May 4, 2012
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Snakes on the brain
Last night I woke up with nightmares about rattlesnakes.
I have seen quite a few since moving here. I am not worried about getting a bite myself, I know the chances of fatality is almost none. Of those who do die of snake bites, 80 percent of them don’t have enough venom in their system to kill them, it is the adrenaline that kills them. They are literally scared to death.
I do worry about my dog being bitten. In Boulder County, dogs are permitted off leash. This works out well for us, we can hike and explore and not stumble over each other on single trek trails. But the chance of him running into a snake is high.
They do have a vaccine, but it is more than 1000 dollars and is often ineffective because it only works for a single type of snake. They also have aversion training, but that is the same. Very expensive and not guaranteed to help. So if my loving companion of more than 100 pounds gets bit on top of a peak, the chances of him making it back to the car and to a vet before it was too late is slim.
I am not sure what my realistic solutions are. Keep him on leash and heeling? What fun would hiking with him be, then. Stay in town with him on the sidewalks? Try the vaccine and/or training? Lift weights so I can fireman carry him down from a peak in time? All of the above?
Snakes are the worst part of CO. I am tired of these mother f*****g snakes on my mother f*****g trails.
Comments (40)
That is most certainly a dilemma. You want him to enjoy his freedom to run, yet you want to make sure he is safe. I’m sure you will figure out what to do. In the meantime, the two of you need to be as safe as you can be while you are out there.
I loved that movie. Samuel L. Jackson could eat crackers in my bed any day of the week!
@MzSilver - Mine too! He won me in Pulp Fiction, and every movie since!
Ewwww snakes.
Hope your beautiful four legged kid stays safe from them.
@Grannys_Place - Thank you! Me too!
hey. believe it or not, the best treatment for a snake bite is a low-voltage tazer. place it on the wound and taze him, and the electricity neutralizes the venom. people have even used jumper cables to save their lives. it hurts like hell, but it works. now days, the snake bite kit doesn’t include a razor and tourniquet. people buy a small tazer and keep it on their hiking belt.
just an idea.
http://www.rubyranch.us/pb/wp_188e9617/wp_188e9617.html
Just saw him in Marvels Avengers… He wasn’t too bad in it. Liked him better in SWAT. Nice to hear from you. Try not to be a stranger…
@BoulderChristina - Pulp Fiction ROCKS! He and Travolta did a bang up job in that one. Truly a top of the mountain favorite I’ve mine. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve watched that movie and I still pick up new things. Yep, we be soul sisters…
My brother-in-law does alot of hiking in Vegas. Last summer he was hitting the trails with his dog Buddy. This weird looking lizard took a bite out of Buddy. My brother-in-law took a picture of it and then immediately took the dog to the vet. Vet confirmed through the picture he took that it was a poisonous lizard. They administered some anti-venom and he was fine after a few days. Hopefully this will never happen to your dog, but if it does, I’m sure treatment is readily available in your town too.
I’m pretty sure I would die from fear. Snakes are terrifying! I hope your pup stays safe.
Just by reading about them snakes i get goose bumps… i fear them to death but then let me hope that you find a way out of that dilemma soonest….
Where you visit is their home. Whose the intruder? ; P
We used to run across rattlesnakes, and obviously, my dog wanted to play with them. Seeing as that was not an appropriate playmate, I had to divert her attention. Seemed like the word “treat” always trumped playing with snakes.
Here’s somethin you’ll get a laugh out of…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA-DMoHW1uo
snakes freak me out…but not as much as spiders & mice do.
Also. I wish I got my hour & whatever back … That movie SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So lame and so much swearing! LOL
all of the above -
@plantinthewindow - That’s good advice. I’ll buy a tazer. If the next snake bite kills me, I’ll come back and haunt you.
There is many rumored cures for bites and it might be that sometimes the bite does not inject full venom. Snakes here avoid contact with humans and if they are not cornered, they try to avoid contact. Making noise and vibrations give them a chance to get away. Early mornings is safe because they are sluggish unless you accidentally step on them.
@plantinthewindow - What a terrific idea! I just read the article and had never heard of that before, thank you!
@Zoz36 - So nice to see you again, too!
@catstemplar2 - Poisonous lizard?!? I am glad you didn’t warn me about that – that may have given me nightmares! I think the only snake around here that is harmful is the rattler, I don’t think my hands would make a camera work, they would be shaking too hard!
@wretched_epiphany - Thank you! I hope so, too!
@MissNzisa - Thank you! I hate them, too.
@ThereWillBeDragons - THEY ARE!! I think that all of the rattlers should follow the path of the dinosaurs… replace them with bull snakes, what’s the difference? Some species, imho, should disappear. Like rattlesnakes and mosquitoes!
@Kellsbella - I wish that word worked for me! I will have to find something like that. I’ve never seen that movie! I will have to look it up,
@karoline1982 - I LOVED that movie! It is a cult classic, like the Evil Dead. Nobody expected it to be “good”.
I guess there was a little bit of mother f*****g swearing… hehe… just kidding. Even remembering that movie makes me giggle.
@mlbncsga - I will pull out my weight set!
@Lovegrove - I think that is a great idea! You may want to taser yourself a time or two before anything happens, just to get a feel for the machine.
@PPhilip - Can they actually hear or just the ground vibrations? I am going to buy jingle bells to wear as anklets so we make more noise, but I don’t think snakes really hear things, do they? In the morning? I will remember that, thank you!
@BoulderChristina - Been there, done that. The riot police can be very persuasive.
@Lovegrove - Bahahaha! I guess you are good to go, then
@plantinthewindow -
@BoulderChristina -
I’ve been meaning to buy a taser for my wife, strong enough to stop a large man in his tracks, but I assume I’ll only need a lees powerful one for snake bite. Mind you, those anacondas can be a problem.
Yikes. That sucks. I’d probably crap my pants if I came face to face with anything larger than a garden snake.
I loved your rephrasing of Samuel Jackson’s line. LOL!
@Unstoppable_Inner_Strength - Hahaha, I hate snakes, too!
there are loads of snakes where I live (east texas woods) and many of them are poisonous…i never met a dog that would willingly fool with a snake. rattlers make noise to scare things off, your dog will probably get the hint and leave it alone. dogs are smart like that haha
@BranmacFeabhail - Oh I can only hope so! So far the only time he has been with me while we ran into a snake he was close enough I could make him heel. Sometimes he has more balls than brains, though, and I do worry about his “instincts” if we run into one. You did make me feel better, though! I will keep my fingers crossed that instinct overrides his bull headed nature! East Texas – are you a trail runner out there?
more cowbells – although i like the taser idea… that’s pretty cool and sounds effective! best wishes with that bc!
I live in the suburbs of Phoenix, so the chances of us seeing a snake are slim, but its happened. It was harmless, but I still steered clear of it. I HATE snakes, HATE them. With a passion. Unless they are firmly enclosed in a cage of some kind, but otherwise, snakes are like my # 1 fear about living out here, especially when I’m walking my dog. Gah.
@BoulderChristina - haha no way, too many mosquitoes under the trees for me. I just live on some land and keep the .22 handy…
Carry a mongoose with you everywhere you go.
WOW, that must be a high-tech vaccination for $1000+! We get our dogs vaccinated (Hank has to wait a few more weeks) and it’s definitely not that high. I want to say around $75 maybe. Of course, all it does is buy time in the event of a bite, but since they go out to my parents’ ranch, we do it. I wonder what makes that sucker so pricey?
@WaitingToShrug – No idea, but I will have to see if they have a cheaper option. I wonder what the difference is?