7'-6" Rattler bites man in Morganton

Well today i was making my trip to my brothers Buisness to pick up a plastic order.Well as i pulled up in the lot i noticed two EMT trucks in the rear lot where my plastic is dropped off.As i pulled around my brother approached me to let me know one of their shop guys was unlocking there out building ( he is a machine engineer) to get some steel stock he was bitten on his ankle by a very large 7 1/2 foot western diamond back rattler.I quickly asked if they guy was ok followed by " wheres the snake?!! he pointed it out laying on the parking lot as another guy had killed the snake.I went to get a better look at the rattler and i "assumed it was a female due to the size it was HUGE ! ! ! ! ! it had 10 rattlers on its tail and a head like a gaboon viper and was almost as big as a 20oz drink bottle.It was a shame that the snake had to die but i understand the circumstances in its death was warranted. The shop guy last i heard was in critical but stable condition and was being watched closely and being given antivenom i didnt get to see him as he was already in the ambulance and they were leaving when i got there .My brother told me that he was already having difficulties breathing very shortly after the bite so no doubtthat it was a full envenomation(sp) i surely hope that he pulls through because judging from the size of this rattler im sure it packed a very serious punch.I will let you know what happens as i hear more on his status .we have had several copperhead bites in the area this year with two being in schools ( baby copperheads) this is the first rattler bite here this year and unfortunatly a very bad one .

On a another note just last week the NCFWL released over 100 georgia rattlers loos in the mountains to reduce the turkey population ( to eat the eggs ) so will be interesting to see what happens this year with hikers in the woods .. 200 rattlers in linville gorge is a LOT of snakes

Poor Guy!!

I live in Dallas, NC and we have a lot of rattlers around here. I walked into my 2 yr. old daughters daycare last summer and the director of the daycare was standing with a clear plastice cup over a baby rattler in the hallway of the center!!! i asked what she was planning on doing with the snake which was still alive, and she said I dunno'. i lifted the cup up carefully and put the rim on the snakes neck and moved it back and forth until I seperated the head from the body. I felt bad for killing the snake but when it comes to my kid or the snake which one would you chose. The very next day I called in to work and found a different daycare.

It just really surprised me that the people who I am paying 150 dollars a week to make sure my child stays safe, didn't do anything to prevent the children from being harmed.

Anyway, i hope this guy pulls through. my thoughts and prayers go out to him and the family.

Kelly G.

Alan, did you mean Eastern Diamond Back Rattler? Kinda big and far east for a Western...

This occured in NC? A WDB?..was this an escape from someones collection?

yeah i did

After seeing my post i saw what i did ... i was in a hurry posting . it was a eastern DB it was quite the shame the snake had to die cause he/she was a "Beaut" nice light silvery/ green coloration with the big thick black zigzag bands. if i had been a little earlier i might could have saved the snake as i always keep my Extra long snake tongs in the suburban now that i live in the " hills" . I talked to one of the guys that work there after all this and he tells me he has many many rattlers around his house up on south mountain and invited me out there to do some hunting , he said i wouldnt have to hunt long to find them as he has lots of rock outcroppings in the ground and he has alrady seen 3-4 rattlers this yr basking on the rock and is sure they have a den there somewhere so i might head up there this weekend and see what i can muster up i wont be catching to keep any ( is allergic to antivenom) but would like to get some pictures of them .

Alan,I have a friend that lives in Concord(not sure how close that is to ya) that would more than willing to come help you move some of them.I'll send him a link to this thread so he can see.

There was NO REASON to kill the snake. It would not have bitten anyone else unless it was stepped on or harrassed, and foolishly attacking the animal is an invitation to more people being bitten. The proper thing to do would have been to call wildlife authorities and have an expert safely remove or relocate the snake. That is the safest thing to do for everyone on the scene, as well as the most humane course of action.

The concept of getting revenge on an animal just for defending itself is a remarkably stupid one. If you threaten to step on a fragile snake (deliberately or not), it will bite. If it doesn't defend itself, it will die - even a rattler that size would be severely injured, most likely with fatal results in the long term, by the full weight of a human stepping on it. So it is simply doing what normal wild animals do. Innocent wild animals should never be made to take the blame for humans who don't look where they are stepping in rattlesnake territory.

I think you mean it was a Timber rattller. Thats too far west for an Eastern and Timbers dont get quite that big. The zig zag is a sign of the Timbers.

as far as species goes ...

Im not " upto snuff" on rattlers i will be getting a copy of the pictures sometime thursday and will post them here .All i know is it was a BEAUTIFUL snake.


Tanith ,

Iagree that the snake shouldnt have been killed , as i stated i would have been more then happy to have removed the snake from there property and relocated it around my area i live in a rather safe area for it to be relocated to as i live between the lake here and river and its all state parkland and no building will be done here for atleast 10 years.As i stated i havent kept any hots in 10 yrs but i do have the proper tools to safely remove them from harms way .I might look like the "tin Man" doing it lol as i have to be VERY careful cause a bite from anyofthem would probably be fatal since i am allergic to antivenom depending on the bite and or snake.So i have these reallll fashionable leg cuffs i wear when i know im going into "snake territory" or areas that may conceal the crafty lil weed layers . (stove pipe) i wear over my boots ... you laugh but it WORKS . im sure once the pics get posted you all to will have your heart drop cause minse sure did when i saw ( her)

I hope the guy recovers but there is probably more to this story...
Anyone who has spent time around EDB's or Canebrakes in the field knows that they are very even tempered and extremely difficult to piss off.
This guys either stepped on a snake that large without seeing it (unlikely) or he was fu**ing with it.

Kelly,
During your heroic effort to save the daycare by decapitating a baby pigmy rattlesnake with a dixie cup...did it ever occur to you that it might be safer to just sweep it into a garbage can with a broom and release it somewhere else?
You would have kept your hands at a safe distance from the snake while teaching the children that it's not always necessary to kill everything that you fear.

Chris at the time of the incident I didn't really know what to do with the snake, I didn't want to move the cup too much and let the snake get away in the daycare center. My adrenaline was pumping and I just thought kill it. I know now that everything on this earth has a purpose and I try to think like that when I see something like that. There were no kids around when I killed the snake, and I am teaching my daughters not to kill animals. As for killing things that we are scared of, you are right, I have never been sooo scared in my life. I just didn't know what to do to prevent the snake from biting. If I made people mad about this I am really sorry. I know I shouldn't have killed the snake. I have learned from my mistake.

Sometimes fear can cause us to do things without thinking them through. If you are ever put in this situation again, there are several things you can do which will actually put you at less risk as you safely relocate the snake.

Check out this link...
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/gettingalong.htm#capture

Oops...the link doesn't work.
Just copy and paste this...

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/gettingalong.htm#capture

Re: Poor Guy!!

GuentK01 said:

I felt bad for killing the snake but when it comes to my kid or the snake which one would you chose. The very next day I called in to work and found a different daycare.

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The snake was under your complete physical control and it is absolutely false to state that killing it was necessary. It could as easily have been swept into a nearby tall container (eg, an emptied trash bin) and relocated or handed to your local wildlife authorities with MUCH less risk to you and to the children.

A snake that you attack and hurt especially at close range is a much more dangerous animal than a snake you sweep up gently from the far end of a broomstick. Congratulations, you put yourself and the children at MORE risk, not less. And you taught those kids a very negative lesson about cruelly killing helpless animals.

Decapitation is not an instant death by any means; the reptile brain remains alive and fully sensate (feeling and responding to visual or touch stimulus) for many minutes after decapitation. More than 40 minutes of continued response is not uncommon for larger specimens. You caused that snake death by terrible torture.

I'd like to say a lot more, using stronger language, but that isn't appropriate here so I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks.

Tanith,

Maybe you missed this last part, so I thought I'd bring it to your attention:

"I know I shouldn't have killed the snake. I have learned from my mistake."

whoa whoa whoaaaa horse !!

Tanyth i understand your undying need to voice your opinion , and i do respect it .There is a age old saying " hinsight is 20/20" I am sure the gentleman at the time was doing what he perceived to be the best thing to do at the time giving the circumstances.Yeah he could have done this , that and the other.Nut the fact will remain that he did kill the snake under pretense that he felt it was the best option giving him at the time .I will say that maybe anyone under the circumstances may do the same thing .. who knows thats not the point the point as i see it is that yes the snake died maybe it died painfully maybe it didnt ? you or i or him wont ever know i think its a little childish to fly off the handle on the guy for his actions under the given circumstances he felt in hismind that there was a risk to the kids etc ... maybe he didnt think ofthe risk he took in doing what he did .BNow he does and has apologized for it .Would you react the same way to someone driving down the road and that run over a snake ? would you expect them to swerve there car and potentially endager themselves to avoid running over the snake ?I do respect your point in that we have taken away home ranges for MANY animals with our population and that sometimes people find it hard to "coincide(sp) with nature."

As to the gentleman that was bitten here yesterday i talked with my brother this afternoon and he is still in intensive care.From what he said the guy may loose his foot or possible from the knee down due to the bite .I understand that you said the snake in question isnt "normaly" aggresive towards things .But from what i was told he was bitten w/o provocation while simply standing in front of the rasied building this would lead me to beleive that the snake was poised under the edge of the building and felt threatened when he saw two legs staring him in the eyes .Also yes its bad the snake died and i honeslty cant say giving the same situation that if a loved one or good friend was bitten that with a snake that size and capablities i would or someone else wouldnt do the same thing .As i stated if i had been 10 minutes earlier i could have spared the snake its death.Nonethe less the snake is dead and a innocent man is at risk of loosing his foor / leg due to simply doing his job.i am quite sure the guy never expected to be bitten or even think he would have been bitten just doing his job in a area where there are no woods and in a city setting such as the location of this buisness. i also thought of it as this My plastic order gets dropped of besidethe building where he was bitten at if he had not been bitten it could have JUST as easily been me bitten because truthfully i myself would have never given a second thought that a rattler of that sixe or any size would have been where it was .i would have simply walked up opend the doors on my truck and started loading materials and to be honest if i had been the one bitten by the snake i cant say that even me myself would have not put a bullet in the snake out of pure anger of being bitten in a place where i felt safe .Around where i live i check daily for snakes under , in and on EVERYTHING around my house and shop .We have a high number of copperheads here and i have seen ) nonethis year ) but i know they are here and will pop up one day and one day soon will i kill it ? surely not but i would tell you this when my sone comes to visit here each summer he is warned of the dangers of themin the yard and he knows to watch out for them. but i can tell you if he was to be bitten by one i myself would more then likely be mad and angry enough to dispose of the snake myself .So i just ask you to not comedown so hard on someone for things they do on a impulse or spur ofthe moment thinking .And if you choose to give me down the country for my statements then so be it but know i am not the ype of person who would harm any snake venomous or not with out just due cause and when it comes to me or my family in all rights to myself and them that would be due cause right or wrong .This wasnt posted to have members here go for the jugulars over something but to make people aware of just how easy it could be to have the same happen to you no mater where it is
have a great safe day
Alan

Would you react the same way to someone driving down the road and that run over a snake ? would you expect them to swerve there car and potentially endager themselves to avoid running over the snake ?I do respect your point in that we have taken away home ranges for MANY animals with our population and that sometimes people find it hard to "coincide(sp) with nature."

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I'm joining this discussion a little late, but comparing a person who willfully and explicitly killed a snake by decapitation and a person accidently running over a snake (or endangering their lives by swerving as you elaborated) is like comparing apples and oranges. She (or he) mentioned that there were NO kids around the snake, she could have safely contained and removed the snake at (as Tanith mentioned) lesser risk than killing it. A decapitated snake is still fully capable of envenomating someone, and the fact that it's decapitated can cause someone to be less careful around it. Bites and envenomations can occur up to an hour after a snake is "dead". I understand that she said "she regrets doing it [sic]", but as a herper, you would think she would have excercised more compassion for the animal. Just my .02, that animal was senselessly killed, and it surely did not have to end that way.

Abhishek Prasad

Re: whoa whoa whoaaaa horse !!

JungleHabitats said:

I understand that you said the snake in question isnt "normaly" aggresive towards things .But from what i was told he was bitten w/o provocation while simply standing in front of the rasied building this would lead me to beleive that the snake was poised under the edge of the building and felt threatened when he saw two legs staring him in the eyes .

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I would expect that there was some kind of forward movement on his part that frightened the snake and triggered a defensive strike. I regularly sit or stand at *very* close quarters with wild venomous snakes, and they are really not likely to move forward outside of their strike range to bite.

Also yes its bad the snake died and i honeslty cant say giving the same situation that if a loved one or good friend was bitten that with a snake that size and capablities i would or someone else wouldnt do the same thing.

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It's never the snake's fault, and it's just not meaningful to "get revenge" on a wild animal for simply defending itself. If a snake caused me to lose a limb or my life, my loved ones know very well that I would want the snake to be protected from any consequences of my own lack of skill or foresight.

Yes, I do have very strong feelings about this subject, and believe it or not I'm actually trying to be restrained and civil.

Tanith ..

All i am trying to say is basically this .
Why i respect that you have alot greater knowledge then i do with venomous snakes that is fantastic but when it boils down to it NOTHING be it wild or domesticated can be predicted .. do you agree on this ?
Here is a example . Just today a kid was attacked somewhere near here by the lifelong PET dog that he had grew up around .
Now to look at this with some sort of reasoning yes we can say well "maybe he did this or Maybe he did that but when it comes to any animal / human trying to predict what they do is like taking a bullet sticking in the chamber and spinning it and pulling the trigger with it placed at your temple . maybe it wont go off but then again MAYBE it will
With a wild animal i have to think that maybe it wont bite you but then again MAYBE it will and do it unprovoked .Studies have shown that people who have been around a animal since its birth ( sigffreid & roy ) out of know where look what happened to him i know there will be comments made that none of this is realevent to the situation and im not trying to make the killing of anything justified.But when it comes down to apples & oranges you cant compare the two and make anything rational of it . its a shame this thread has taken the normal BOI turn for the worse over something as serios as a innocent person being bittin by a deadily snake . but you are right the snake was there first . Untill i have more information on the subject of this thread i wont add anymore to it .
Have a good day
respectivly

Here's a simple solution for anyone who is tired of wild animal encounters and feel they may be in danger:

Move somewhere like NYC where there are no wild animals
Then you'll only have to worry about the unpredictable muggers and rapists (far more dangerous than ANY wild or domesticated animal).

I'm sick and tired of hearing people moan (like where I live, in the desert of New Mexico) about bugs and snakes and coyotes around their property. If you don't like 'em, move somewhere else! I can't even count how many people I've heard bi**h and moan about these creatures like the animals are to blame. You don't want rattlers at your kids daycare, move to the city.
Won't move to the city? DON'T COMPLAIN! Simple, isn't it?

Edit: When I stated that I was tired of people complaining about wild animals on their property, i was talking about my local situation, and not neccesarily about this situation here...what happened to the guy who got bit is unfortunate, but should be an ASSUMED RISK when living in rattler country. Don't blame the animal for doing what nature intended for it to do...survive.