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06/01/2004 07:49:23 AM · #26 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by ancientimages:
Originally posted by louddog:
Actually more people die every year from the hands of their spouse then from rattlers in Arizona. What should you be more afraid of?
And... the Mohave Rattler, AKA "the three stepper," is far more dangerous and becoming much more common in Arizona. |
Great! It probably won't take them long to migrate to Colorado as well. More to worry about..... |
Really, get them in a 4x4 with oversize wheels, a couple of Budweisers for the road, and they're off! Oh wait, you mean the snakes ... :) |
LOL :) No, folks from Arizona and even CALIFORNIA are welcome here :) - just leave the little sliterin' beasties at home, please. WE have plenty of our own.
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06/01/2004 08:33:54 AM · #27 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by tfaust:
Correct me if I'm wrong - but rattlesnakes can spring up to twice their length. So, if the snake is 3 foot long, it can spring 6 feet... ? |
Wrong ... they can probably strike (from a coiled position) more like 1/3-1/2 their length. No snake can "spring" in the usual sense, although they can drop out of a tree on you. |
Thanks General... that's right - now I remember my hubby telling me 1/2 their length. Although, here rattlesnakes don't live in trees and they will spring or strike at you from the ground, but you have to get them really ticked off first. At most they could fall off the edge of a canyon while you are in it. :-)
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06/01/2004 11:25:04 AM · #28 |
Okay, before we start a snake-frenzy, let's clarify some things:
There are very few poisonous snakes that will drop out of trees, if any at all. I'm only aware of pythons and boas dropping out of trees--and they're not poisonous and none live in the U.S.
Diamondback rattlers do the most harm to humans in the U.S. because little kids find babies and play with them, and the babies bit numerous times. If you were bitten by a rattlesnake, it is not a good thing, but it usually will not kill you unless you can't get to a hospital within a few hours. Elevate your head and put whatever was bitten low down. Antivenom for rattlesnakes is common in hospitals nowadays.
Coral snakes, though very venemous, are kind, gentle, sweet little snakes that do not bite unless very provoked. I would not suggest going out and grabbing one in the wild (though I have on occasion), but they are not temperamental.
There are many very poisonous snakes in the world, and many of them live in Africa, india and Australia. The U.S. does not have extremely poisonous snakes, relative to snakes like the Taipan, the Black and Green Mambas, Cobras, and the Brown. It would not be a good thing at all to be bitten by any of these snakes.
The rattlesnake that Steve shot (luckily only with his camera), looks to me like a female, but I could be wrong. It just has slightly duller colors; it could also be getting ready to shed.
I did a little workshop with your photo, Steve! I envy you. I haven't seen a rattlesnake with my camera in hand for a long time! (When I go hiking, I often look for snakes).
I described what I did with the photo. I'm not sure it's an improvement, but it may be useful to you.
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06/01/2004 11:33:28 AM · #29 |
If you are interested in avoiding snakes (I'm sure that as alert and inquisitive photographers there are very few in this category), here are some things you can do:
-Snakes like to be against things and under things, so if you are hiking, step ON the log rather than OVER the log.
-Grab firewood and sticks and things AFTER you've shaken them up a bit; this gives the snake time to escape.
-When climbing rocks, just make noise and disturbances to give snakes a chance to get away. They will gladly do so, seeing your scary face and huge body.
If you see a snake that is venomous, take a few slow, big steps backward, then you can run!
Most snake bites occur when people are trying to kill the snake!
Have fun! Snakes are really cool!
Message edited by author 2004-06-01 11:35:35.
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06/01/2004 12:02:56 PM · #30 |
Originally posted by dsidwell:
I did a little workshop with your photo, Steve! I envy you. I haven't seen a rattlesnake with my camera in hand for a long time! (When I go hiking, I often look for snakes).
I described what I did with the photo. I'm not sure it's an improvement, but it may be useful to you. |
Thanks David...
I like what you did with it. Since we have similar cameras I've been dying to know what you do with your images in post processing. I'm intriqued with using gaussian blur for something other than just smoothing out a background or to soften edges. I've been trying to learn better PS techniques and I KNOW I can learn from you.
My original was a little washed out. All I did was to set the black point, do some color adjustments and create a 50% greyscale overlay layer and used it to darkened a couple places on the snakes body to bring out more detail. I use that instead of the dodge and burn tools. I've been experimenting with color burn layers for color highlighting and the screen layer for briging out detail in darker images. I've finally decided that the clone tool is the best weapon for fixing hot spots and overexposures on images. :)
Humor break:
Now let's clear up any disinformation about this being a female snake...
First off, if it is female she is very small breasted and dragging them on the ground like that would have to hurt. Second, I was close enough to see and the snake wasn't wearing any makup. No self-respecting woman goes out without makup. Three, the snake stuck out it's tongue at me a lot. Women only do that behind your back. Lastly, I looked closely in the hole and there was no lacy underwear or chocolate bars.
Based on this indisputable scientific evidence I must conclude this snake is male.
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06/01/2004 12:42:04 PM · #31 |
I managed to almost stand on a common brown snake in Australia - made for an interesting hike...
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06/01/2004 01:00:58 PM · #32 |
Actually, most rattlesnake bites in Arizona, like 80%, occur on the hands and arms. This is because the victim picked it up! Also, most people that get bit are males 18-30 and intoxicated at the time. No lie! Very few people get bit that didn't deserve it.
Bites from adult rattlesnakes are usually harmless because they use a lot of energy to create their venem and they don't want to waste it on something they aren't going to eat. Thus, they are usually dry bites. Baby rattlesnakes are not more venemous, they just haven't learned when not to use their venem yet.
Mojave's are meaner then diamondbacks. They will bite for no reason and they will use their venem more often. Their venem effects your nervous system and will do permament damage to you if it does not kill you, no matter how fast you get to the hospital. They say 1 in 10 rattlers here are mojave, but there have been a lot of sightings lately from my hiker friends so I'm thinking that ratio is going up. |
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06/01/2004 01:15:59 PM · #33 |
I really wish I had a shot of a rattler. I have a few slides, but not digital image yet. It would be fun to see more snake shots! I have a few:
 A gopher snake. Harmless, and he was a sweetie--very cuddly on this cool morning.
 An anaconda, the longest snake in the world. Nonvenomous, and under water.
Steve, we'll have to find a rattler when we go hiking in August! You can hold it still while I take photos of it! Anyone want to join us?
Message edited by author 2004-06-01 13:28:17.
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06/01/2004 01:22:44 PM · #34 |
Originally posted by louddog:
Actually, most rattlesnake bites in Arizona, like 80%, occur on the hands and arms. This is because the victim picked it up! Also, most people that get bit are males 18-30 and intoxicated at the time. No lie!... |
I can attest to this one! That is the ONLY ER patients I have ever seen with snake bites. THE ONLY!
"I was just sittin by the edge of the river, minding my own bizniss. An it came up and bit me on the finger. Can you believe that?!" Actual quote, and most explanations are in this vein.
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06/01/2004 04:59:10 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by dsidwell:
Steve, we'll have to find a rattler when we go hiking in August! You can hold it still while I take photos of it! Anyone want to join us? |
Tina has expressed an interest. I can ask a couple folks down here and see what they might be doing. How long can you spend? How does your month look? There is a lot to see. I think Tina said we have to get permits to Antelope Canyon and other places and they limite the number of daily visitors. So we need to plan ahead.
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06/01/2004 09:26:37 PM · #36 |
Definately plan ahead. Antelope Canyon you get permits the day you want to hike, that isn't a big deal. To do Coyote Buttes though (where the wave is), they only let 20 people in per day (10 at the North entrance and 10 at the South entrance) so that one should be reserved as far ahead as the BLM will allow, which is 7 months. A quick check confirmed that the only month this year with availability to Coyote Buttes is December. Permits are $5 per person.
My opinion, it's worth the wait instead of doing the get together in August, I'd recommend moving it to December and getting permits ASAP or plan the dates this month and get permits for January first thing next month. It's about a 2 mile hike to the wave entering on the North end and about 8 miles entering on the South end. Doing the whole approx. 10 miles would be well worth it and you could park a car on each end.
This type of outing doesn't happen often and you're probably better off getting as much in as possible. August will be pretty hot and uncomfortable there, so you will be less likely to do as much as possible. Having hiked Paria a few times at the end of May I can attest to the fact that it's h@ll hiking those trails when it's warm because there is little shade and this is true desert hiking.
Just my .02 :-)
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