Rattler in the baby coop,, but all birds safe,, it wanted me! (pic)

[ozark hen]

glad you are safe

 

[WriterofWords]

Thank you very much!

 

[grammy of David]

I killed a 2 foot long bull snake that was in my babies guinea coop....they were ok ...just alarmed....too big to be eaten , THANK GOODNESS! At first I was not sure if it was a rattler or not , because it was behind the roost and coiled, but I could not see it's tail and yes they do not always rattle! It stuck out at me and hissed. I always have a hoe outside the door, so got it....but it was not sharp enough, plus I had surgery on my hand about a month ago ...not much grip. So i got a bucket, a spade, a scope shovel and my gun! Finally determined it was a bull snake! Could not get a clean shot, so finally drug it out of the coop with a garden rake and finished it off. That nite the hire man took my hoe home to sharpen! I HATE SNAKES...Live in SW Ks on a ranch with lots of rocky buffs, SO MANY MANY RATTLERS!

 

[SuziQ991]

What happened the first time when you were bit?

 

[WriterofWords]

Back in 1990 before Steven was born my brother and I were going fishing. I went out to my shed to get my tackle box and it was on a shelf high enough up I had to reach up and over a couple of things to get it. I had just grabbed the handle when I felt a something hit me hard and a sharp stab. I tried to jerk my arm back and it hit me again twice. I thought it was the bull snake that lived in the shed because I didn't hear a rattle. By the time I got out of the shelves I'd been bitten 3 times, my brother heard me yelling and came out to see what was happening. By that time it was rattling and moving and he killed it and put the whole snake in a burlap bag to take with us. He called the emergency number and told them we would meet them on the road because we live in a rural area and at that time it took at least 45 minutes to get an ambulance out here. I used the rubber sucker thing out of one of our snake bite kits and got what I could as we drove,, there was not much in the first strike, the second one had more than the other two. I had put a tourniquet above my elbow,, now they say don't do that. By the time I got to the hospital my arm was pretty swollen all the way up to my shoulder and the bites are about 2/3 of the way from my wrist to my elbow. They put drain tubes in the pockets around the bites, that is when I learned about the pockets! They started talking about all the things that could happen, flesh death to amputation. When they examined the snake to determine what kind it was, they said it's venom sacks were very small and that more than likely it had already injected most of it's venom into something before it hit me,, it probably was snacking on mice. I had a fairly weak dose so once they started draining it and treating me with anti venom it became obvious that it wasn't going to be as bad as they first thought. They also said I had some kind of natural immunity towards most venoms.. not that I care to test it,, they told me the name and I don't remember but I'll try and look it up. I have some scarring on my right arm where the 6 punctures are, they cut my arm like they were playing connect the dots to clean out everything they could to prevent necrosis,, I have white dot all my arm where I had drain tubes in the pockets on my arm. Now I understand it's much easier and they have better methods to treat snake bites, we get them so often here I guess they have a lot of practice, but it also means they have more anti venoms available and they keep it in areas all over El Paso and Las Cruces now.

 

[SuziQ991]

Oh My Gosh! Wow what a story for the grandkids LOL. What a scary thing to happen. It sounds like you were very lucky both times. I am so glad you are ok.

 

[SillyChicken]

Holy Reflexes! Glad your ok!