Posted on 11/19/2010 10:16:49 PM PST by roses of sharon
HUNTERS AND FARMERS AND THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY.....TAKE HEED....
My fellow friends and family,
We have killed 57 rattlesnakes on two separate ranches this year. 24 @South bend & 33 @ Murray, since mid May. Not one has buzzed! We provoked one fair sized boy with a stick and he coiled & struck at the stick a couple of times before he buzzed up and rattled. The purpose of this explanation is that I have been hearing the same from fellow ranchers and hunters in regards to the lack of warning with rattlesnakes.
I had lunch with a friend today and he offered a theory about the fact that these bugs aren't rattling anymore. He raised pigs for years and reported that when he would hear a rattlesnake buzzing in the sow pen, the sows would bee line to it and fight over the snake. For the uninformed, pigs love to eat rattlesnakes.
Therefore, the theory is they are ceasing to rattle to avoid detection, since there are plenty of pigs roaming the countryside. I have a neighbor ranching lady who was bitten 3 weeks ago 2 times by the same snake without any warning....she spent 5 days in ICU, after 22 vials of anti-venom she is back at the ranch and still may lose her foot or worse yet her lower leg.
The days of perceived warning are over. Keep your boots on and use a light when out and about. As you all know, one can pop up just about anywhere! You may wish to forward this to anyone that would be interested.
These guys think the rattlesnakes have stopped warning with their rattles before striking because the abundance of wild hogs has taught them that if they rattle a hog will come and eat them. The wild hogs are a problem (ferrule not Razorbacks which are not so plentiful but which must also eat snakes) to farmers and ranchers and now they have possibly made the rattlers a bigger problem. Just in case you guys get out in the woods or wilds.
Wow! That's funny you should say that.
I've been dealing with a potential case of the hantavirus every day now for the last week. Deer mice (the chief carriers of the hantavirus in the Southwest) have invaded my remote desert home. I set some snap traps on Wednesday night and got one in the kitchen. Then last night I set some glue traps and caught two more mice: another deer mouse and a cactus mouse.
I don't fool with rodents. The hantavirus can kill you, and I don't hesitate for one second to KILL every rodent that comes near my house.
I seem to be winning this battle. So far, no more deer mice tonight! LOL!
Water moccasins are the worst. They are mean and fearless.
“Dawkins is vindicated.”
Uh...Darwin maybe?
Have you got a cat? Get a nice free one at your local shelter and let it out during the daytime to earn it’s keep. Keep it inside at night away from the coyotes.
The latest buzz. Or maybe not.
We had a dog, though, that seemed to keep the mice at bay. It was a beautiful border collie pup that one day a year ago strolled up my dirt driveway. Knowing it was lost and would be killed by coyotes that night if I didn't do something, I rescued her and drove around the desert to my (somewhat) near neighbors to see if they'd lost a dog. Nope. So long story short, we had a new member of the family!
It was a wonderful dog too. In early October, it was bitten in the face by a rattlesnake but survived the night it spent at the vet hospital. After she recovered, sadly, she wandered a little too far from our property and was killed by coyotes.
My wife and I both agree that we can't have another dog. It's just too heartbreaking to have something like that happen again.
I also understand those folks who respect and admire the coyote, but I'm just not one of them. Wasn't too long ago that there was one running down the street with half a cat in it's mouth. I'd chase it down with my truck and get even with it right there if it were my cat it grabbed.
So, snakes of all kinds get a reprieve from me... But if it came down to me dealing with coyotes, they get blasted and that's final.
Anyway, sounds like you folks need to hire a new cat. :)
Yeah, we'll probably get a new cat when our two old ones pass on.
I want a mountian lion, to take care of this ongoing coyote problem... ;)
Now I'm off to bed. Regards!
Can a cat die from biting a rat with hantavirus?
For the record, pigs love to eat anything that does not eat them first.
" I have a neighbor ranching lady who was bitten 3 weeks ago 2 times by the same snake without any warning"
She should have hit him with the splat-o-matic after the first bite. Hopefully, lesson learned.
"The wild hogs are a problem (ferrule ..."
Just for the record, they are feral, not ferrule.
the only good rattler is a dead rattler, like the one in this video:
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-18242
I had a cat the got nailed by a timber rattler. Didnt last ten min.The cat tried to catch it.
Not that I’m aware of. HV is passed to humans when they inhale dust contaminated with urine from an infected rodent. It’s primarily a disease of the rodents. Has done a pretty good job of wiping out prairie dog colonies.
It may have been much more virulent in the past and even transmissible between humans in some way, as it may have played a major role in the Great Die-off of native Americans during the 1500s.
Cancel that bit about HV and prairie dogs. The disease that wipes out their colonies is a different one.
It’s not an intentional behavior, many other snakes vibrate their tails under stress. Only rattlers are equipped to make an audible signal.
A bull snake will vibrate his tail and even flatten his head out to mimic a rattler.
I have no respect or admiration for coyotes, I try kill everyone of them I see. When I first took over the production on the big ranch I killed 42 the first year. Rattlers, hog’s and coyotes are shot on sight.
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