Arizona Diamondback Rattlesnake Encounter

[Armin]

I was walking out in the middle of the desert with my dogs on state-trust land (basically untouched desert with a few dirt trails). I took off their leashes so they can run around happily. It's completely silent; no cars, no houses, nothing. Without any warning whatsoever, I hear a very abrupt and VERY loud hissing noise at my feet. I look down to see I'm standing ON one of these http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Crotalus_atrox_CDC.png, half coiled, sitting right there in the middle of a dirt trail probably soaking up some sun.

A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, responsible for the most snake-bite fatalities in Mexico, and the second greatest in the USA. They are one of the more aggressive species found in North America because they rarely back away from confrontation. Most of the toxin released is proteolytic like all other American pit vipers. Proteolytic venoms are, in fact, advanced and concentrated fluids that destroy tissues and other cells through intramolecular digestion. A few toxic effects include: cytotoxic (destroys cells), hemotoxic (destroys red blood cells), myotoxic (causes paralysis and muscle destruction), hemorrhagic (causes persistent bleeding). Smaller amounts of neurotoxins are also present.

After being shocked in place for a split second, my instinct kicked it, causing me to scream like a little girl while jumping back 5 feet. Very surprisingly, it didn't strike. These snakes are very well known to strike even if you're 3-5 feet away, let alone standing on it. Not to mention I was alone, had left my cell phone at home, and was a 10 minute walk away from any paved road.

Looking back on it, it was a hell of an adrenaline rush and I'm glad it happened. Now I know to stay alert and look more closely where I step while walking in the middle of the desert. I'm planning on getting my dogs snake trained as well.

[CrAz3D]

Dude, you stepped on it?  I suggest you learn to use your eyes !


We were back packing and saw one new our campsite.  Eventually it came INTO our campsite at night.  Needless to say we killed it (we being I and another dude with large rocks).  The next morning we draped it on a mantle of an old fire place from an aluminum mining camp.
http://www.dailycrazed.net/personal/snake.JPG

I should've cut off its rattler I 'spose.

[Armin]

Dude, you stepped on it?  I suggest you learn to use your eyes !

When I'm keeping an eye on my dogs to make sure they stay out of trouble, it's easy forget to look where you step. Not to mention it was in the middle of a trail, so the likelihood of stepping on a snake is very rare. I suggest you learn to reserve your judgment when it comes to a situation you weren't a part of.

[iago]

I was walking out in the middle of the desert with my dogs on state-trust land (basically untouched desert with a few dirt trails). I took off their leashes so they can run around happily. It's completely silent; no cars, no houses, nothing. Without any warning whatsoever, I hear a very abrupt and VERY loud hissing noise at my feet. I look down to see I'm standing ON one of these http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Crotalus_atrox_CDC.png, half coiled, sitting right there in the middle of a dirt trail probably soaking up some sun.

A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, responsible for the most snake-bite fatalities in Mexico, and the second greatest in the USA. They are one of the more aggressive species found in North America because they rarely back away from confrontation. Most of the toxin released is proteolytic like all other American pit vipers. Proteolytic venoms are, in fact, advanced and concentrated fluids that destroy tissues and other cells through intramolecular digestion. A few toxic effects include: cytotoxic (destroys cells), hemotoxic (destroys red blood cells), myotoxic (causes paralysis and muscle destruction), hemorrhagic (causes persistent bleeding). Smaller amounts of neurotoxins are also present.

After being shocked in place for a split second, my instinct kicked it, causing me to scream like a little girl while jumping back 5 feet. Very surprisingly, it didn't strike. These snakes are very well known to strike even if you're 3-5 feet away, let alone standing on it. Not to mention I was alone, had left my cell phone at home, and was a 10 minute walk away from any paved road.

Looking back on it, it was a hell of an adrenaline rush and I'm glad it happened. Now I know to stay alert and look more closely where I step while walking in the middle of the desert. I'm planning on getting my dogs snake trained as well.

You probably scared it as much as it scared you, and it didn't have time to figure out wtf was happening until after you had moved away.

You shouldn't leave your cell at home, though, because, according to Murphey's Law, that's when disaster will strike.

[CrAz3D]

Dude, you stepped on it?  I suggest you learn to use your eyes !

When I'm keeping an eye on my dogs to make sure they stay out of trouble, it's easy forget to look where you step. Not to mention it was in the middle of a trail, so the likelihood of stepping on a snake is very rare. I suggest you learn to reserve your judgment when it comes to a situation you weren't a part of.

Watching your dog is one thing, not knowing where you're walking is another.  Snakes lie on open snad/rocks places ... like trails where everything is beat down and it's just rock and sand.

I've been in similar situations, that's how I know.  Plus in Boy Scouts we learned all that cool stuff

[Armin]

Dude, you stepped on it?  I suggest you learn to use your eyes !

When I'm keeping an eye on my dogs to make sure they stay out of trouble, it's easy forget to look where you step. Not to mention it was in the middle of a trail, so the likelihood of stepping on a snake is very rare. I suggest you learn to reserve your judgment when it comes to a situation you weren't a part of.

Watching your dog is one thing, not knowing where you're walking is another.  Snakes lie on open snad/rocks places ... like trails where everything is beat down and it's just rock and sand.

You don't know the situation, and you obviously don't know rattlesnakes that well. There's not only very little sand in Arizona, rattlesnakes are very rarely out in the open only to sun themselves. This wasn't your normal trail, this was a hard, wide dirt trail with no rocks or sand. Not to mention it's still winter, which is when rattlesnakes hibernate. They're dormant throughout the night, and throughout the day. When they're not in hibernation, they're only out to hunt early morning and when the sun is setting to avoid the heat of the day, since they are, after all, cold blooded. Not knowing where I'm walking? I'm walking in the middle of a dirt trail looking up every now and then at my dogs. Rattlesnakes also usually give warning when you get near. I've also seen only 1 other rattlesnake the entire time I've lived in this part of town (4 years). The probability for a rattlesnake being out in the middle of a trail in the middle of a day at this time of year is overall incredibly unlikely.

Not knowing where I'm walking is also a horrible exaggeration. Not to mention these snakes blend in the with ground over here.

Do me a favor and just stop now. You're wasting my time.

[Newby]

That's super intense. Holy crap.

[Warrior]

Dude, you stepped on it?  I suggest you learn to use your eyes !

When I'm keeping an eye on my dogs to make sure they stay out of trouble, it's easy forget to look where you step. Not to mention it was in the middle of a trail, so the likelihood of stepping on a snake is very rare. I suggest you learn to reserve your judgment when it comes to a situation you weren't a part of.

Watching your dog is one thing, not knowing where you're walking is another.  Snakes lie on open snad/rocks places ... like trails where everything is beat down and it's just rock and sand.

You don't know the situation, and you obviously don't know rattlesnakes that well. There's not only very little sand in Arizona, rattlesnakes are very rarely out in the open only to sun themselves. This wasn't your normal trail, this was a hard, wide dirt trail with no rocks or sand. Not to mention it's still winter, which is when rattlesnakes hibernate. They're dormant throughout the night, and throughout the day. When they're not in hibernation, they're only out to hunt early morning and when the sun is setting to avoid the heat of the day, since they are, after all, cold blooded. Not knowing where I'm walking? I'm walking in the middle of a dirt trail looking up every now and then at my dogs. Rattlesnakes also usually give warning when you get near. I've also seen only 1 other rattlesnake the entire time I've lived in this part of town (4 years). The probability for a rattlesnake being out in the middle of a trail in the middle of a day at this time of year is overall incredibly unlikely.

Not knowing where I'm walking is also a horrible exaggeration. Not to mention these snakes blend in the with ground over here.

Do me a favor and just stop now. You're wasting my time.

someone is pissed

[Armin]

someone is pissed

Point taken.

[iago]

Yeah, don't take to heart anything CrAz3d says. I've decided he's either the biggest idiot or the biggest troll on the board, and in either case I'm not going to argue with him anymore.

[CrAz3D]

There's not only very little sand in Arizona,

What was the trail made from?  If it isn't dirt it's gotta be concrete, yeah?

[Armin]

There's very little sand in the populated part of Arizona*. I'm pretty sure that picture is either very north somewhere toward the Painted Desert, or it's very west somewhere near the border with California.  And dirt != sand. The trail was dirt. Not sand.

Not to mention you avoided every single other argument in my post, acting like if the trail was sand instead of dirt you'd all of a sudden "win".

[CrAz3D]

Dude, you stepped on it?  I suggest you learn to use your eyes !

When I'm keeping an eye on my dogs to make sure they stay out of trouble, it's easy forget to look where you step. Not to mention it was in the middle of a trail, so the likelihood of stepping on a snake is very rare. I suggest you learn to reserve your judgment when it comes to a situation you weren't a part of.

Watching your dog is one thing, not knowing where you're walking is another.  Snakes lie on open snad/rocks places ... like trails where everything is beat down and it's just rock and sand.

You don't know the situation, and you obviously don't know rattlesnakes that well. There's not only very little sand in Arizona, rattlesnakes are very rarely out in the open only to sun themselves. This wasn't your normal trail, this was a hard, wide dirt trail with no rocks or sand. Not to mention it's still winter, which is when rattlesnakes hibernate. They're dormant throughout the night, and throughout the day. When they're not in hibernation, they're only out to hunt early morning and when the sun is setting to avoid the heat of the day, since they are, after all, cold blooded. Not knowing where I'm walking? I'm walking in the middle of a dirt trail looking up every now and then at my dogs. Rattlesnakes also usually give warning when you get near. I've also seen only 1 other rattlesnake the entire time I've lived in this part of town (4 years). The probability for a rattlesnake being out in the middle of a trail in the middle of a day at this time of year is overall incredibly unlikely.

Not knowing where I'm walking is also a horrible exaggeration. Not to mention these snakes blend in the with ground over here.

Do me a favor and just stop now. You're wasting my time.

The Western Diamondback is usually inactive between late October and early March, though an occasional rattlesnake may be seen sunning itself on warm winter days.

So now that we've established snakes are OUT at this time, , we can look at the trail.  Hard packed dirt trail?  It's open and sun warms dirt, too.  Sounds like an awesome place for a snake to be warming in the middle of march, past their hibernation period.

[iago]

How do you manage to make the stupidest little thing into a retarded argument? Who cares!

Now you can argue about what "early March" and "occasional" mean.

[Warrior]

There's very little sand in the populated part of Arizona*. I'm pretty sure that picture is either very north somewhere toward the Painted Desert, or it's very west somewhere near the border with California.  And dirt != sand. The trail was dirt. Not sand.

Not to mention you avoided every single other argument in my post, acting like if the trail was sand instead of dirt you'd all of a sudden "win".

now you have a very different tune
i love it