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11/11/11, 04:31 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,699
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Baby rattlesnakes in November!?!?!
Had a cold spell here a few weeks ago, it's been pretty warm since, still cold at night till last night as a weak storm front is moving over us. So I'm thinking the rattlesnakes are torpid for the season until I'm out splitting kindling this afternoon. First couple of hits and I hear this hissing sound, look around, nothing. Himp? I sez to myself, I wonder what that sound was - water hissing out of wood? My new cat jumps up on the chopping block, & I shoo her off. So I finish up and start collecting my pieces, reach down to the opposite side of the block and there is a little rattlesnake, coiled up with its beady eyes looking right into mine!  I was so freaked I chopped him into little bits with my poor ax.
So, here's my take-away: 60 degrees is evidently plenty warm for snake action, no matter how cold it's been recently. Any they make a pretty discernable sound, even if they don't rattle - this one probably had one or two with a button. It brought to mind the sounds I've heard (as in 14 assorted sizes the first year I was back on the ranch) are nothing like the sound I carry in my head of what you're supposed to hear. If I had a dog, it probably would have alerted me; the shelter cat from town didn't show a sign that I could recognize, if she had seen it.
So I'm wondering what's the lowest temperature anyone has seen for turning up a rattler?
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11/11/11, 04:38 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Posts: 34,198
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Quote:
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So I'm wondering what's the lowest temperature anyone has seen for turning up a rattler?
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You may find one in a wood pile at most any temp, but they aren't very active under about 50*
Keep in mind their body temp can be higher than the air temp if they are in a sheltered SUNNY spot
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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
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11/11/11, 06:35 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: West Central Texas
Posts: 5,080
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RedDirt Cowgirl
So I'm wondering what's the lowest temperature anyone has seen for turning up a rattler?
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A friend was out hunting on a sunny winter day in Okla. with temps in the 40's, some snow still on the ground. His dog alerted to a rattler sunning itself on a rock. That's the coldest I've ever heard of.
Here, this is the time of the year that the rattlers are on the move back to their nests/dens, whatever. So we are extra careful in both the fall and spring when they are on the move.
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I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it. Attributed to Voltaire
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11/11/11, 06:36 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,699
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50 degrees is good to know. Pretty dark overcast, I wouldn't call it sheltered either, short grass, windy hilltop. My sister said "oh yes, woodpiles generate a lot of heat" - more news to me. 'splains the mouse focus which was probably what this little guy was up to. (funny how we always use "him" never "her" when we talk snakes around here) My friend that grew up nearby had never heard of a snake out so late in the year. Never thought about them moving this time of year, our hilltop is just riddled with gopher tunnels I figured gives them all the habitat they need. There is a certain big rocky hill that's renouwned for dens though.
Last edited by RedDirt Cowgirl; 11/11/11 at 06:40 PM.
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11/11/11, 06:38 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: South Georgia
Posts: 555
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He would have been good eating in a few years 
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11/11/11, 07:20 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 2,369
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EEEEK! Thank God for NH. I'll take nor'easter's and blizzards anyday!
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11/12/11, 07:51 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Jackson county, Texas
Posts: 348
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I wanna move to NH. I'm so very, very tired of RATTLERS.
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11/12/11, 09:23 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 124
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We keep our eyes open year round for snakes. Weather and temps are constantly changing. It's true, you don't see many in January, but a warm spell can bring 'em out. Yesterday, an elementary school student in Eastland, TX, 50 miles or so west of here, was bitten by a rattlesnake when he reached into a broom closet at his school. He's gonna pull through, but he's still in the hospital.
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11/12/11, 09:27 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: South Georgia
Posts: 555
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mickey
EEEEK! Thank God for NH. I'll take nor'easter's and blizzards anyday!
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Hmmm... to each their own I guess. I'd rather be in the warm and sunny south with the snakes over the cold 
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11/12/11, 03:07 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,699
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Well that's a good cautionary tale!
These little near-death moments do take it out of you. I felt adrenalin-sick the whole day, worse because I was such a fool to imagine "they're asleep for the winter" - no such thing. The wierd part was I had just put down "Bacon and Beans from a Goldpan" where the author talks about living with timber rattlers - synchronicity didn't serve me very well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ol Tex
We keep our eyes open year round for snakes. Weather and temps are constantly changing. It's true, you don't see many in January, but a warm spell can bring 'em out. Yesterday, an elementary school student in Eastland, TX, 50 miles or so west of here, was bitten by a rattlesnake when he reached into a broom closet at his school. He's gonna pull through, but he's still in the hospital.
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11/12/11, 03:29 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Central Oregon
Posts: 6,175
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The one that bit me never made a sound. Don't count on the buzz to warn you.
The little guys are the dangerous ones. Those big 5 footers didn't get to be old snakes by being stupid. It's the young ones who will attack without provocation.
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11/12/11, 04:44 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Abilene,TX
Posts: 5,323
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Rattlesnakes were found at a school when it started about 35 miles from us...they had taken precautions, but not enough, apparently. A child was bit this week when he reached under a cabinet to get something the teacher wanted, the child is in the hospital....very scAry !
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11/12/11, 04:59 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,699
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Give us the whole story please, Oregon Woodsmoke!
Howdidit happen and what didyado? I'm going through my gameplans and not one scenario seems right. Call 911 and wait? Moneymoneymoney. Jump in the truck and drive yourself? Pass out on the highway.
No, I didn't mean to imply you would hear them, even though this one made a hiss. My last close call was again, with kindling, this time pulling a stick out of a pile and a snake actually struck the moving piece. No warning. I've heard the little ones spill their whole load, the older ones know how to hold back a little.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregon woodsmok
The one that bit me never made a sound. Don't count on the buzz to warn you.
The little guys are the dangerous ones. Those big 5 footers didn't get to be old snakes by being stupid. It's the young ones who will attack without provocation.
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11/12/11, 07:09 PM
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II Corinthians 5:7
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia
Posts: 8,125
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Caution in watching for snakes is why we are tearing down and moving brush piles and rock piles in the dead of winter...so maybe they will be slow enough in moving that we can get out of the way. (Found huge black snakes in this same area last year and suspect there is more. (Probably no copperheads due to black snakes being territorial; but never know for sure; so caution is a must!)
I'm curious too Oregon as to what you did with you were bit. Also, since it didn't make a buzz sound, you sure it was a rattler and not a copperhead?
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11/12/11, 07:39 PM
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RF in Western Mtns.of ME
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: N.W. corner of ME by both NH, & Quebec border.
Posts: 818
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Another really good reason not to mind our long cold winters - no poisonous snakes in ME. In fact not too many snakes at all, I saw only one this summer, a 20 incher by my garden.
I worry that global warming will bring em, as it has so many other formerly non-ME species, but maybe I'll be gone by then.
I have an issue w/snakes - maybe the Irish genes ?
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R. F. in Western Mtns. of Maine
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then !
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11/12/11, 07:48 PM
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Reluctant Adult
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The Wilds of Oregon
Posts: 7,216
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Even though the weather is more temperate here on the western side of Oregon, we don't have rattlers -- though obviously we do in the east. We do have snakes on the western side, but not rattlers and no other poisonous ones.
Which is good... 'coz I hate rattlers. Don't mind snakes, but I hate rattlers!
Reddirtcowgirl, I'm glad you didn't get hit! It would be such an easy thing to overlook when your mind is elsewhere.
oregon woodsmok, I will add my interest to hearing your story, if you care to share it. I'm glad you pulled through.
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Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change ready!
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11/12/11, 08:48 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: South Georgia
Posts: 555
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Snakes are just like anything else, you must look out for them! Think about it like crossing the road, you always look both ways, because the drivers may not be paying attention. Just as easy to get creamed by a geezer in a caddy, as it is to get bit by a snake.
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11/12/11, 08:59 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South East corner of NM
Posts: 1,271
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Sure glad you didn't get bitten. We kill anywhere from 3 to 13 every year. Of course we are at the edge of no where and close to the river. We have found one small snake coiled up and frozen to death in the front yard in Nov. Even in the winter we can find them soaking up the sun in the red sand down by the river. That happened in Jan. Sure made me think! My biggest dread living down here is the thought of getting snake bit. So I would certainly like to know what Oregon Woodsmok did after the bite.
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11/12/11, 09:19 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 261
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We have pigmy rattlers here in southern Oklahoma. The ones that I have killed never made a sound until you were killing them. I killed three in one week under the carport. A pigmy is very small, a large one was about 18" long for around here, maybe a little longer. They blend in so well, I've almost stepped on them barefooted several times.
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11/12/11, 11:13 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 201
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We have both the frigid cold and rattle snakes in Montana.
I have taken care of a few rattle snake bites in the ER, the anti-venom (spelled "antivenin") is crazy expensive. So much so that small rural hospitals like around here only carry enough for the first dose and then try to get more if they need to later. Not everyone needs the antivenin, only if your lab work indicate a need.
I am always worried about snakes around here. Never thought about them in winter though.
Ruralnurse
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When you were born you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die the world will cry and you will rejoice. --An American Indian Proverb
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