Beware, baby rattlers..from our local paper...

steveinaz

Beware of baby rattlers this time of year

U of A College of Pharmacy Press Release

TUCSON — Experts on venomous creatures at the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center advise gardeners, hikers, youngsters and other citizens to be especially cautious about rattlesnakes in the weeks ahead.

Whether human desert dwellers are ready or not, Arizona’s rattlesnakes are welcoming offspring. Baby rattlers are born in July and August and are active. The baby snakes have no rattle until they first shed their skins, so they make no warning sound before striking. The babies range in length from six to 12 inches, and have enough venom to be very dangerous. Brush and grass may camouflage the small snakes so well that they are “invisible” to people.

The Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in Tucson, part of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, serves all parts of the state except Maricopa County. The specialists answering the phones receive calls from Arizonans of all ages who have suffered rattlesnake bites without realizing they had encountered a reptile.

“People may not figure out what has happened until we go over the symptoms they are having,” said Keith Boesen, PharmD, director of the poison center. “Adult rattlers don’t always give an audible warning before or while they are biting either, so the risk of unidentified snakebite exists year-round.”

From Jan. 1 through July 31 this year, 74 rattlesnake bites of humans were reported to the center.

The poison center urges anyone who feels a mysterious “sting,” “pinch” or “bite” while outdoors, especially on an arm or a leg, to

immediately call the center at (800) 222-1222. Calling is a good idea for those who feel no pain but notice an unidentified small cut or wound, too.

“We will ask a few questions that will help you either identify possible snakebite or eliminate it,” Boesen says. “With snakebite, the sooner the medical treatment, the better the outcome, so calling us right away can make a very big difference for the victims and the medical teams treating them.”

About the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center

The Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy provides free and confidential poison control and medication information to the public and health-care professionals The hotline operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One of 57 centers that make up the American Association of Poison Control Centers, the Tucson center serves all of Arizona except Maricopa County. Call (800) 222-1222 from any location to reach the poison center nearest you.

scubalab

We have Timber Rattlesnakes in PA. My brother's dog got bit about 4 weeks ago - about 10' away from their pool house. It was touch and go for a couple days, but 3 days at the vet, and over $3000 in antivenom and pain meds and he's back to normal. They are dangerous! This one was over 4' long (that's the UPPER limit on size...) - won't say how my brother knows...

oldmodman

And to make it even worse those babies have not yet developed the muscle control to do anything other than inject ALL their venom in one huge squirt. Their strike might inject more venom that a six foot adult.
They can be extremely dangerous.

tonyb

So what I can tell is....Rattle snakes have babies. Go figure.

So do bears....cougars, venomous spiders, Alligators, Wolves, etc. Anytime you want to live amongst dangerous wildlife precautions are pretty self explanatory...no ?

D'prived

tonyb wrote: »

So what I can tell is....Rattle snakes have babies. Go figure.

So do bears....cougars, venomous spiders, Alligators, Wolves, etc. Anytime you want to live amongst dangerous wildlife precautions are pretty self explanatory...no ?

It's for the same people who have to have a tag on their electric hair dryer telling them not to use it in the shower.

AsSiMiLaTeD

tonyb wrote: »

So what I can tell is....Rattle snakes have babies. Go figure.

So do bears....cougars, venomous spiders, Alligators, Wolves, etc. Anytime you want to live amongst dangerous wildlife precautions are pretty self explanatory...no ?

You're missing the point, the issue here is that these don't have their rattlers yet and so can be hard to identify. A baby bear doesn't look like a kitten, it looks like a bear and so you know to leave it alone. I think the point here is that you're looking at an animal that may not appear to be dangerous, but actually is.

steveinaz

oldmodman wrote: »

And to make it even worse those babies have not yet developed the muscle control to do anything other than inject ALL their venom in one huge squirt. Their strike might inject more venom that a six foot adult.
They can be extremely dangerous.

Exactly---"youngster" rattlers are FAR more dangerous as adults sometimes just do a "warning bite" with little or no venom.

steveinaz

Some of you reading an awful lot into a simply FYI thread. I've been living here for 22 years and didn't realize it was "hatch time" for rattlers this time of year, I thought it was interesting.

From what I hear, the anti-venom is not only expensive, most medical insurance doesn't cover its cost. FYI, both of my pups have had rattle snake training; it's very effective and I recommend it to anyone in a rattle snake area.

zane77

One of my horses got bit on the nose a couple of years ago and the only thing the vet gave him was a shot of antibiotics, they have a very dirty bite.

txcoastal1

People do need to be reminded every year. Just like cold and flu season. We are busy with every day life and take things for granted. i was a member of the Great San Antonio Hematological Society as a youth and would do relocation's of snakes and other reptiles.

They are little buggers that look for cool places with water in the intense heat just like every other animal. So tending to your plants and yard during the summer is dangerous and actually becomes worse as the first cool fronts approach.

Snakes are like electricity, it only takes a split second, you were either gotten or not.

We have it easy in the U.S., we are in the bottom percentage of countries who have snakes since very few are lethal in comparison to the rest of the world.

HTguru1982

http://www.ehow.com/how_8229317_identify-baby-rattlesnakes.html

George Grand

About 20 or 25 years ago, they started a very nice housing development not far from here, and named it "The Sanctuary". Big, expensive homes. Lots were sold, some houses completed and then...

Somebody discovered the area is eastern timber rattlesnake mating headquarters. The building stopped while they figured out what to do. The building continued when the builder agreed to start putting snake culverts under the roads, so the snakes could get around the neighborhood without being run over by cars. This I guess was helpful to the snakes, but did very little for the people who had already found baby rattlers in their UPSTAIRS bathrooms.

I'm sure a lot of people couldn't get out of the contracts. Tough luck huh? Yes, the babies dump their full load on the first shot. They haven't developed a "save a little for a follow-on strike" mentality yet. Their venom is much more concentrated as well. Be different if they were cute, but they're not.

Rivrrat

I was working down in Steve's town last summer and had to evict one of the little critters from one of our utility hand holes. It lived to slither another day.

They're definitely out there right now.