Ho, ho, ho... you want to be wiped or whipped, I have a 6 ft bull whip and two dry red corn cobs? Corn cobs come with a bottle of purple vitral? I get extra for wiping, catching the critter after, just wears me out.
Ed

PS: The only big rattler I killed 7' 2" smelled real bad so I kinda figured he tasted like he smelled and did not try eating him.

Yup...I miss her...I miss having the laundry done, I miss having the cooking done, I miss having the house cleaning done, I miss having the food shopping done and I miss having the check book kept up to date. Yup...I miss her.

Hey...Swampfox...I missed you too. Yup....Mine was a little over 6 foot. The one that I tried to eat was only 2 feet. I was 3 feet away when he struck. I was too far away and he was too short...Lost traction at 2 foot 1 inch...Dead snake...

Yep Bushy that's about the same reasons I was thinking but I'd like to add that she also puts money into the account, keeps the car gassed up....... so I'd miss that as well.

You never fall in love with your boat, car, truck, girlfriend (if you have one) or your wife...You just tell her that you love her...

Yep.......you can always get another one of those............ they can all be replaced

alright guys, i have had smoked rattlesnake when i was in arizona, it was dried and smoked, consistancy of day old turkey, and i "tried" it, and man it was good cold.. toss a couple hunks into the microwave and warm it up, and boy that was some gooooood eating! as far as the smell, thats its last ditch effort to discourage the eater, it is called musking, where they release everything from thier bowl/urinary/scent tracts all at once! I used to raise snakes for a hobby, and i will tell you this, a 90 pound snake would have to be at least 8 foot or would be fatter than your thigh is around. at 17 foot long and almost 125 pounds the albino burmese i had was about 8 inches around at its biggest point. this is a good writeup for the poisonous ones in the us..
trailquest.net/SNpoi.html

Hummm ...Judging from the pictures you (Morax) provided it is a Western Diamondback after all. Eastern diamondbacks tend to be a bit darker then the Western variaty which are a "tawny brown".

yes it could possably have made it to the 8 footer mark but thats for a BIG BOY, well accually a BIG GIRL, as the fems are bigger..

Positive identification of any particular snake from a photo can be difficult. Coloration is not a good method of identifying rattlers. Many things effect the shading of the snakes skin, habitat, enviormnment, diet, soil content, living quarters, gender and age to name a few. The pattern is better, but often irregular and hard to make out. Someone who studies snakes will look at the overall. Color, shape, size, configuration of the head, the placement of the pit in relation to the eye... several factors which help determine a species.

If you would like... pull up your favorite search engine. Type in ONE particular species, click 'view' and look at some side by side pics of one single species of snake. You'd be amazed at the color range.

Morax,

Your making me want to go try snake now.

Dimitri

4rum wrote:

Positive identification of any particular snake from a photo can be difficult. Coloration is not a good method of identifying rattlers. Many things effect the shading of the snakes skin, habitat, enviormnment, diet, soil content, living quarters, gender and age to name a few. The pattern is better, but often irregular and hard to make out. Someone who studies snakes will look at the overall. Color, shape, size, configuration of the head, the placement of the pit in relation to the eye... several factors which help determine a species. If you would like... pull up your favorite search engine. Type in ONE particular species, click 'view' and look at some side by side pics of one single species of snake. You'd be amazed at the color range.

Crotalus adamanteus eastern Dback
Crotalus atrox western Dback

i spent some time researching these things, accuallyafte a little bit of time you can look at and determine what snake is what without too much trouble..quick glances no but given a few seconds, and knowing what to look for helps.. i have a friend of mine who runs a exotic pet shop, holds permits for poisonous handling, so he gets all kinds of stuff in.. I remember i was there one day and he says "hey just got this in", i walk over to the table and he dumps out this box, a 4 foot king cobra hits the table and springs a goot foot and a half off the table hood open and hissing like a cat with a furball in its throat, real raspy, "go ahead come closer" yu ever see a grown man fall over his own feet trying to back pedal??!?

prepared correctlyrattlesnake is a verygood tasty white meat, and yougotta figure it is good for y since it is all muscle, no fat

Hey Morax... well put. I get a little windy sometimes. But you've stated exatly what I had in mind. Folks that put in a little actual 'handeling' time, do a little proper research and have some basic knowledge to begin with, can make accurate identification easily, where someone like me can only make an "educated?" guess.

i hope ya didnt take it as i was trying to get into a peeing contest, as i was not trying to.. but ever since i was a youngun i was facinated by them legless things.. now spiders are a different story i cant even look at the dang things! but yes yer most definatly correct, on the colors,shapes,size etc. there are two things to accually think when coming apon a snake in the wild.. one is if it looks nasty it probably is (angular head or arrow shaped) and they can strike up to 2/3 its body length when coiled.. pythons though not poisonous, still have teeth and at 6 foot can and have killed humans. larger ones will kill and will eat a small kid no trouble.

Morax;

Not at all. You made my point very well, that folks who are familiar with a species of critter will know and recognize distinguishing characteristics at a glance, whereas those less familiar may mistake the identity entirely.

Best philosophy... treat all snakes as if they are loaded!

Morax wrote:

now spiders are a different story i cant even look at the dang things! there are two things to actually think when coming apon a snake in the wild.. one is if it looks nasty it probably is (angular head or arrow shaped) and they can strike up to 2/3 its body length when coiled.. pythons though not poisonous, still have teeth and at 6 foot can and have killed humans. larger ones will kill and will eat a small kid no trouble.

Gidday Morax. spiders are funny little critters aren't they. They frighten the hell outa us big strong guys.

You are right about nasty looking snakes.....same as nasty lookin' people...treat them with respect and give them a wide berth.

Odd thing about the head shape though.....the nastiest of the aussie snakes have a pretty much rounded head and the "friendlier" pythons have a more shaped head.

More Aussie Snakes

Cheers, Vince