remodeler1
Active Member
Cobra venom can paralyze the muscles that control your heart & lungs & can be quite painful as well. Not much of a trade off IMHO.
Cobra venom can paralyze the muscles that control your heart & lungs & can be quite painful as well. Not much of a trade off IMHO.
Dunno ‘bout copperheads, but I want no parts of rattlesnakes. I’d rather be bit by a cobra.
Rattlesnake venom is disfigurin’.
here's my Northern Water Snake
Is there a snake called the Frosh? I heard it's one of the worst.Let's test your Maryland snake knowledge!
Of the twenty seven kinds of snakes inhabiting Maryland, how many are venomous, and which are they?
In PA the rattlers are protected. There were three types that I encountered. The Yellow, The Timber and The Black. Yes, the damned thing looks just like a Non-poisonous Black Snake from a distance.
Since they are protected it did not take long for them to travel to Maryland. Catoctin has more than a few. Patapsco Park has Copperheads as well as Columbia.
Seen my fair share of moccasins here in Harford County when I was a kid. .
luckily copperheads and timber rattlers venom isnt very strong so even if you do get bit your survival chances are very high.
Dunno ‘bout copperheads, but I want no parts of rattlesnakes. I’d rather be bit by a cobra.
Rattlesnake venom is disfigurin’.
Grew up and still live in moco, there's copperheads all over our farm. I never got a chance to see it, but my grandmother swears she saw a rattlesnake in our field. It wouldn't completely surprise me but I would not expect it.
My understanding is Rattlesnakes will avoid humans if possible. Copperheads have a nastier disposition and aren't as quick to avoid humans.
Definitely true, there is also a possibility of allergic reactions to the venom itself or antivenin, plenty of people have died from a reaction to the venom of both species. Copperhead venom is mostly hemotoxic with some cytotoxic properties, it can mess with blood pressure and complicate a heart condition, they can cause necrosis, and a bite to a finger or toe can cause it to need amputation. There have also been studies that found permanent kidney damage. Canebreak/Timber rattlers are studied because of the relatively large variance in their venom, even in specific regions, they have cytotoxic, hemotoxic, AND neurotoxic properties in varying degrees, the variety also means cro-fab antivenin isn't as effective. If a bite can cause enough complications, the hospital will give cro-fab at $10,000 a vial with up to a dozen vials needed, plenty of relatively simple bites result in 6 figure hospital bills, thank the FDA for that, most other antivenins might cost $100 a vial everywhere else in the world, but aren't "approved" in the US(although still are stocked and used by zoos and private collectors).Survival, yes. But there are PLENTY of painful, unpleasant, long lasting effects to croatus-type venom.
I met a woman last year who was bitten on the foot by a baby copperhead walking into a steakhouse near Fredericksburg VA. Two weeks afterwards, even with antivenin treatment, her foot was still incredibly swollen and intensely itchy. There was no noticeable tissue destruction, but t was clear she'd be dealing with effects for weeks to come.
The venom might not be strong enough to kill a large, healthy adult, but it will still make you miserable at the site of the envenomation for weeks or even months.
My understanding is Rattlesnakes will avoid humans if possible. Copperheads have a nastier disposition and aren't as quick to avoid humans.
Here's my snake story...My most memorable encounter with a timber rattler was about 35 yrs. ago at Dans Rock in Allegany County. After driving there and parking my truck I intended to walk up to the top of the rock and enjoy the view. I opened my truck door put one foot on the ground and heard rattles, needless to say I pulled my leg back into the truck pretty fast. There beside some rocks about five feet away was a timber rattler. He gave me fair warning and I was grateful !!
Grew up in Cumberland on Haystack Mountain, and always had a snake or two I'd keep for a week or two max in the summer. After my freshman year of high school I had the biggest black rat snake I had ever caught...kept it for about two weeks feeding it mice.
After the two weeks, hiked out with a couple of my friends to the overlook at Lovers Leap and let it go. Was just sitting on the cliffs and one of my friends says "hey look, there's a snake next to you". Crawling through a crevice in the rocks about 12 inches from my leg was a copperhead. Needless to say I probably got up off my butt faster that time then any other.
I think Dan's Rock area still has the reputation as being the timber rattler capital of Maryland. Remember seeing something on MPTV about MD DNR doing den surveys there. One area you definitely don't want to bend over and stick your face under a rock to check out what's there...
I live close to Dan's and hunted all over it as a kid. I have seen lots of copperheads. My grandma lived on Haystack close to the mall. If you are familiar with the mall, you may have noticed the little road off to the right that goes to the K of C. Anyway, my grandma killed some huge rattlers in her yard. She said that they hung out in her well house.