Arizona Rattlesnakes are Active Now
This fellow RV'er got bit on the arm when he went to investigate a "strange" noise under his RV. We've had some unusually warm temperatures in Southern Arizona so far this winter, so be careful when ...
Forum Discussion
Lady Fitzgerald wrote:BruceMc wrote:
We encountered a junior prairie rattler in South Dakota in the roadway in an RV park. My wife and I were walking down the road heading for the motorhome; I was staring at the moon as it was just setting dark. She mentioned there was something in the road just ahead of me. Yep, a rattler! I had her go down & fetch my brother & his GF from their unit. The little rattler was defending his spot, for sure. Eventually I found a 3' long stick to herd the little fella off the road and back into the brush.
No, I didn't try to pick it up.
...
Be careful out there!
Using a 3' stick wasn't the brightest move. Rattlers can easily strike from 6' away.
I suggest you do a little research before making that kind of claim.
From both experience and researching several sources, this is the general rule:
This distance from which a rattlesnake can deliver a strike depends on several conditions. These include the size of the snake, position of the snake, body temperature, the species and the degree of excitement.
Estimates of distance a snake can strike from the coiled position are some one-third to three-quarters of the length of the snake. One source says rattlers will seldom strike more than half of their body length and almost never beyond three quarters.
It is best not to risk your snake length-estimating ability and give any rattler a wide berth.
