Rattle Snakes

[docsouce]

My wife and I are going to be slow poke RVing for 8 to 10 weeks in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Be leaving mid June. I've spent the last couple of hours on internet searches, and I searched here about rattle snakes. I know there are lots and lots of people that live around them.. I live in New england. I have never seen one. My searches gave me good info, and I always try to be aware of my surroundings. But I found an interesting comment here. It mentioned that if camped out at Gouldings RV park in Monument Valley and take a walk to the Natural Bridge, keep an eye out for rattle snakes (what is different about this trail?). I'm sure they can be anywhere and Google gave me good examples. But I've found folks here usually have certain situations that raises their attention level. Mostly from personal experience. Some basic tips would be appreciated. We plan on doing a lot of boondocking. No panic here nor am I changing my plans. Just askin.

[seagrace]

Sorry, apparently I'm not allowed to post relevant content.

[gbopp]

zcookiemonstar wrote:
You just need to learn to watch for the signs

I didn't think there were any poisonous snakes. I thought the the deadly snakes were venomous. 😉

[p220sigman]

hypoxia wrote:
Drone vs Rattlesnake Pit

That is one big ol' bag of NOPE for me. I'd probably just be getting a new camera/drone at that point.

[ritterjw]

I have lived in NM all my life. 68 years now. I have seen a few rattlesnakes in my youth but you had to go looking for them. They could be found in he lava feilds around Grants NM.
My brother has a ranch in Socorro New Mexico he sees snakes by the watering stations for the cattle when it is very dry. Which by the way it is very dry here now in NM.

When I was in the Navy 68-72 I was a aircraft mechanic on F-8s. We had a bird go down east of San Diego and I was on the crash crew. While going in to this crash site the DO saw a rattlesnake. That is all he talked about while we were on the crash site. So we had to go through snake bite training. The DR that trained us showed us the snake bite kit, told us to unwrap the kit take out the instructions sit down and read the Instructions 5 times front and back. Throw away the kit and help would be there by then. DO NOT USE THE KIT. was his final statement.

Snakes are around but I think they don’t like humans more then humans don’t like them.

[seagrace]

Sorry, apparently I'm not allowed to post relevant content.

[seagrace]

Sorry, apparently I'm not allowed to post relevant content.

[ppine]

All of this talk about snakes reminded me of a couple of stories. A few years ago I had a 60th birthday celebration in the mountains behind the house. A friend of mine found a rattlesnake that same morning on his work bench in the garage. He killed it and brought it to the party. We fried it in olive oil and served it with hot sauce.

I was running a field crew down along the Truckee River. We had about 20 guys on work release from the prison. There were some country boys that found duck eggs, a rattlesnake and hooked a couple of bass out of the pond with hand lines. The urban gangster guys were in shock when they saw the rattlesnake go into the pan.

[Bobbo]

I was just thinking "I hope the drone doesn't crash" about the time the drone crashed.

The dude who went to get his crashed drone was braver than I am.

The speed of the snake strike was astounding.

[Dave_H_M]

Watched the video out of boredom this am.

Whoah that was an awsum pile of rattlers.

[ford_truck_guy]

hypoxia wrote:
Drone vs Rattlesnake Pit

That there is 1 good way to PISS OFF rattlers..

[hypoxia]

Drone vs Rattlesnake Pit

[zcookiemonstar]

You just need to learn to watch for the signs

[2gypsies1]

Let's not forget about black widow spiders and brown recluse. A lot more of them and they can be inside your RV. Nature's a dangerous place. 🙂

[jmtandem]

This whole thread just seems ridiculous and the facts match my opinion. More and more people are living in the southwest and in supposed rattlesnake country. The average number of deaths per year is about 5. That is way less than the number dying from a lightening strike. The risk is absolutely negligible when compared with the risk of death driving an RV or a car or even walking the dog. Forget rattlesnakes. Instead consider yourself lucky if you see one.

Where I live in Nevada the veterinarians were treating one dog a week for rattle snake bites. I suspect the dogs did not consider themselves lucky to see one nor the owners. It appears that your assessment of the west and the snake issues are borne from a lack of knowledge.

[Tom_Barb]

As a kid working a dairy farm in NY, I was bitten 3 different times, I still carry the scars. The first time was by a 6' timber rattler by a gate that my horse didn't want to be near. (smart Horse dumb kid) As I got off the rattler knocked my leg out from under me and my horse ran home, leaving me to kill the snake by putting a rock on his head. Anti-venom was administrated by a vet that happened to be working in our barn. I was sick all summer.
Following spring I was bitten by a 3 footer while cutting brush along a rock wall.This one got me on the hip. anti-venom at the local DR office, again sick all summer.
Following summer got bit by a rattler who had gotten bailed up in a bale of hay I was loading. no anti-venom this time after blood test for anti-venom, again sick the rest of the summer.
Just to say, I never saw any of these snakes, non rattled, or made them selves known.
But that 3 footer is a nice belt.

So, let's not assume that people from NY don't know about rattlers.