Bit of a size exaggeration as a puffy rarely exceeds 1m (3') but a 6" one is just as capable of causing death or loss of lots of flesh due to its venom rotting the bite area. Nice colouring though.
his a** to the county line.
If you don't move him ... some risk. If you DO move him, but not far ... he comes back to your shop ... and you don't necessarily know it.
BTW: I'm told they taste a LOT like chicken, so ... there's another option....
Taste like chicken but chewy like clams.
- Doug
[in voice of stereotypical Middle Eastern guy from movies....]
Ah. Well, then. Bring him to me....
Yeah, but you can't give those a cute little name and get attached to them.
Not sire what you're calling a puff adder. In Kentucky where I grew up, a hognose snake was called a puff adder and they're about as harmless as a snake can get. A lot of country folks were convinced they were poisonous. They puff up and strike - with their mouth closed! If that doesn't work, they roll over and play dead. But if you flip them over, they flip right back - a dead snake is supposed to be on its back :-).
I worked a university exhibit of native snakes at the state fair when a teenager. When people told me that the hognoses should have been in with the poisonous snakes, I'd pick one up, force its mouth open, and stick in a finger. I never got bit. The only problem was that after a couple of days of being handled, they got so tame they wouldn't roll over anymore.
The only poisonous snakes in the US are rattlesnakes, copperheads, coral snakes, and water moccasins. There is a "false" water moccasin that has no poison, but his mouth is so foul that getting bit is almost like getting stuck with a pungee stick.
AFAIK, only the hognose puffs up like a cobra. If you know of another, let me know. In the meantime, look at:
Rattlesnakes are hemotoxic. Only the coral snake is neurotoxic in the US.
My guys beat him to death with a landrover drive shaft and a garbage can. A bit of excitement for a little while. Then dug a hole and buried the remains.
This Puffy, in Livingstone Zambia, October 1974, if I remeber correctly was just over 5 feet long and almost 3 inches in diameter. He was just inside the shop door when we came back from lunch. The guys were pretty excited, and searched the whole shop after killing it to be sure it didn't have a friend along!!!
man's wrist. Can grow to roughly 70 inches in length. They are responsible for more deaths in Africa than any other snake. They are "Cytotoxic" - toxic to cells - and can cause severe necrosis and low blood pressure. Only fatal in about 10% of untreated cases, their death toll is still very high.
Not that I'd give a rattler a cute little name and get attached to it either. Unless of course, "Seven pieces" counts as a cute name
According to this, we are both right:
"... rattlesnakes often have both hemolytic and neurotoxic elements in their venom"
Sorry - I was talking about the US, or at most North America. Are you from Africa?
Spent time there.
2 years in Livingstone Zambia, and a shorter time in Burkina Faso.
Interesting. Now that you've jogged my sometimes faulty memory, I seem to remember an article from several years ago that mentioned neurotoxins found in some rattlesnake venom. It (IIRC) said this was something new and was either an evolutionary change or the result of some crossbreeding. OTOH, it may just have been the result of better lab work.
I also found it interesting that there is a western variety of coral snake. I was taught there was only the one native to Florida and southern Georgia. We live and learn. Thanks for the info.
==================================
In the SFWIW category, there is a rattlesnake here in the high desert country of SoCal that apparently has a unique venom.
Standard anti-venom injections don't work.
As a result, there are a few E/R's in the community that keep more than one anti-venom in stock.
Lew
Sounds like the same snake I was referring to in my earlier post.
If you expect to survive the bite, you have to be lucky enough to be quick and get to an E/R which has the right serum according to the local news.
Lew
The only poisonous snake we have in the UK is the Adder, rarely fatal except to the very young or very frail. Also very rarely found.
The skunks here are Labour politicians.
Hmm, I'm even gladder I live in the UK.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.