THE SNAKEBITE; A STORY
- Thread starter leVieux
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Since the thread is here, we should tell snakebite stories.
Several years ago, I was visiting my family up around Bridgeport, and my brother had a party at his house on Saturday night. As it was getting dark, one of his friends showed up in an old Bronco with no top on it, and a huge cooler full of beer in the back. A short time later he went out barefooted to grab a beer from his cooler. There was a copper head under his bronco, that bit him on his big toe. He spent almost a month in the hospital over that, and lost half of his big toe. He was allergic to the anti venom.
Several years ago, I was visiting my family up around Bridgeport, and my brother had a party at his house on Saturday night. As it was getting dark, one of his friends showed up in an old Bronco with no top on it, and a huge cooler full of beer in the back. A short time later he went out barefooted to grab a beer from his cooler. There was a copper head under his bronco, that bit him on his big toe. He spent almost a month in the hospital over that, and lost half of his big toe. He was allergic to the anti venom.
STOP the contest! You win!
I was hoping to read lots of snake bite stories.
WT_Foxtrot
Well-Known
Not a bite luckily, but have a story if we're telling them.
Back in the late 80s I went on a dove hunting trip with a bunch of friends. Rained like hell the night before and the fields were soaked. Few birds in the AM and went out for the evening hunt over a partially plowed sunflower field. We set up around the perimeter along the fence line where there was still some uncut for cover. Been out there for 20 minutes or so when all of a sudden my buddy about 50 yards to my left starts screaming and running (or trying to run in the mud) toward the middle of the field all while firing three shots backward with one hand as fast as they could have been fired back toward where he was sitting before his shotgun....a brand-new Browning semi-auto he'd just bought....went flying and he fell into the muddy field. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 seconds. When I saw that shiny Browning fly off and land in the mud, I knew it wasn't some joke.
So I go running out to him to find out what the hell is wrong and get to him and he's hyperventilating and can't even speak. I'm trying to calm him down when I look over and see another friend had gotten to his spot and was holding up a dead 6+ foot rattler on the end of his barrel. He finally calmed down enough to tell me he thought he'd been bitten so I'm taking his boot and sock off on the leg he was pointing to and found nothing. He's still insisting he was bit even after we checked him out longer. Turns out he wasn't and it may have been the mud that was caked all over the bottom of his jeans from all the rain that saved him. He swore he felt something hit the back of his calf.
Turns out that the big rattler had crawled up and coiled right under his stool, he heard it and looked down between his legs, and that's when the freak out happened. In addition to blowing away the rattler, he also took care of his dove stool and cooler.
Back in the late 80s I went on a dove hunting trip with a bunch of friends. Rained like hell the night before and the fields were soaked. Few birds in the AM and went out for the evening hunt over a partially plowed sunflower field. We set up around the perimeter along the fence line where there was still some uncut for cover. Been out there for 20 minutes or so when all of a sudden my buddy about 50 yards to my left starts screaming and running (or trying to run in the mud) toward the middle of the field all while firing three shots backward with one hand as fast as they could have been fired back toward where he was sitting before his shotgun....a brand-new Browning semi-auto he'd just bought....went flying and he fell into the muddy field. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 seconds. When I saw that shiny Browning fly off and land in the mud, I knew it wasn't some joke.
So I go running out to him to find out what the hell is wrong and get to him and he's hyperventilating and can't even speak. I'm trying to calm him down when I look over and see another friend had gotten to his spot and was holding up a dead 6+ foot rattler on the end of his barrel. He finally calmed down enough to tell me he thought he'd been bitten so I'm taking his boot and sock off on the leg he was pointing to and found nothing. He's still insisting he was bit even after we checked him out longer. Turns out he wasn't and it may have been the mud that was caked all over the bottom of his jeans from all the rain that saved him. He swore he felt something hit the back of his calf.
Turns out that the big rattler had crawled up and coiled right under his stool, he heard it and looked down between his legs, and that's when the freak out happened. In addition to blowing away the rattler, he also took care of his dove stool and cooler.
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I was bitten on the calf by a mocassin when I was 11. Grandparents had a place at Sam Rayburn lake. We use to run the Jon boat up on the bank below the house.
One morning Dad got in the boat, went to the back to fire up the 9.9, and told me to push off. I did. I stepped on a moccasin and it nailed me. I spent several nights in the hospital in Lufkin.
That was 45 years ago and I'm still scared to death of pretty much any snake.
One morning Dad got in the boat, went to the back to fire up the 9.9, and told me to push off. I did. I stepped on a moccasin and it nailed me. I spent several nights in the hospital in Lufkin.
That was 45 years ago and I'm still scared to death of pretty much any snake.
Not surprising....
I've got a good one. Unfortunately, it's about another member, so I'll use Ben's line "ask me about it in person."
I was a volunteer at the Dallas Zoo in the early 70’s. I stepped into a glass fronted display enclosure behind a zookeeper who was feeding a 16 foot retic a freshly expired rabbit when the snake slid off of a heated perch and covered roughly 15-20 feet in the blink of an eye and clamped it’s mouth on the rabbit and started looping coils up my arm and around my thigh. It blew my mind a snake that thick and heavy could move so fast it was a blur.
Holy Crap! Nightmares sure to follow...
Not a snakebite, but while volunteering I aquired a long scar running down the inside of my index finger from the bite of a..........(drum roll)........ frog. No bs.
Pixicephalus Adspersa, African Bullfrog. Puffed up, it was the size of a basketball. I was asked to change the water in his tank.
Pixicephalus Adspersa, African Bullfrog. Puffed up, it was the size of a basketball. I was asked to change the water in his tank.
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I saw and/or worked with some trippy specimens at the zoo. Mata Mata, Poison Arrow Frogs, Cobras, you name it, the Dallas Zoo had it. One of the zookeepers (Dave Barker) lived in an old frame house just outside the rear entrance and I have fond memories of sitting on his porch drinking soda and hearing stories of collecting expeditions at exotic locales. It was heady stuff for a teenager.
Another memorable experience is watching Giant Bird Eating Spiders (T. Blondi) catch, kill and eat mice (Now they’re called Goliath bird eaters). One of the guys would remove one of the females from its enclosure and let it crawl around on his shirt and was bitten several times while trying to put it back in. He brushed it off.
I’ve handled quite a few arachnids but not bird eaters. Too big, too scary, and WAY too aggressive when capturing prey, having seen it I didn’t have the balls to handle one. The fact they’re the size of a dinner plate, jumpy, and extremely fast would make re-capturing one problematic without injuring it in the process. I was teased by a couple zookeepers about being a puss to try to get me to handle one and had a recurring dream of one crawling on my shirt and jumping on my face.
Edit......this is a specimen. Imagine a spider bigger than this. Fast as lightning. That can jump 3 feet in the blink of an eye. Onto your face.
Another memorable experience is watching Giant Bird Eating Spiders (T. Blondi) catch, kill and eat mice (Now they’re called Goliath bird eaters). One of the guys would remove one of the females from its enclosure and let it crawl around on his shirt and was bitten several times while trying to put it back in. He brushed it off.
I’ve handled quite a few arachnids but not bird eaters. Too big, too scary, and WAY too aggressive when capturing prey, having seen it I didn’t have the balls to handle one. The fact they’re the size of a dinner plate, jumpy, and extremely fast would make re-capturing one problematic without injuring it in the process. I was teased by a couple zookeepers about being a puss to try to get me to handle one and had a recurring dream of one crawling on my shirt and jumping on my face.
Edit......this is a specimen. Imagine a spider bigger than this. Fast as lightning. That can jump 3 feet in the blink of an eye. Onto your face.
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