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Woman Dies from Rattlesnake Bite

 
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Suz





Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 3186

PostPosted: 10/13/2007, 7:20 pm    Post subject: Woman Dies from Rattlesnake Bite Reply to topic Reply with quote

http://www.kpho.com/news/14300378/detail.html?rss=pho&psp=news

Another sad story. Also shocking to realize that she had medical attention and wasn't able to survive.

Freeway construction has me pretty stranded out here this weekend...leaving only the hikes East of here. The temps/snakes have me rethinking hiking plans for tomorrow.
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paintninaz





Joined: 06 Jan 2003
Posts: 3515

PostPosted: 10/13/2007, 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

ok...here's a (probably silly) question....the woman was bit on the foot...there's no mention as to what type of footwear she was wearing, one would assume a hiking shoe/boot of some sort but who knows? Maybe she was in tennis shoes or tevas???

Can a rattlesnake penetrate a leather hiking boot and dispense with enough venom to provide a deadly bite? What about trail runners?

I'd always imagined if you were to get bit by a snake it'd probably be higher up...ankle, leg...and you couldn't really do much to prevent it if you weren't already warned and steering clear...but is there an optimal footwear during "snake season" that would give you better odds? dunno
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IGO





Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas

PostPosted: 10/13/2007, 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

I was bit in the ankle collar of a work boot in my yard in Mohave County about 20 years ago. I was knocking down the dry grass in a parimeter around my house, something I did once a year after the spring bloom. I sat my weed eater up against the stairs going into my house and got a soda out of the frig and came back outside and was immediately hit twice in roughly the same place. I think there was a tiny bit of venom inside my boot but the snake barely got through and one of the hits didn't make it at all. If I remember correctly, it got me in the soft collar and not the leather but I'm not sure. I really don't think he/she could have penitrated the leather and this was a large green Mohave. (was is an operative) I had rattlers in my yard all the time and normally I'd just take them a few hundred yards into the desert and let them go but this guy got sliced and diced. Purely reactionary I promise.
I have never known a rattler to not give notice but I was running a weed eater right on up until I went inside. He was probably giving me plenty notice I just couldn't hear it and I didn't see it.
Funny, I've got hundreds of cross country miles out at Lake Mead and I haven't seen a rattler yet.
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azbackpackr
Hi Tech Wizardess




Joined: 31 Dec 2005
Posts: 3639
Location: Needles CA

PostPosted: 10/14/2007, 6:17 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

A friend of mine's young son died because he was allergic to the antivenin. That was many years ago, though, and methods and dosages may have changed.
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Suz





Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 3186

PostPosted: 10/14/2007, 6:24 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Here's something I'm thinking but I don't know if it's true.
I believe snakes are disturbed by vibrations (that weed eater was surely enough vibration to put the happiest fellow into a very pissy state) and I suspect they sort of sense the heat from your body when they strike. My thought would be if you had boots on they would skip that and aim for the ankle. If you had sandals they might go for lower in the foot. I tested this on my last snake encounter in the Supersititions. Harley and I had gone out right after a heavy rain.....looking for prime photo opportunities....of the RAIN not Rattlers but we seemed to run into one every hundred yards or so. One sat in the middle of the trail in strike position. I rolled rocks at it..........and it sniffed (if that's what they do) but never struck the rock.


I thought they sort of hung on during a bite to get the venom flowing. Perhaps I'm thinking of a Gila Monster. I've heard Gila Monsters can be difficult to remove....don't they bite and chew? I guess I thought a snake would bite and hang for a few seconds, too.

Where are our snake experts?
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IGO





Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas

PostPosted: 10/14/2007, 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

I doubt my snake could differentiate between pant leg and boot. I had on jeans which are a good thing to do when weed-eating in gravel. I doubt there was much heat difference. Anyway, he/she could not penetrate the boot well enough to get something to hold on to. That’s why I think it almost impossible for them to go through leather or to get very far into it. This was a big snake and I felt him hit rather hard. I was also probably hit low because I was on a step and the snake was on the ground. It's a miracle I wasn't hit while running the weed eater because I'm sure I pissed him off fiercely.
I saw my girlfriend narrowly miss getting nailed right at the Tonto/Hermit intersection right along about the same time. We were talking and the snake just sat there. It never said a word and was less than 5 feet away. This one was pinkish.
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Abe





Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 436
Location: Prescott Valley

PostPosted: 10/14/2007, 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

We talked about tha passing of the woman at the Highlands Center Friday afternoon. Mohave Rattlers are a bit more aggressive by nature and their venom is ten times more potent. Frankly, I was surprised to hear we had one up here. Snake
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IGO





Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 4144
Location: Las Vegas

PostPosted: 10/14/2007, 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Well they sure as heck had a lot of Green Mohaves where I lived in Mohave County years ago. LOL. Most lived on my 2.5 acres I think. I moved a bunch of them in the 10 years I owned that house.
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Sande J
Calamity J




Joined: 06 Jan 2003
Posts: 725
Location: Mesa, AZ

PostPosted: 10/14/2007, 8:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Woman Dies from Rattlesnake Bite Reply to topic Reply with quote

Suz wrote:
Freeway construction has me pretty stranded out here this weekend...leaving only the hikes East of here. The temps/snakes have me rethinking hiking plans for tomorrow.


Good thing I didn't know you were stranded, I would have dragged you up Boulder Creek bushwhacking with me. Went early AM in hopes of not running into any of them and I didn't (at least I didn't hear one)... Razz
I did see one a coupla weeks ago in Boulder Basin but he still was not quite warm enough to move too much.

One of the angriest snakes I have seen was a Mohave and it was in the Prescott area.
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