rattlers in the southeast. We once had a neighbor who came from your part of the country. He had a photo a friend had taken of him holding a monster snake he'd killed. Being a bit of a crazy redneck, he was holding up the carcass without removing the head first, for the photo.
He said it was a seven footer, and it surely did appear to be. The man was just shy of six feet himself, he was holding the snake's head as high as his own, and there looked to be a good foot of snake-tail still dragging on the ground.
Be safe!
I have been told that the story of the Mohave Green's origins is correct. Story told by an old man who was in the sheriff's dept. then. He and a bunch of others were out there looking for and dispatching any they could find. The count did not add up. The Mohave Green started showing up a few years later.
That's MOST interesting. Your authoritative source has moved my moderate skepticism all the way to, "Okay, I'll buy that. Makes sense."
Hello again Ghost, I have to say my thoughts went straight to you about 30 minutes minutes ago. I never thought I would have this encounter so early in the summer.It felt really strange, Especially, since I just posted to you just hours ago. We have a wonderful 18 month old black lab dog my husband rescued about 6 months ago that was in pretty bad shape at the time, but he is doing great now.( gained some weight and his hair shines like silk )He has just fit into our life as if he has always been with us.Loves my husband more than life. Well, you probably know the unbelievable energy a lab has and I have been worried about him bounding through these woods,running full speed and not aware of anything but playing and glad to be with you. Well...My worse fear happened a little while ago. I went out to get him from his pen (we have to put him up so he doesn't follow my husband when he leaves)I was going to let him (do his business)and come inside for awhile until it cooled off some.It's been in the 100's for the last two weeks. We had a pretty heavy rain last night for the first time in months. Which was wonderful, but it's pretty muggy today. I let Indie out and watched as he did his usual running and smelling and a happy go lucky dance... Then it happened, all of a sudden he just stopped ,I walked over to the edge of the wooded area where he was looking and my instinct went in high gear, even though I couldn't see anything, but... I just felt this wasn't good. Then I saw it,it was moving ever so slow , I don't think Indie saw it when I did , I think he could hear the movement.I was in a fast motion thought process, I thought about you and many things you have said and I new the most important thing was to keep calm. I new I had to let Indie know he Had To Obey me, by my voice.My husband has trained him so well.I instantly called for him to come and walked toward the house, He Loves to go inside and that was a plus for me. But...he finally saw the snake and started barking and that really scared me.But I changed my toned and let him know he had to come and to my dismay he followed me and we both ran to the house. He seemed to me to realize I was protecting him. Well, with him safe inside I got my shovel and went back ,just to see which way the snake had decided to go. I was happy to see that it was going toward the woods and not coming back toward the house, because I wasn't sure I was mentally strong enough at that point to take on such a Big rattlesnake being by myself. Even though, I know I would have if he was going to come toward the house , I have two outside cats that I love very much. One is 18 years old... which, is probably way wiser than I 'am about safety when it comes to the wild to live as long as she has, but she is not as fast as she once was...My thinking was leave well enough alone, everybody was safe and the snake was gone.(for now)It was a strange feeling , I do wish I could have gotten him because there are children that live close by and play near the pond. but,I thought about the Kenny Rogers song... you have to know when to fold. And that I did. I'm happy I kept my senses, and stayed calm through this,It helps me to realize the most important thing is " Safety." first, and not killing.I will let this one be my Reminder, If it's not this one there are others here, and just Always Stay Prepared and Alert when I'm outside.I hope you didn't mind me sharing all this...I think my heart rate is returning to normal. Ali
Whew! Thanks for sharing, Ali. Sounds to me like you did JUST RIGHT.
My wife once, on the mountain in Montana, had an encounter with a big diamondback about as long as she is tall (five feet). It was coiled next to my truck tire, and our loveable but sometimes stone-stupid black cat, Cinder Bear (my bunk buddy, of the several we had at that time) was trading head-bobs with the critter, WELL within striking distance.
I wasn't home at the time, and Pam had a problem. She's not bad with short guns, but long weapons--be they rifles or shotguns--are not in her comfort zone for the most part. So the .410 was out. Additionally, she figured (correctly) that (a) if she hit the snake with her .375 Magnum and wounded it, it would very likely nail Cinder Bear in pure reflex, bye bye horrible death for Daddy's favorite kitty, (b) She couldn't shoot too close anyway without risking hitting either the cat or the truck tire.
So she blazed away till the gun was empty, deliberately shooting wide.
Neither cat nor snake paid the slightest attention, either to the pistol shots or to Pam's strident yells for Cinder to get the heck away from there.
Eventually, happy ending, the cat did move away from the viper, Jake the Snake uncoiled and slithered on down off the bench where I'd sited our cabin, and we neither one of us ever saw that one again.
Bottom line: You done good.
Your wise old cat is probably safer than anyone else, though, and know this: Snakes have an instinctive fear of cats. They will generally avoid your kitties unless the kitties are acting stupid.
I had a rattlesnake get between me and my son. I told him to back up slowly and go way around it to get to the house. Our dog saw what was going on and she came running up, stopped just short of the strike range and barked at it until it struck. She then went for it and got him right behind the neck. She bit down and wouldn't let go or quit shaking it until it was dead. I was sure she was going to get bit but she wouldn't listen to me telling her "back". We had not had her for long but she definitely knew how to deal with snakes. They are sometimes very good at this. I found dead snakes every once in a while but only poisonous ones. I did find live black snakes. She was a very smart dog.
A very smart dog indeed. What kind of dog?
Chow mix. We got her from a rescue org in Kingman. The first family wouldn't keep her because she got too big. The second family was moving and could only take 3 of their 8 dogs. We are her last family. I told my husband when we got her and that is that. She was almost pathetic. She has a good home now and I won't allow her to go. She plays a mean game of football too. Can get her mouth around it and she is gone. You MAY get it back. She also found the hamsters when they got loose. She would bring them to me and put them in my lap. They just needed toweled off.
Wow. That's one all-around impressive pup! Good thing the former sets of owners didn't know what they were missing...except maybe a few footballs. :)
I've heard that you need to bury or burn the head as they still retain their poisons and people can get poisoned from them even after a week or so ... that was on man versus wild in regard to a desert poisonous snake. Is it the same for all poisonous snakes?
Anyway thank you for writing this as it really is interesting especially for those of us who have never seen a poisonous snake or any snake in my life.
I couldn't say about ALL poisonous snakes, but certainly better safe tha sorry. If the skull still retains the venom sacs, the potential for poisoning certainly still exists.
I always bury the heads of ours except for those I kill with the .410 shotgun. In those cases, the heads (including venom sacs) are instantly disintegrated by the blast of #6 birdshot, and you couldn't find enough to bury if you wanted to.
I am sad to say but my wifes dog lost a battle with this beast last night. It was 0115 when i woke to start getting ready for work when I heard B go (CRAZY). So me bein me go to see whats the problem there was the snake coiled up at him ready to go so i told B to get in his dog house and stay did he listen of course not when i want him to he thought it was a play toy. Now B is a 80lb chow Lap Dog as my wife would say but very responsive and listened very well. Anyways I went inside after my sons cricket 22mg thinking that ya that should do it by the time i got back B had been struck about 6 times from legs to chest he looked horrible so i shot the snake and pissed it off at me so i reached around the shed there and got my rock prybar out (if you live in AZ you know what i am talking about) and dropped it on the snake untill i got the .40 out the safe. So i get back out to it! It is gone. What the hell is in goin through my head but back to the dog it pretty much killed him with in minutes of being struck that many times. So i called my father to come help me find this snake comes over and we did about 5 ft away from where i put the prybar on him so dad got the shovel after him needless to say who won that fight but the moral is i didnt even know about all of the snakes in southern AZ untill after all of this happened and i grew up here so y dont they teach this in school or offer wildlife learning exibits here. Wouldnt that be helpfull or somewhat.
Stunned in Ajo
MailMan, I am SO sorry to hear this. You're right; they ought to be teaching some sort of Snake Awareness 101 in school.
Re-read this again today and am still amazed at your intuition. I voted it up and useful, as I am sure with all of this hot weather, snakes abound everywhere. Great information for people who have not seen it. Stay cool!
Most hardcore survivors (I count myself as one such) have that intuitive sense tuned up pretty well; they just don't all talk about (or write about) it.
We're staying a touch coolER, anyway, with a bit of monsoon rain here and there. Today's sprinkle, so far, wouldn't have been enough to shower in if you ran around outside naked, but it still took the temp down 10 degrees or so.
Every little bit helps.
Is it true that the mohave green is just as dangerous as a cobra? We had one in our yard about a month ago and was a pretty light green. It was shot and killed.Why does it take so long for the snake to die? We use the bullets for use to kill snakes.We have killed five western diamonds,too thanks
I must say killing any from of poisonious snake is ok with me. Consedering that is how we handle them also, due to my medical conditions as well as the safety of our 10 month old son. As for the snake launching it's self into the air. I have seen a few do this myself, while growing up in nothern Nevada and my Dad thought it important that all of us kids be able to identify rattlers by sight and sound. So he would make them mad to get them to rattle always with us kids at a safe distance. once they are mad they seem to be able to laungh them selfs into the air. I have seen them seem to launch them selfs from rocks and Branches both. Althought it is strange I always thought and was told by snake experts that they can only raise half there body off the ground.
Thank you, for the Information.
Yes, they are just that dangerous, possibly because they actually are part cobra. There's a tale out there that "long ago" a truckload of vemonous snakes (including cobras) wrecked on its way to a research facility--the wreck took place somewhere around Barstow. Law enforcement did what they could to hunt the snakes down, but according to the tally, quite a few were never found.
The Mojave greens started turning up a few years later.
I don't know if biologists would admit the two species are capable of interbreeding, but then again, so-called experts aren't always right. Common sense would tell us that if they did start out as half-cobra, half-diamondback, there wouild eventually be a wide variation in coloration, markings, and venom...which is EXACTLY what we're seeing today.
As to appearance, your very pretty light green specimen is remarkable, but even here the Mojaves I've killed have shown no two exactly alike.
As to the venom, there have been reported cases of Mojaves packing two types of venom, but also some that carried THREE types.
To paraphrase the Big Bad Wolf in the Little Red Riding Hood story, "The better to kill you with, my dear."
Which makes one wonder, "Hm...maybe not even just cobras interbred? How about a few banded kraits from India, or...."
In other words, the possibilities are endless--but none of them are good for the person who gets bitten.
Why snakes take so long to die, I've no real clue. Perhaps any good herpetologist could tell you. But I have figured out one thing: They have a lot of reflexes that don't have to cycle through the brain to work.
You know how the doctor will tap your leg with a little rubber hammer just below the kneecap to "test your reflexes"? I figure that reflex doesn't go through the human brain at all (no matter what the hotshots say--as you might have already noticed, I tend to trust my own insights more than the so-called "authorities").
In snakes, it's clear that a LOT of their reflexes don't go through the brain. As noted in the Hub, touching a headless Mojave green with a shovel blade right near the tip of the tail will cause the headless neck to strike the shovel.
Most likely, the writhing ("not dead yet") we so often see in "freshly killed" snakes is just that: A set of reflexes--somewhat trying to connect with a brain that's no longer there, yet nontheless "sort of" functioning on their own. Until enough time passes with no oxygen or fresh instructions from the missing brain for the "genetic entity" to figure out,
"Oh, heck, I'm dead; might as well quit moving."
That's all the guess I've got on it.
Sarah, there you go: Never trust an "expert" opinion any more than you have to.
Your Dad was a wise father. I've not seen any other rattlers do the air launch, but that could be because I'm always too busy killing them to stir them up before I hit them with something. I do appreciate your mentioning the times you've seen them do this.
One thing I'm curious about, though. You mention "branches". Do you mean branches in trees (or bushes) well off the ground? I've yet to see a rattler in a tree--despite the fact that it rhymes rather nicely.
Branches from trees that were now in the hand of my Dad.
Let me just say I am very greatful that he is a very accurate shot.
Ah. Thanks for the claification.
Yes, being a very accurate shot in snake country is definitely a good thing.
I want to thank you for yor insight to these creatures... I don't like to kill anything BUT... Is it true that snakes usually stay in one area for their lifetime? My dog was bite by a western diamond back over two years ago and lost all her hair on her face it did grow back..But she lost most of her hearing..We live in Golden Valley,AZ
I'm really skeptical of the claim that snakes tend to stay in one area "permanently". They may be like humans--some are stay-at-home types, others born wanderers. But if they all tended to hold to their "birth territories", the widespread presence of the Mojave green would be hard to explain.
By all accounts, the first Mojave greens showed up around the Barstow, California, many years ago. Yet we have more of them here on our southeastern Arizona property than we do western diamondbacks (at least according to my kill tally). That's at least 600 miles of "movement" as the crow flies, and the snake wiggles a lot more roundabout route than that.
Or it may have to do with what we consider the definition of an "area". Where I grew up, west of Drummond, Montana, diamondbacks were, shall we say, "plentiful" (and then some). Yet south of town, they were never seen. Not sure why.
Glad your dog made it through--tough dog!
P.S. I don't like to kill anything, either. But that doesn't mean I hesitate when it comes to critters that could kill my wife in a heartbeat and give me a run for my money.
It is around 2:30 p.m. and I have westerndiamond back in my backyard against the garage. I was hoping that the roadrunner would get the snake.The roadrunner kept looking but did not want it.WHY NOT THOUGHT THE ROADRUNNER IS A SNAKE EATER. Do not know waht to do about the snake ???
goldengirl, your comment just hit my page--and it's after 8:00 p.m. here now. I'm guessing that either you came up with a solution or the rattler went off somewhere by now (hopefully not into your garage).
The roadrunner is a snake eater, but it may be that this particular snake was too big and dangerous in that bird's eyes. Hard to say.
It sounds like you must be alone and have no experience dealing with diamondbacks. In which case, DON'T try to do anything about it yourself. If you live in town, sometimes the police will come get it. If not, still sometimes they will send a deputy. At least, if you called and asked, they would tell you the local rules.
You didn't mention pets or children, so I'm guessing there are none of those at risk in or near your back yard. With it being dark outside now, the most important thing you can do if you have to go outside (or even into your garage) is to (a) carry a flashlight and (b) make sure you're not walking up on the critter.
If the snake is gone by now, you MAY see it again...or you may not. One of our neighbors had one near their house about two months ago when the wife but not the husband was home. She didn't dare tackle it, and it eventually disappeared. So far they've not seen it again.
Likewise, when Pam and I lived off grid in Montana (the year 2000), I was away from the cabin one day when a huge, five-foot diamondback turned up coiled by our truck tire, bobbing its head at our most foolish cat, who was bobbing HER head right back at it. Nobody got hurt, and the snake finally crawled off the bench where we had our residence. Never saw that big boy again, either, despite living there for 2 more years.
Don't know if any of this helps, but it's about all I've got for the moment....
Thanks for the info ghost32...I have one dog which got bit two years ago and lost the hair on her face but it grew back..lost most of her hearing... We have encountered 5 westerndiamonds in the past two and half years,and recently a mohave green. They were all killed. We moved to Golden Valley which is near Kingman off of 40. We moved from Vegas WHY I don't know...family is in the area...I am afraid to go out now day or night...Captive in my home...thanks
Sorry to hear about the captive-in-your-home thing. I understand about the fear, too. On the Montana ranch where I grew up, rattlers were common--well, it WAS at the foot of Rattler Hill, just over the ridge from Rattler Gulch, so duh!
Anyway, as a kid, I'd have trouble sometimes even going to sleep in the house or even the bunkhouse. As soon as I'd close my eyes, I'd see a sea of snakes, all coming to get me. Had to teach myself some serious mental defense techniques.
Didn't more or less grow out of the psychic trauma till I was in my forties, at least.
That said, IF you can control the fear, you might want to consider this:
1. At night, yeah, it pays to be extra careful, especially if you have any grass, brush, or "stuff" lying around that might provide concealment for a critter. Let's forget about the night for now.
2. In the daylight, you should not be at serious risk as long as you're not one of those who spaces off and just forgets where they are at odd times. If you have several feet of clear space wherever you go outside, space where you can see the ground, a rattler is NOT going to jump out from cover at you. You're too big to eat, you're not seriously threatening it, etc. etc.
Plus, if you do see one that's "too close for comfort" (say, 100 miles or so), it's simple enough to freeze until you're sure of its location, then back away slowly (looking behind as you go, so you don't encounter another one, of course).
Huh. Just reread that. Probably scared you even worse.
We've been here a bit less than your 2 1/2 years. Total encounters to date: 1 apparent prairie rattler (hey, that's what it looked like), 2 western diamondbacks, and 4 Mojave greens. All of which were killed except for the flying Mojave in the pit; no clue what happened to that one.
Goldengirl, I am going to tell you something to HELP keep snakes out of your yard. Buy some diesel fuel and pour it around your yard, trying to make sure there are no snakes inside your line. Make another line about 1 foot inside that. KEEP YOU DOG AWAY until it dries. It will help keep snakes from coming into your yard. This will need to be redone every couple of months because it will dissipate. The diesel fuel burns their skin, so they do not cross it. If you alternate lines every month, you will only have to do one line every month.
Another way is to have a friend who cuts hair save the clippings for you. Spread the hair in a line around your yard and they aren't supposed to cross it either. I am not as sure about this one but I have heard it from several sources.
The hair thing could get messy when the desert winds got it all to moving hither, thither, and yon.
I'd heard about snakes being reluctant to cross diesel lines but have to admit to a bit of automatic skepticism. That is, diesel doesn't burn my skin (and I've next to bathed in the stuff); why would snake skin in constant ground contact be more sensitive than what's on my hand?
So I did a bit of Googling on the topic. Found any number of folks swearing it works...and one post that said,
"...found a big old gopher snake on my tractor, curled up on the fuel (diesel) tank sunning himself a week or so ago, and the dribbled fuel sure didn't keep him away...."
Maybe it depends on the species?
I'm sorry, it is kerosene. I need to go to bed, I can't remember anything today.
Get some rest!
A lot of others do refer to diesel, though.
Now that I am awake and can think, it is kerosene that burns them and the hair should be chopped into little pieces. WD 40 works to clear keyholes of black widow spiders too. We lived in an apartment with a laundry room at the end of it (long and single row of 5). A black widow moved into the key hole. I was leery of using the key, so my husband shot the key hole with WD40. The spider came running out, wriggling in its death throes. Didn't have to worry about getting bit by that one.
Not having handled much kerosene, I'll definitely defer to your knowledge on that one. The WD-40 to wipe out the black widow sounds HIGHLY effective.
And I know EXACTLY where our half full can of aerosol-powered WD-40 can be found, too, right next to the can of silicone lubricant...on my desk.
Redneck priorities for storage arrangements RULE in this house! LOL!
I have gone outside didn't mean to be so dramatic but... If I knew what I was getting into I would not have MOVED here... I am originally from NY and never saw a venomous snake..I thought I was brave but no more...
When I say NY I mean Long Island. I watch near the garage where the sun is and keep away from the shade ...I could write a book about my adventures in SNAKE COUNTRY...
Nothing wrong with being dramatic. By and large, venomous snake encounters ARE dramatic for most people.
We DID know what we were "getting into" when we moved here, with the single exception that I didn't know the Mojave green existed. The snake factor is simply a fact of life for us; no matter where you live, there are dangers--just of different sorts, depending on locale.
And...why NOT write a book? No reason you couldn't write it first as a series of Hubs titled "My Adventures in Snake Country" (or some such), then when you had enough for a book, pull them together into a single volume and go for it...right?
Hey Ghost32,
Great story. The family and I went to Sedona for the first time (from Cleveland). We were off road on a Jeep tour when we came accross a dead Mojave green (url is a pick of it). The guide told us it was a nasty critter, but we had no idea it could spray it's venom. My son (9) wanted to touch it, but I wouldn't let him anywhere near it. It had been baking in the sun for a few hours, but we couldn't see what caused it's death (no tire tracks over it), so we figured it might be a great actor and trying to get us close enough to have for dinner.
Hope all's well.
-david (cowboy in cleveland)
David: Great post, and thanks--but I don't believe that's a Mojave green. Looks like a black-tailed rattlesnake. If you click on this link, you should be able to see what I'm saying:
http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/arizona-rattlesnakes.shtm
The illustration of the Mojave green is 2nd from the top. The black tailed is 10th from the top, or 4th from the bottom.
Not that a sensible person would care to be bitten by ANY rattler. Your prohibition, not allowing your son to touch it, was EXACTLY right. Chances are, this one was truly dead--but with pit vipers, chances are stupid things to risk. As I detailed in my first Hub on the species (Mojave green), and as is likely true for all rattlesnakes, touch even a "freshly dead with no head" rattler near the tail--and the raw neck will strike!
No kidding. The first Mojave I killed here, in 2009, did exactly that. The neck hit the shovel I was holding, SPLAT! Had the head been still attached (instead of blown off by a shotgun blast), I've no doubt whatsoever the jaws would have been gaping and the fangs going for it.
I suspect the snake in your photo was run over by a vehicle. Looks like "road dust" covering (ground in?) the head and neck area. Not all tires would leave identifiable "track marks".
I'm not a snake fan myself being from the valley of the sun. But I must admit they make for interesting eats...
50 Caliber would certainly agree with you. Never tried one myself--so far, anyway. I could get a lot less finicky in a hurry if it was eat snake or die.
In the meantime, though, I don't much care for the idea of dealing with all those bones. Which is roughly half of the same reason I avoid many kinds of fish.
Give me the right boneless shark steak, though, and....
Got a kick out of comments here. I live in Vegas mostly sidewinders. Killed many rattlers growing up in Mojave desert...wondering how many were greens now?? We just called them all western dback s
I believe I'd wonder, too.
The most fascinating snake I've come across--in a sense--was a pale white, almost slug-wormlike thing I hauled up in a bucket of water, mud and rocks from a well I was digging in Montana in 2000. Finally, using the Audubon Field Guide, I lucked out & was able to identify it as a blindsnake, which is truly blind, lives underground just like an earthworm, and is eaten by other snake that finds it.
But the interesting thing about was that the Guide swore up, down and sideways, that it did not range north of Texas.
So much for the experts when it comes to location.
I've been told a few people that there is no such thing as western diamondback? They all respond quite well to a 12 guage though. Lol
Whoever's saying that, feel free to send 'em our way; we'll introduce 'em to a few! :)
Here's a link to an Arizona govt. page showing the critter (along with other varieties).
http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/arizona-rattlesnakes.shtm
Uniform response to a 12 gauge. Check.
We don't have rattlesnakes here but last night my son, David was coming into the apartment when he heard the sound of something hitting his shoe. He looked down and he was standing on a baby snake. He is terrified of snakes. He opened the door and asked his dad and brother to come here in a total panic. He kept standing on it.
Rodger and Dennis went out there to see what he had. Rodger found a stick to trap it with so David could get off of it. Then he grabbed it up at the base of the head for ID. It was a baby copperhead. Less than a foot from my front door. They killed it as we don't need something like that in this apt complex. Kids, old people, dogs and cats all over.
I really feel sorry for him because he turns white, shakes and sweats if he just sees a snake, let alone has some kind of contact with it.
Good for your snake-terrified son. It ain't courage if you're not scared in the first place.
With most of my life being spent in or near rattlesnake country (excluding those "necessary" city years here and there, I'm no longer upset or concerned when a diamondback (or whatever) shows up. But I've no desire to live within a thousand miles of cottonmouth country, and copperheads aren't my favorite either because they're simply too easy to miss. As your son noticed.
Being a brown color and being too young for the copper to show, it was definitely hard to see in the dimly lit breezeway. I was proud of him for having the courage and presence of mind, to keep standing on it until he had help getting it under control. It struck his leather tennis shoe several times before they got it under control. I shudder to think what would have happened to Katy, the dog or me. Katy and I wear sandals all the time in the summer. We would have been bit.
Yes, I'd say he's to be applauded, without question.
I can never force myself to wear sandals anywhere but in the house (where I do use a heavy duty pair of flip-flops in lieu of slippers). But having quit wearing cowboy boots in late 1999 (long story), and since then sticking to $12 (used to be $10) Wal-Mart tennis shoes--which I go through rapidly, but hey--I'm not exactly invulnerable. It would depend on precisly WHERE on the shoe the baby snake strikes were hitting.
Pam, however, DOES sometimes go outside in sandals, or even open-heel slippers.
Right on the side and toe of the shoe. We think we are safe in the yard of an apt. complex in the middle of town but I guess not. We never look for snakes here. If I was there, I would definitely be looking. This was on the concrete between two doors. The sidewalk and patio.
Nope. Safe nowhere! AAAGGGHHH! :)
Reminded me of sitting on a high, anchored-to-the-concrete chair at a streetside Chinese cafe, being treated to a bowl of "real Chinese" something or other which I only choked down so as not to offend my Hindu friend who'd paid for the meal. With my feet resting on the lower rung ringing the chair legs.
Watching the rats running around on the contrete below my feet in the majestic city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Almost picked up a dark rattler. I thought my brother had put out a fake rubber snake as a joke. As I reached down to pick it up the tongue flickered. I jumped back and screamed like a little girl. Damn thing never made a noise...4+foot extremely dark dback.
Whew! I do believe I might have needed a change of shorts after that one!
They don't always make noise, as you found out--in fact, they never do unless alarmed, so apparently you didn't scare it one little bit....
Looking back. Should've let him live as he might have just done the same for me!
Maybe so--I could say the same about some my wife and I've encountered over the years--but the trouble is, you can't ever be sure. Unless you're a spiritual Master who can read that deeply into the nature of things and know beyond a "maybe".
Plus, what if he really did do that for you--and you returned the favor--but then he sired (or she bore, whichever--I've never known how to sex a rattler, nor cared to try) a few hundred offspring...and one of THEM decided not to be so gracious down the road a bit?
Or one of them let YOU live but nailed a loved one?
Or...?
There are situations where the extreme intensity of possible consequences outweigh everything else. I generally apologize to 'em--always after the kill, and even before if there's time--but in more or less this fashion:
"Sorry that had to be done; may you go on to your next life in peace." I also mentally (or sometimes even aloud if I'm alone) ask Prajapati, a spiritual Master who works with animals, to give 'em a hand with the transition of he's not too busy at the moment.
Ghost32
Is the use of lariat rope or any other ropes a Detterent for snakes? I have heard they were, your comments please.
No "rope deterrent" has ever been proven effective in any "snake testing experiments", so for you and me, the answer would have to be a resounding NO.
BUT the old cowboys used to use them all the time and swore by them, and it's not likely they were lying about not getting bitten during the night.
So: How to reconcile these two opposites?
I have a theory. I strongly suspect it's the BELIEF in the lariats that protected cowboys then (and likely still does for some today). The power available within the human mind is huge. There have been times when it was NECESSARY for me to go stomping through high vegetation--grass and/or brush--where I knew rattlers lived. I'd put out (and can still do so at need) a fierce warning to all of them: "Coming through! Get out of my way!"
I believe they can feel that, at least when it's done with the determination, force, and sheer INTENT I put behind it.
But I don't believe in ropes that way, so a rope wouldn't do ME a bit of good. For a believer, it might be just the ticket.
Clear as mud?
Great article and story. I have a ranch up the road from Castle Hots Springs and there are Mohaves a plenty. One day I was hiking and threw a rock in the grass so see if something would rattle before I stepped up onto the cow trail from the dirt road. Nothing happened. I cautiously put one foot down, Nothing. Right as I put the other foot down a very green rattlesnake went flying by my foot, maybe even brushed the toe of my shoe. it was about a 3 foot Mohave. I jumped a mile high and took off. Scariest day of my life!
Wow.
That would get your attention, all right!
I dint envy your your snake encounter, it must have been really frightening. As for me i no nothing about snakes and i don't want to because of one thing, i simply hate them. Will you believe if i say i have never seen a live snake in all my 34 years? Yes, it is true and i hope that i never, ever encounter one.
I wish they where never created but as long as it continues to keep its distance from me, fine. After reading your hub, i started imagine what i would have done if i was the one faced with that Mojave snake. Melt or just simply disintegrate.
Yes, I believe your "34 years and no snake sightings" experience. Why not?
In my case, I grew up on a ranch where the diamondback rattlesnake population was "intense" enough that both Rattler Hill and Rattler Gulch were close proximity. Learning to deal with 'em was a requirement.
"Melt or just simply disintegrate." That's pretty descriptive! :)
I just have to say that I have read a few of your stories through various avenues. I can tell it's your stories because of your adoration for your wife, the inherited shotgun that you mention, and your style. You're the kind of person I wish I knew personally. You seem very wise and intuitive and I appreciate you reaching out, for those of us who don't know you, for one thing. For another, I wish you could be my neighbor.
I'm getting ready to move to the high desert here in CA and I've just recently learned what I've gotten myself into exactly. My mother and I will be sharing the house with my 2 boys (ages 12 and 9). I'm mortified that my dream for them to be able to get outside and play without having to worry about someone snatching them may be exchanged for fear of them being bitten.
I was raised in east Texas with various rattlers, cottonmouths and other snakes - and living in the woods at that. Somehow, I made it through without ever even having seen a rattlesnake in our yard. But, truth be told, I'm kinda scared half bald. I don't own a gun, though reading your stories has me thinking I just might be making a purchase. I'm gonna have to find a place to get some target practice in.
Anyway, none of us are very aware, though I feel the need for awareness may force us to be. But, I am going to try to remember how I got to you and I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell. See, I didn't want to be inside a city, right up against neighbors. NO! I wanted a house where the kids could run wild and be free and answer the call of the wild. Now I feel like I've sentenced us all to a life of imprisonment. I try, as a single mom (who doesn't remember to date or things like that), to look tough (girlie as you please) and to teach my kids how to fish, camp and even the little things I know about cars. I want them to be "MEN" when they're grown. So, Apple Valley seemed like a good way to knock some of the city off of them. Now, I'm realizing that I've got an awful lot of city in me too.
I will say, where I was raised, the only "good snake" was a dead snake; kill it, then worry about what kind it was. It's just where I grew up and how things were. And, if I have the faculties available, if/when I am faced with the situation, I intend to be on the living end of the confrontation. I intend to do everything I can to teach my boys all that I can to help them stay safe. If it means taking the life of a snake, then so be it. But, in the meantime, I hope you will keep your enlightening stories coming.
Tips like the kerosene are very helpful. When I was growing up, we put a line of sulfur around our yard to keep snakes out. Supposedly, it also burns their bellies. I have heard that it doesn't work. But, I can say that as a kid, I played outside and didn't see a snake in our yard. The only time I saw them was outside of our yard. So, I hear what people say about sulfur, but I've also lived inside the sulfur line. But, either way, I'm rambling.
I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your stories and your pictures. I'm hoping that somehow you find yourself in Apple Valley, CA so I can call you - chicken as I will be - when one of the Mojaves finds it's way to my house. But, hopefully, they will just stay on the other side of my sulfur line! Here's to hoping! And, thank you, again!
lateeda, I'm thinking you'll be just fine...even though Apple Valley is not really high on my list of places to live (mostly because of California politics).
One thing I sort of had to retrain myself to do after we moved here was to quick-study the tail end of any snake I encountered--because we have more friendly, nonvenomous types here than we do rattlers (thankfully), and some of them even munch the pit vipers as yummy snacks. Also because the Sonoran gopher snake can at first glance be mistaken for a rattler and die becaue of it.
Good luck with the sulphur line, and it may even work. My strong suspicion is that the reason such "tricks of the trade" work sometimes (and sometimes not) is because of the BELIEF factor of the user. No reason why a reptile couldn't pick up on the thoughts of a human; at least some of us project mentally with a whole lot of "wattage".
If you're going to consider purchasing a firearm at some point, the .410 shotgun with #6 bird shot in 3 inch Magnum shells is the most effective "snake gun" out there--and in a pinch, perfectly workable for home defense if (God forbid) it ever came to that. A few lessons would be a good thing, yes. And if I were your neighbor, I'd be more than happy to provide that instruction.
Unfortunately...:)
That said, the biggest diamondback I've killed to date (4 1/2 feet, Montana, 1999) was whacked with a #2 shovel. Shovel-swinging lessons, too, might be a good idea! LOL! (I grew up on a ranch, so a shovel, axe, whatever, are all pretty much part of me when in use.)
It's a hard thing to hear, that you feel the country setting you've chosen is now to be your "prison". Hopefully, you can get past that...in time. I've lived in major cities (Portland, San Diego), small towns, and rural settings--and the farther from "civilization" I get, the freer I feel.
One suggestion: You might consider telling the snakes, "Love y'all, but STAY OUTSIDE THE SULPHUR LINE. WHAT I SEE, I WILL HAVE TO KILL, AND I'D RATHER NOT, OKAY?"
On our desert acreage here, the ONLY times I've ever seen snakes are times I've failed to do that. Yes, it could be coincidence or superstition, but on the other hand, if it works, don't fix it. I truly believe the snakes (when I'm doing that) sense the message and comply.
Kill every damn poison snake alive. I think they should be eradicated off the face of the earth. Only nuts want to keep them alive. They are demons and kill children if given the chance. I say put a 10 dollar bounty on them. Let the rich man put it up to rid the earth of the bad snakes and keep the good ones.
Hm. That seems a bit harsh even to a lifetime experienced viper eradicator like me. Not that they're not dangerous to children; they most certainly are.
In either case, however, the point is moot. Man does not have the power to eradicate poisonous snakes from the face of the Earth--unless he takes himself out in the process via something like a nuclear winter. And even then, some might survive after us.
Nor do I see venomous snakes as evil--though some are, just like some men and for that matter some tweety birds are. Mostly, they are simply venomous. Neither bad nor good, just...potent.
But I can understand your viewpoint.
wesleycox Level 2 Commenter 2 years ago
This is a very informative and well told story of the green snake. My skin is still crawling and my feet are up on the chair. I am terrified of snakes personally. Thanks for sharing.