The New Huntmastersbbs!: More camp-out pic's

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Posted by TA17Rem (Member # 794) on October 30, 2006, 06:59 PM:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/TA17Rem/IMG_0150.jpg[/IMG]]

Posted by The Outdoor Tripp (Member # 619) on October 30, 2006, 07:09 PM:

Nice pics. Any story on the Diamondback?

Posted by TA17Rem (Member # 794) on October 30, 2006, 10:00 PM:

I was out hunting with Rich H. and Randy Shaw and i was looking for coyote scat, as i turned the corner i spotted snake on road. Rich was nice enough to distract the snake while i took some pic's. I think it had 8 or nine rattles. After pic's we let it go on its merry way.

Posted by Rich Higgins (Member # 3) on October 31, 2006, 06:09 AM:

That one was in it's hiding mode. They will flatten their bodies and remain still as you approach, I suppose in an effort to pass as a stick or branch, until you almost step on them. Then they snap back into an S and light up the tail. I had one strike the bottom of my boot while dove hunting a few years ago. As I walked back to the truck to get more shells a stick in the cow path jerked into an S as my left boot was stepping down. I left the the foot up there and jumped off with my right and the snake hit the sole of the left boot. Normally I leave them alone. That snake's skin is hanging in my gun cabinet.

Posted by NASA (Member # 177) on October 31, 2006, 08:10 AM:

It has always been my understanding that snakes flatten out like that to increase their surface exposure area for faster thermal radiation absorption. A cold snake is a vulnerable snake.

If you are familiar with chuckawallas, you will see them flattened out on rocks in the early morning sun, for the very same reason.

[ October 31, 2006, 08:13 AM: Message edited by: NASA ]

Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on October 31, 2006, 08:33 AM:

...and all this time I thought they were just road killed and flat!!!

Funny Tom, when I was told the same story by Rich, I mentioned the same thing about trying to get a wider area of its body warm. I felt like a child attempting to chastise an adult. I mentioned it anyway and I either got ignored or Rich was in another world or was listening with his gunshot ears. Sometimes guys in his back seat have to say things 2-3 times before they get a response. [Wink]

Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 31, 2006, 08:45 AM:

yeah, right

Posted by NASA (Member # 177) on October 31, 2006, 09:32 AM:

I've raised a lot of snakes. In the winter I put a "hot rock" in the cage to keep their body temp up, otherwise, they will brumate. The hot rock and heat lamp are on a timer. Boas, pythons, and other colubrids will crawl onto the rock and flatten themselves out to absorb as much heat as possible when the timer turns it on.

A cold snake will not eat because their digestive process requires a minimum temperature of 75 degrees to function properly. Undigested food in a cold reptiles tract will eventually toxify and kill it.

Posted by Rich Higgins (Member # 3) on October 31, 2006, 10:31 AM:

You are both right, Tom and Danny. However, I've seen snakes flatten out as I approach and can only assume that they are reducing their profile for a reason other than heat absorption. When they get ready to fight or flee they puff back up immediately. This one watched us drive right up to it and watched me walk up to it and it made no move until I tweaked it a little, and then there was nothing sluggish about it.
I'm still betting that the flat profile serves at least dual purposes.

Posted by NASA (Member # 177) on October 31, 2006, 12:26 PM:

I've encountered many sleeping pit vipers flattened out on trails and roads. Most all were unaware of my approach. The ones that saw me approaching started backing away when I was within 6-8 feet. When the sleepers are awakened, their first response is to retreat. If restrained, they strike.

Posted by stevecriner (Member # 892) on October 31, 2006, 03:33 PM:

Was that the snake that was in the road when we all left sunday. I seen one with a hole in the head..

Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on October 31, 2006, 05:23 PM:

I think we saw it too. I missed the bullet hole but Rich said it was a rattlesnake with most of the tail missing.

Besides the diamond back (western, I think), what other rattlesnakes do you'll have in AZ?

Now Steven!!! Rich & Tim said they poked a little then let that scaly critter go free. [Wink]

[ October 31, 2006, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: Locohead ]

Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 31, 2006, 06:24 PM:

I have seen one that is a salmon color, maybe beige, and it is what I would call a Pacific rattlesnake, but I have seen them in Arizona and California. The other one is the Mojave green ...and sidewinders of course.

Good huting. LB

Posted by Andy L (Member # 642) on October 31, 2006, 06:26 PM:

Those little nasty Mojave bastards make me nervous. Well, all snakes do actually. Dr Tommy T. told me they had both venoms and were bad to the bone. Between them and the tarantulas runnin around, I was a nervous wreck in McNeal last year.....

Posted by Ray E (Member # 996) on October 31, 2006, 10:23 PM:

The tarantulas don't hurt anyone they are just looking for a bug or two and trying to steer clear of the tarantula wasp... The Green Mojave on the other hand has a nasty attitude and doesn't like much of anything most rattlesnakes are primarily defensive the Green Mojave is aggressive!!
But to answer the question there are 17
Western Diamondback, /Greenback Mohave, /Arizona Blacktail, /Speckled, /Tiger, /Grand Canyon /Twin-Spotted /Ridgenose /Rock Rattlesnake/Massasauga, /Prairie, /Arizona Black /Great Basin /Hopi /Colorado Sidewinder/Sonoran Sidewinder/Desert Sidewinder

oh by the way, I don't have them memorized, I looked 'em up [Big Grin]

[ October 31, 2006, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Ray E ]

Posted by Dan Carey (Member # 987) on November 01, 2006, 05:20 PM:

I don't remember exactly, but we have rattlesnakes with 2 different types of venom.

Posted by Tim Behle (Member # 209) on November 01, 2006, 05:45 PM:

Loco,

We have two kinds. Big one's and little one's.

Some are brown, some are green, and they all bite!

The coolest thing about them is that popping sound they make when you run them over! [Big Grin]

Posted by Freddie (Member # 952) on November 01, 2006, 07:00 PM:

Yeah, fellas, and to top that off we have black widows, brown recluse spiders, an assortment of scorpions, etc. Not to mention, every "bush" and cactus down here wants to poke a hole in you and don't even try to kick a cholla out of the trail or it will stick right through your boot. Hey, but we've got coyotes! and I love it! Freddie

[ November 01, 2006, 07:25 PM: Message edited by: Freddie ]

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