Mojave Greens and other rattlers warning

It is suppose to be a real bad year for rattlers guys. This was in my own town, just found very close to my home.

This is a big WARNING! Saw on the news one was found in a kitchen, just today.

More here and it creeps me out. YOU 2?

How close were you to take that picture? I would have been running the other way! LOL Very creepy, sure hope I never see anything like that.

OMG!!!!!

Just the thought of 1 is bad enough!!!

I will have trouble sleeping tonight!

I'll take possums in my kitchen ANY DAY over those things !

I found a possum in the dumpster last week...at first I thought someone had dumped a human baby in there because I saw a tiny bit of hair under the garbage. It crawled in there and couldn't get out, so I put a board in there and it eventually crawled up the board and got out.

HOW FAR were those snakes from where you live ???

Oh my word, Dawn! I wouldn't want to be within 50 miles of that. Sheesh!

Eeeewww!

Ugh, I've got shivers running up and down my spine after looking at those pictures. Do you know why there are so many around this year?

No guys I didn't take the pictures, nor would I have been able to while I was running away screaming bloody murder.

My friend sent me this and one of her work friends at NASA sent it to her. It was off of Rosamond Blvd. and 40th st. west which is REALLY CLOSE TO ME. I have those darn big evergreen salt bushes, the Attriplex ones not those nasty Salt Cedars, anyway now I am so freaked out.

The news said they had such a serge of rodents a couple of years back that it makes more snakes thrive. I don't know but one was on the news on ABC AND NBC today about the man in San Diego who had one in his kitchen so it is all over SOCAL.

I have been freaked out for two days now.

I was hoping it would be an internet hoax. Guess not though.

I really just had to share this because so many of us live near or in the desert not in a tract that is a bit more sheltered.

I looked for the story for San Diego but couldn't find it. However, there was one about fried RS being served at the fair last year. Looks like they will have plenty of stock if they do that again! Yuk.

Definitely it not an internet hoax. They had a snake wrangler on Fox news last week. He works in the L.A. area and was also talking about the increased activity this year. One thing he said was keep doors closed to garages, sheds, etc. - something we are very lax about because we are in and out all the time.

If you are bitten,don't try to drive to the doctor/hospital - call 911 then sit still and wait. Take off all rings/jewelry, belts, shoes and socks, anything that can bind - because there can be big time swelling.

My rule of thumb - worry about it ahead of time, then it will probably not happen! The only one I've seen on our property is a baby and I gave it a wide berth, believe me. But we see them run over in the road and our neighbors across the road find them occasionally - scary because they have horses.

Mohave Rattlers = VERY DANGEROUS!!!
Not an expert here, but I've heard they are much worse bites than other type rattlers (not that any snake bite is good).
Please be careful everyone.
Give them a wide berth and don't stick your hands or feet where you can't first look.
Generally, they hate/fear us more than we them (if that's possible).

This message was edited May 31, 2008 10:42 AM

From what I've read, the Mojave's have a venom that causes system wide effects (respiratory, kidneys, etc.), whereas the kinder, gentler, rattlers cause more localized damage - but are still dangerous. There are technical terms, but I can't recall them right now. Problem is, there is some thought that the two are intermingling, causing more serious bites. OR perhaps the venom is just changing in the other sub-groups. There's lots of info on the web about it.

Also interesting, one comment I read said that most bites are to men in their 20's-30's with elevated alcohol levels. Macho men, huh? Nothing to panic over, but people who live in places like Dawn where they find large numbers certainly need to take extra care.

Morelia, a new DGer from Chico, CA posted some interesting info on this prior thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/839164/
He's very knowledgeable, though modest. :-)

I checked it out, thanks, I should link this to that thread maybe too or someone can.

KaperC wrote, "My rule of thumb - worry about it ahead of time, then it will probably not happen!" When I read that, I realized I have the same rule of thumb!

I'm hearing there is a surge of rodents lately, and I've been experiencing it first hand. Does that mean snakes are to follow?

I don't know if it's a sure thing, but Dawn said the news story she saw on TV mentioned something about that. Do you normally have snakes there?

laura that is what the news did say, for this year if you have rodents and rabbits the snakes will come. I think I have noticed less rabbits this year but I was thinking maybe the snakes ate them, so maybe they will move on.

Not to minimize the snake situation, but after all, that IS their natural environment...it's the HUMANS that invaded their "space"...so of course there's going to be an issue with them.

It's the same thing the way people here complain about the seagulls and how they poop on things and make a mess...but granted, seagulls don't have venom.

One of my DS's moved to Canyon Country after living in L.A. for 25 years and was in culture shock over the "natural invaders" out there.
Helloooooo.......

Actually, we expected to see more here, JD. They really don't want us to find them, it's those accidental meetings that are dangerous. But that gang found near Dawn in a populated area is scary!

I understand this point but it does make it scary to have a landscape where there is a lot of desert. Some people out here on land won't and don't landscape at all for fear of this when they have young kids.

My husband killed one here on the driveway last week. A little one, but nasty.

If get too close to your home you could call Animal Control will handle with this rattlesnakes....

That is true what Anna said. The little ones are more dangerous anyway.

Update on these images, seems they are not "are NOT Mohave rattlesnakes. They are prairie rattlesnakes, native to states like Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas"

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/photos_6868___article.html/rattlesnakes_mail.html

Well, sorry for those states, but I'm glad!

I am glad too, we were so suspicious because we did not recognize the picture as the area stated in Rosamond, nor in other areas in this surrounding area where they claimed to be from too. Thanks, I already tried to notify the local paper that showed the pictures and said it was from either the north or south side of Rosamond Blvd. They are a paper, not the internet and should have done more research.