07-22-2003, 08:02 PM
[cool]My wife is no great lover of reptiles either. In the early years of our marriage, whenever I heard her hit "High C", I did not ask what it was...I asked where it was. I knew it would be a snake. And it did not matter what kind it was. A snake was a snake.
Over the years we have done a lot of hiking and exploring, and she has seen enough snakes that she has a passive interest in them. She will at least stay nearby while I take a picture of it. But, I do not think whe will ever go along with holding even a harmless little garter snake.
And, about "guestimating" length, we have a running joke that "snake feet" are always at least double normal measurement. In other words, if I tell someone we saw a three foot rattler, she corrects me with "It was SIX feet."
I do not dispute your estimate of size or species. It could have been a diamondback and it could have been a five footer. I am not sure as to the limits on their ranges.
I'm glad you did not try to handle it. A statistic offered the by Arizona wildlife department is that over 70% of all snakebites occur from people trying to handle snakes. Even if you know what you are doing, they are good at watching for an opening and ZAP. I watched them transport a dumb fisherman away from Patagonia Lake, in southern Arizona a few years ago, who was trying to show off for his beer drinking buddies. He picked up a rattler, and when it bit him, he dropped it and tried to stomp it to death. He got bit about six times on his bare legs and feet.
I tell everyone I am not affected by snakebite. I say that I got bit once, and in spite of everything we could do, the snake died.
[signature]
Over the years we have done a lot of hiking and exploring, and she has seen enough snakes that she has a passive interest in them. She will at least stay nearby while I take a picture of it. But, I do not think whe will ever go along with holding even a harmless little garter snake.
And, about "guestimating" length, we have a running joke that "snake feet" are always at least double normal measurement. In other words, if I tell someone we saw a three foot rattler, she corrects me with "It was SIX feet."
I do not dispute your estimate of size or species. It could have been a diamondback and it could have been a five footer. I am not sure as to the limits on their ranges.
I'm glad you did not try to handle it. A statistic offered the by Arizona wildlife department is that over 70% of all snakebites occur from people trying to handle snakes. Even if you know what you are doing, they are good at watching for an opening and ZAP. I watched them transport a dumb fisherman away from Patagonia Lake, in southern Arizona a few years ago, who was trying to show off for his beer drinking buddies. He picked up a rattler, and when it bit him, he dropped it and tried to stomp it to death. He got bit about six times on his bare legs and feet.
I tell everyone I am not affected by snakebite. I say that I got bit once, and in spite of everything we could do, the snake died.
[signature]