BIG Rattlesnake!!! Gigantic, HUGE!!!

“Saw the biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen today. It was a timber rattler, sunnin' itself out on a ledge about 60 feet up a cliff. Looked to be about as big around as my calf and maybe 6 feet long.

I had rapped right past the ledge about a half-hour before and didn't see it. I saw it as I was climbing up. I popped up out of a chimney crack and turned around to finish up the face, and there he was.

I don't mind snakes, I used to have a python, but this thing scared the sh!t out of me!

I stayed real still for a long time and he just stared at me, eyeball to eyeball. The ledge was about 6 feet long and (thank God) he was at the opposite side.

Finally I figured I had better do something. I had 15 feet of face work to the top. I started up, moving real slow, and he just kinda turned his head to follow my movement. He never rattled, I think he was prayin' that I would go away, just like I was prayin' that he would. At least it makes me feel better to think that.

I finished the climb and packed up. I was done, no longer in the mood to climb. I picked my way very slowly and attentively back down the cliff to the trail.

I've been all over those cliffs for the past 2 years and have never seen a snake of any kind there. Sometimes I go out at midnight and crack climb in the dark. I sleep on top of the cliffs quite often. I've climbed all over 'em.

I know we have a healthy population of Timber Rattlers, Copperheads, and Cottonmouths here. I've seen them lots of other places. Just not at "my fav crag". Leaves me feelin' real weird.

Anyone else have any scary snake stories?”

“Tastes just like chicken.”

“Wow, thank goodness everything turned out ok! Are you talking about the area where the "new trail" should be??”

“Not like that! I did nearly step on one at an altitude I wouldn't expect to see a rattler. I levitated about 3 feet up and 6 over, the snake did the same rattling like crazy (my heart was probably just as noisy), we looked at each other, and each of us slithered off in opposite directions a few calories lighter.”

“bpbaby - Yes I am. Still workin' on that.”

“I saw a rattler just like that in Cohutta Wilderness (North Ga.) about eight years ago. He was right next to the trail, and rattling Really Loudly. He didn't seem to be all that long, but he was so thick he could've swallowed a softball and you wouldn't have been able to tell.

I was going up the same trail four years later, and there he was again, in the exact same spot! Either that or he had a twin brother.

Not too peculiar, I suppose, but weird enough for me, *G*”

“Mel - Does it really taste like chicken? I always figured it'd taste like gator.”

“I was dayhiking the local mtns (mid-late 80s) and looked ahead at all the deer trails, wondering which way I should go. The rattling was sudden and loud, and I put it in reverse. Didn't know I could run that fast backwards! At the same time I was apologizing to the stupid rattler, telling it I didn't see it, etc. I laughed later, how silly that must've looked. Glad I was alone.”

“it tastes like baby panda.”

“Do they really rattle or is it just stuff you see on the movies.

I've only encountered snakes the typical way. Where they've been sunning themselves on the track. It's that first 3 seconds, when you realise what it is.
BBBBBRRRRRRR YUKKO.
Do chickens taste like snake?”

“EEEKKK! They really rattle before they strike. I spent three days in the hospital compliments of a rattler. They aren't as dangerous as most people think though. Only to the very young and old and those with compromised imune systems. They definately let you know when they're upset!”

“Our snake venom works different to yours, so kids if your in Oz, be sure to get a local snake bite kit and instructions”

“I jumped over one on my mountain bike once. He was sunnin on the trail. He didn't rattle until I went over him. I thought it was a Bull Snake but the guy behind me didn't. The ones around here are small compaired to the Eastern Diomond Back.”

“Did you know that you can tell how old they are by how many rings are on their rattle? So next time you all come close, stop and count the rings!! :o)”

“I scared up one that measured 47 inches in a very isolated area of eastern KY years ago, he srtuck first, missed thankfully( I had a wonderful pair of snake boots for just such an occasion), then buzzed very loudly and constantly until deceased. The buzzing (11 rattles and a button) is so loud it seems to come from everywhere and can sort of freeze you unless you know where he is you can't tell from the sound. Thankfully rattlers aren't aggressive like cotton mouths, boy they will stand their ground. My dad had one mounted full body that was 58 inches long. If you put it on the floor in a room cats and dogs would freeze when they came in the room and the hair on their backs would stand up, lots of growling/hissing, kind of spooky. It was very hard to ride home with that thing sitting in the seat of the car.”

“Are there Aussie pit vipers?
US of A has several varieties, plus the coral snake.

Sassy -
what kind struck you? The Eastern diamondback injects more venom per strike than any snake in the world. It's the largest (heaviest) snake in the states, too.
There's some talk in reptilialictic circles that pit vipers can unleash a "defensive" strike that uses much less of their precious venom than a normal strike. Mebbe that's what you received.

Down South, "canebreak" and "timber" have always been interchangeable, but there's some credible suspiscion that they may actually be separate species - canebreak being the more southerly occuring cousin.

My coolest experience was prolly when I shared a blackwater slough with a medium sized copperhead. He was swimming around near the edge, and I waded past within about 12 feet of him. I had the foresight to bring snake leggings on that hike because I knew I would be doing alot of bushwhacking. Problem was, the waterline in that trough was at or above the tops of my snake leggings. Kewl.”

“Copperheads are basically lazy. they usually don't strike unless you step on them or kick them. Even then they often "dry bite" first.

I had an encounter with a Michigan rattler once when I was a kid (9 or 10). I was climbing up an embankment and when I topped it, the rattler was right there, less that 2 feet in front of my face and rattling like crazy. I fell backwards as quickly as I could and rolled down to the bottom. I have never run so quickly in my life.”

“We got Tigers, King Island Tigers, Brownies, Taipans, Red Belly Blacks and most dangerous of all, Queensland Hoop Snakes. These evil buggers bite their tails and roll down hills after you!”

“That's a sound you don't want to hear.

The largest I saw was sunning itself in the middle of the trail. About a 5 foot Timber Rattler. We stayed a respectful distance while it thought about moving when another group came up and thought it was cool. They moved in for a closer look and got well within striking range. The thing was warning them like crazy but they were oblivious. They finally listened to us and gave it some space.”

“I don't know Gojo, it was in Arkansas, I was five and dern luky! It pretty much drained itself on my canvas tennis shoe, not much venom left for me.”

“Arkansas?
Mebbe it was bacpac.
hehehee!

Bunyip -
I've heard the hoop myths (they supposedly occur in these parts), but I don't believe them.”

“Oh no gojo they are REAL. Around here they are known as the Rolling Hoop Snakes of Doom.

A farmer was chased through the woods by a one. As it went to strike him, he dove behind a tree and the snake imbedded it's fang into the bark and died. The next day the farmer noticed that the tree had enlarged to twice it's normal size from the swelling of the poison. Needing a shed for his cows, he cut the tree down and made a barn with the wood. Over the next week, the poison dried out from the wood and made the shed he built grow smaller and smaller. Finally he was forced to build another shed for his cows and use the first one as a dog house.

TRUE!”