Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Goldseeker
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Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by Goldseeker »

Esp D/B's S/W's and Greens's?
Or can they strike from any position; prone.
And I heard the green can actually spring foward about 3 ft while prone and strike. True?
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Re: Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by reptilist »

Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?
No. Rattlers do not have to be coiled before striking.

Or can they strike from any position; prone.
They can strike from any position including prone.

And I heard the green can actually spring foward about 3 ft while prone and strike. True?
Not true.
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Re: Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by Goldseeker »

Thanks Terry, thats what I thought, except for the last one. I have been told, by a local, born and raised here that the green can actually kind of take a 3ft , what can I call it; spring foward? He seems very knowledgible, but no one's perfect.
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Re: Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by reptilist »

A coiled snake can strike and glide forward in a very quick fashion, but they cannot "spring"....Although I suppose if one were poised on a ledge it could launch itself downhill a little ways. There is a snake called the Jumping Viper from Central America that appears to get a little air time due to it's vehemence.
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And Here's A New And Related Question...

Post by Plays In The Dirt »

Most snake bites are around the ankles or hands (I believe). Terry, have you ever heard of anyone being bit in the face or upper body, and what would the ramifications be to being bit so close to the heart?
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Re: And Here's A New And Related Question...

Post by Goldseeker »

Plays In The Dirt wrote:Most snake bites are around the ankles or hands (I believe). Terry, have you ever heard of anyone being bit in the face or upper body, and what would the ramifications be to being bit so close to the heart?


I talked to someone who was a Navy seal in Vietnam, and he said the Viet Coing used to set traps with cobra's. He said a member of their company was going into something, and sprung the trap. He said he was bitten in the face and was dead in about a minute. And I have a friend who was a combat marine in Vietnam, and he said a few soldiers were killed by snakes. He told me about a certain type of snake, I dont remember what it was, that if it bit you, the best thing to do was sit down and light a cigarette. Why? B/C after that you would be dead. Myself, I would pray instead, but you get the point. Sounds like the snakes there can cause quicker death. And a friend of mine from Australia who was here last week, (and he kind of liked 29) said there is a black snake there that is super deadly. At least with the rattlers, you have a chance. But, as always, use caution; dont get bitten in the first place. I know a local here, bitten twice he said, first time no treatment and he recovered. 2nd time he went next day to the doctor and they gave him some antibiotics and he recovered again, although his face swelled up. He didnt know he was bitten, it bit him in a field, and after he felt bad, saw the punctures. He said it felt like a electric shock. He didnt know what it was.
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Re: Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by Jerry Feldner »

Terry wrote; "And I heard the green can actually spring foward about 3 ft while prone and strike. True?"
-----------"Not true."

On this I must disagree, except for the language and the word "spring." Most rattlesnakes are capable of striking 1/2 to 2/3 of their body length. So, if a snake were 6 ft long and not too athletic, it could, supposedly, strike a target 3 ft away. Now, that same snake, if it were very athletic, could, again supposedly, srike a target 4 ft away. Now, since the Mojave ( which I assume you mean by "green" even though Crotalus viridis, the Prairie Rattler, was named for it's green color) only reaches a maximum length of 50-51 inches, then we can assume its maximum striking distance could be about 34" or less than 3 ft. BTW, in AZ, Green Mojaves are not very commonly found until one gets down to far SE AZ. The ones in our western deserts are brown to tan.

See>>> http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subp ... latus.html

And>>> http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/p ... latus.html

I meant to mention something about being bitten somewhere besides the hands and feet. Last year, a candidate for the Darwin Award here in AZ was actually bitten in the lips by a rattler. He was (the guy, that is) drunkenly showing off that he had a great rapport with his snake and was bitten when he was showing how to kiss the snake. Duh!!! :cry: :o Too bad, the idiot lived.
Another fool a couple of years ago was actually bitten on the TONGUE. I guess he tried to Frenchkiss the snake. He lived, too.

Goldseeker wrote: "He told me about a certain type of snake, I dont remember what it was, that if it bit you, the best thing to do was sit down and light a cigarette." I do. I was in Nam and we were told to watch for the "Four-pacer" and the "Hundred Step Snake." The Four-pacer turned out to be Russell's Viper (Daboia russeli) but I never did find out what the Hundred Step Snake was. Also, I am not aware of any dangerously venomous black snake in SE Asia.

Russell's Vipers acount for thousands of deaths in Asia each year because of two things - The snakes' habit of lying on open paths, awaiting rodent prey, and the peoples' habit of walking barefoot on those same paths.
Last edited by Jerry Feldner on Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Jerry: When I was over there they called them 2 steppers. You could only get 2 steps before you fell over. Now this was a long time ago and at that time I wasn't interested in snakes but they told me they were really black mambas. Maybe you could elaborate on that.

Don...
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Mambas??

Post by Jerry Feldner »

Here are the locations where Black Mambas have been found:
"Location
Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea,
Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Cameroon (Adamaoua [HR 35: 191]),
Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
Republic of South Africa, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda,
N/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zambia, Zimbabwe"

You might notice that they are all in AFRICA!!. All of the Mambas live only in Africa, not RVN. Here is the reference:

http://www.jcvi.org/reptiles/species.ph ... =polylepis

The closest thing to a venomous black snake which lives in Viet Nam that I can think of is a young King Cobra (Ophiophagous hannah) which may be black but lose the color with age. I never saw a King Cobra in RVN. I also thought of Kraits (Bungarus sp) which may be black with yellow rings but the only species like that is in North Viet Nam and I doubt whether you were there. Besides, the species was only named in 2005 (Bungarus slowinskii).

I found a black snake in Viet Nam - the Monocled Cobra (Naja kaouthia). Well, pretty black anyway. I found that by looking up 2-stepper which brought me to this;
http://www.jcvi.org/reptiles/species.ph ... s=kaouthia There are pictures.
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Re: Do all rattlers have to be coiled before srtiking?

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Thanks Jerry: I never saw one over there, just heard about them, and you know how that is? That's a lot of info. You hear a lot of stories in a war zone so who knows what's real and what isn't?

Just thinking about this some more --- maybe they said Mamba -- isn't there a green mamba, or are they not in RVN either?

Don....
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