# Rattlesnake in my back yard! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 30, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938 "2005-07-30T22:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/21 "2005-08-02T14:10:31Z")
Glad your pooch is better, **StGermain**. As to whether to kill or leave poisonous snakes in your living area I guess it all depends on the individual situation and your tolerance level. If you have kids or you or your spouse are going to be spending a lot of time in the same areas as snakes inhabit, I’d definately get rid of them in some fashion, either killing them or transplanting them to another area. Remember that one female can soon be one female and dozens of young, quickly becoming too many to look out for. If rodents are a concern, get a corn snake or some other non-venomous species to replace it with. But **Jake** , I hope that when you said “always kill any snake with a diamond shaped head” that you’re at least talking in residential areas. I can’t see any reason to ever kill any snake in unpopulated, rural areas. There they do far more good than harm and are a valuable and necessary part of the ecosystem. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/22 "2005-08-02T14:19:24Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > But **Jake** There they do far more good than harm and are a valuable and necessary part of the ecosystem. There’s plenty of Bull Snakes and Racers for that. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/23 "2005-08-02T14:35:14Z")
Apparently not, otherwise the venomous snakes wouldn’t exist there. Poisonous snakes freak me out, having almost been bit several times in the wild. Even so, I’ll still grudgingly allow them their place as they do fit a niche and who are we to upset that balance? As long as they’re not a clear and present danger to myself or others I’m an advocate of simply giving them a wide berth. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/24 "2005-08-02T14:58:22Z")
Your prerogative. My prerogative is usually something else. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/25 "2005-08-02T15:12:10Z")
I live in the middle of several hundred unpopulated acres. Unpopulated by humans, that is. And I surely can’t de-snake the entire area. I think I’ll just have to keep my eyes peeled. If I continue to see the snake in the area I"ll probably dispatch it, reluctantly. My life, and the lives of my animals, are more important to me than the snake’s life and niche in the eco-system. I’m also going to post this from a friend of mine, who was bitten by a rattler while going to check on her horse: > [@](#): > > If you want to live and let live, be sure you know what you might be living (or dying) with, and just how much of your life you might be giving if you do live. Time was I thought a bite just meant going to the hospital and getting a shot … After all, the horses hadn’t had that much problem getting over their bites, and they didn’t even have antivenin. > > I got bitten by walking through a barn door without looking. There was no warning rattle, because I was going fast and we were both startled. Afterwards there was lots of rattling, and he slithered off. I’m sure he’d rather not have met me, and I seriously doubt that he was evil (I just didn’t know him long enough to determine that for sure) but the fact is, I did get bitten. I’ve known plenty of people who walked through doors and did spot the snake, which was very fortunate. I knew someone who found out after he’d fooled around under a riding lawnmower that a rattlesnake was coiled under it – it was just sluggish due to cool weather. I’ve heard of someone who died because he reached for a bale of hay and got bitten on the neck. > > Now as for the people who are bitten and don’t die – That summer I was the seventh person who came through that particular ER with rattlesnake bite, and one was coming in as I was leaving. I didn’t get the antivenin because the venom didn’t get far enough to threaten my internal organs, and the antivenin in use at the time caused a lot of allergic reactions resulting in anaphylactic shock. BUT the venom can cause essential things to shut down, like kidneys, liver, or heart, and it can affect the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. It also digests out a lot of flesh around the bite site. If there’s a neurotoxin, and Eastern Diamondbacks can have that, it can be paralyzing and affect your breathing. My leg swelled up to the point that you could not identify the knee joint, and one side of it was literally black from the toes to midway up the thigh. I was one of the few people that didn’t have to have surgery to slit the muscles to relieve the pressure – and that surgery leaves hideous scars. I wasn’t allowed to move my leg, so that was three days in the hospital with bedpans and sponge baths. When I finally did get up, the pain of blood going to the swollen leg was intense. There was a hole in my leg 2” in diameter and over half an inch deep that leaked serum constantly and debriding that hole was also intensely painful. Dressings had to be changed twice a day, with two kinds of gauze stuffed in the wound and three other layers of bandaging on top of that, and they were saturated with serum. Oh, and of course it had to be scrubbed until it hurt to remove dead tissue, except when the Pain and Torture staff used the little little Exacto knife to do that. I can tell you that Vicotin is insufficient. That went on for six weeks until the skin graft, which was another week of considerable pain from swelling and the site from which the skin was removed. Basically from mid-June to mid-August I was on crutches and sat and slept with that leg elevated, and changed dressings twice a day. And I was lucky. > > The total bill (including what insurance paid) was $10,000. Antivenin is a couple of hundred a vial, and sometimes they need to give 10-20 vials. > > The new antivenin is said to be safer and more efficacious but it’s a big risk. If one wants to be sentimental about a rattlesnake, I’d recommend going in the direction of eviction. StG ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/26 "2005-08-02T23:39:59Z")
StG, glad the dog is okay. They’re curious animals and it’s not easy to keep them from investigating, so perhaps getting rid of that snake (relocation or ‘dispatch’) is your best bet. > [@PunditLisa](#): > > Oh, and you found a rattlesnake in your backyard? :eek: I’d be so stressed out, I’m not sure I could continue to live there. I grew up where there are rattlers, so they’re not an issue for me. Rats, however, gross me right the hell out. There are no rats in Alberta (and it is, if I recall correctly, illegal even to have them as pets) and therefore moving to Baltimore was the wrong move. Bleah, rats. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/27 "2005-08-03T01:21:25Z")
**Fiona Update** - The swelling is all gone! She’s totally back to normal. Considering by Sunday it was through her face, down her neck and her chest, I’m very pleased. In other news, I saw another rattlesnake on the road about 3/4 of a mile from my house. Maybe they’re travelling for water, since it’s been dry. **Ginger** - I agree totally with the rats comment. I had rats come into my 150-year old farmhouse last winter. When I asked my neighbor what to do he basically made it sould like that’s what happens in old houses in the middle of the country. The cats didn’t do anything, the dogs didn’t do anything. I finally put out traps and poison. I was scared stiff about the poison with the dogs, but I couldn’t have rats in the house. I couldn’t sleep at night with the noise in the attic. StG ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/28 "2005-08-03T01:47:10Z")
I have never had a rat in my house. If I ever do, I’m moving back to Alberta. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938/29 "2005-08-03T02:37:10Z")
**Ginger** - It was horrible, just horrible. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to get rid of them. That’s why the snake can eat all the rats it wants. StG [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rattlesnake-in-my-back-yard/314938.md?page=1)