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Responding to email notices you receive.
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In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.
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IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed
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Posted 08/15/2025
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Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.
Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."
Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....
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Addendum: 01/10/2026
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Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....
Please send good wishes and prayers
- Thread starter Lucille
- Start date
Oh, no! I hope he recovers, with minimal side effects. Did the hospital have enough antivenin on hand?
Best wishes!
He is in the ICU. He said they have antivenin but have not given it, son said Dr. said that because the swelling has not moved past the hand they are waiting.
He lives in a rural setting and stuck his hand under the house (it is up on blocks) to get his daughter's dog. I am waiting and praying, I'm not allowed in the ICU right now.
He lives in a rural setting and stuck his hand under the house (it is up on blocks) to get his daughter's dog. I am waiting and praying, I'm not allowed in the ICU right now.
So sorry to hear that Lucille!
This is SOP. If he doesn't need the antivenin the docs won't want to administer it as it can also mess you up. Antibiotics and monitor is typical.
Hopefully he'll be fine and can go home soon.
Socratic Monologue
Well-known member
Sending hopeful thoughts your way and his. 
You're able to talk to him, it sounds like. Is he in good spirits?
You're able to talk to him, it sounds like. Is he in good spirits?
I have very very good news. My son was bitten yesterday and has been in the ICU and observed closely. His hand swelled horribly but as the late evening wore on in the hospital the swelling did not continue up his arm. Perhaps because it was a small bite at the end of his pinky he did not receive as much venom as he could have.
The doctor saw him again a little while ago and because there was not further swelling up the arm or continuing symptoms decided to discharge him. I thank you all for your prayers and good wishes.
But I couldn't help myself, I got on him for putting his hand under the house. I told him that his daughter, my grand daughter, was old enough so she could work on training the dogs to come every time they are called. I think the plan for when he is healed and better is to block off the under house areas where the dogs can get under there.
The doctor saw him again a little while ago and because there was not further swelling up the arm or continuing symptoms decided to discharge him. I thank you all for your prayers and good wishes.
Well, yes and no. I talked to him and listened to him and told him how much I loved him, and I know that helped him through his worries.
But I couldn't help myself, I got on him for putting his hand under the house. I told him that his daughter, my grand daughter, was old enough so she could work on training the dogs to come every time they are called. I think the plan for when he is healed and better is to block off the under house areas where the dogs can get under there.
Thank you for your post. I have cared for many, many patients in my lifetime but never had even one patient with a snake bite.
The closest I even got was when a kid brought a snake to school in his backpack and they call me (the school nurse at the time) to handle the issue. I took the (small brown garden snake) across the street to a forested area and let it go.
Socratic Monologue
Well-known member
That's wonderful that he's on his way home.
I'm assuming that the dog didn't come to any harm from hiding in the snake's area, and that's a lucky thing, too.
I'm assuming that the dog didn't come to any harm from hiding in the snake's area, and that's a lucky thing, too.
Ouch! Back when I lived in Maryland an acquaintance of mine got bitten by a baby copperhead. Or was it a baby pygmy rattlesnake? 
He said it was like getting stung by 1,000 yellow jackets. Painful as all get out. Might not kill you but he said he entertained the idea of cutting off his hand to stop the pain.
Sounds like your son is on the mend, though, so that is good news. Perhaps your doc was reluctant to go the antivenin route because of possible allergic reactions?
There are just too many bad things lurking that can be where putting your hands without looking might not be a good idea. Black widow spiders come to mind, and they aren't any joke, neither. I imagine rattlesnakes aren't rare in your area, and they would me much more potent than a copperhead. At the very least, wear thick GLOVES. Yeah, hindsight, I know...
We have too many scorpions around here, so both Connie and myself tend to put on thick gloves whenever we are messing around with chores that require moving things that haven't been moved in a while. Heck, Connie found a scorpion in a plastic Walmart bag in the old reptile building just yesterday, in with some odds and ends in that bag. That was certainly unexpected, but like I said, they seem to be pretty common around here. She never thought about putting on gloves then, so lucky she didn't get stung.
Anyway, hope your son doesn't experience lingering pain from the bite.
He said it was like getting stung by 1,000 yellow jackets. Painful as all get out. Might not kill you but he said he entertained the idea of cutting off his hand to stop the pain.Sounds like your son is on the mend, though, so that is good news. Perhaps your doc was reluctant to go the antivenin route because of possible allergic reactions?
There are just too many bad things lurking that can be where putting your hands without looking might not be a good idea. Black widow spiders come to mind, and they aren't any joke, neither. I imagine rattlesnakes aren't rare in your area, and they would me much more potent than a copperhead. At the very least, wear thick GLOVES. Yeah, hindsight, I know...
We have too many scorpions around here, so both Connie and myself tend to put on thick gloves whenever we are messing around with chores that require moving things that haven't been moved in a while. Heck, Connie found a scorpion in a plastic Walmart bag in the old reptile building just yesterday, in with some odds and ends in that bag. That was certainly unexpected, but like I said, they seem to be pretty common around here. She never thought about putting on gloves then, so lucky she didn't get stung.
Anyway, hope your son doesn't experience lingering pain from the bite.
How is he feeling now? Can he flex or extend the bitten finger even a little? How about any sensation aside from the discomfort in response to stimulating the fingertip? Conservative measures generally work well for these bites, so I am expecting positive news over time.
A little is enough. As long as the neural drive and muscular response are there, everything will work out in time as the swelling subsides and tissues heal.
How are things now?
Much better, thank you for asking. Of course, there is still one negative side effect: At the time he was bitten, he was not insured. Still, what is important is that he is alive, everything else we can get through.
I am glad he has improved. That is rough about the insurance, unfortunately.
Glad to hear he is doing OK. And yeah, that lack of insurance could hurt as much as the bite. Connie's stay in the hospital for a couple of days came to over $200,000. I don't know what exactly that includes, though. Maybe that includes her surgery, but I just don't know. And we don't have nearly all the bills in yet. And this is all ongoing.
None for my heart attack have shown up neither, matter of fact. Well, except for the ambulance ride, which was over $1,000. Insurance made a HUGE difference in what our out of pocket costs were in both instances. I am sure that after the dust settles, had we not been on Medicare w/supplementals, it would have destroyed us financially.
Things are such that you just cannot afford to NOT have health insurance these days. Everyone is just a morning's wake up with chest pains or a really awful diagnosis at the doctor's office from bankruptcy.
None for my heart attack have shown up neither, matter of fact. Well, except for the ambulance ride, which was over $1,000. Insurance made a HUGE difference in what our out of pocket costs were in both instances. I am sure that after the dust settles, had we not been on Medicare w/supplementals, it would have destroyed us financially.
Things are such that you just cannot afford to NOT have health insurance these days. Everyone is just a morning's wake up with chest pains or a really awful diagnosis at the doctor's office from bankruptcy.
It took 24 days for that "I told you so" to finally surface. And here I was thinking I was going to get away with it. 