Got me 'nuther rattl'r tonite!

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Where we are moving to in AZ, has tons of Rattlers. Everyone has said, "Oh, I have never seen one though" I have seen 3!!! I was walking with N and we almost stepped on one, pretty big! In a parking lot!

Toto -- the people who never see them are probably the ones holed up in their air-conditioned homes all the time!

You won't see them when it's REALLY hot out -- they'll hide to keep cool. Usually in AZ they'll be out at night or in the wee hours of the day before it gets super hot. And of course, in the winter if it's below 50 or so, they'll hibernate.

Where we are, the weather is a lot less extreme, so usually they are out and about as soon as the daytime temps are above 60 most of the time -- about April through November. The hotter it gets, the less likely we are to see them out in the open during the middle of the day.

I never saw snakes in OC until I moved up in the hills here. A lot of people who move into our neighborhood are really surprised to find out about all the wildlife that comes through here. Some don't like it, but I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. Snakes and all!
 

mrscatinthehat

Seussical
You know I had avoided this post but had to read it after all. Now I will never get to sleep. I HATE SNAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!. YOu are far braver than I ever could be.

Beth
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Oh I am SO sorry Mrs! Go get yourself a warm glass of milk and put a nightlight on honey! Besides, there are NO rattlesnakes in Iowa, right? RIGHT?!

Oops... nevermind. Whatever you do, DON'T Google Iowa and rattlesnakes together!
:embarrassed:
Sweet dreams!​
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Ssssssssorry! ***~~~~~~~~~~:>-<

Go back to sleep now! You were just DREAMING! That's it, this was all just a BAD DREAM!
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Marg -

Mouse in a matchbox? WOW...that took some work!

I was thinking of Dermestid beetles. Probably one of the most fascinating things I've ever watched. (gross warning for others)
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Hey everyone, GUESS WHAT!

I dropped difficult child 1 off at camp up in the high desert today, and on the way home, I stopped to check out this really cool county park on the San Andreas fault with these really awesome rock formations....

and guess what slithered across the steps in front of me!!!

Yup.

A rattlesnake.

Do ya think they're on to me? :scared:
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I'm wondering, after your bragging about your exploits of the past few weeks, if they haven't taken out a hit on you!

Actually, rattlers really DON'T want to bite you. It takes a rattler about two weeks to make enough venom to kill a mouse.

Most rattler bites are actually "dry" bites (no venom injected). If you are too big to swallow and a rattler envenomates you, s/he's gonna go hungry until s/he can make enough venom to kill a meal.

When late husband and I lived in TN in the early 80's, we shared ground with a huge canebrake (Eastern Diamondback) rattler who liked to bask on a rock on the firebreak that seperated our property from an Army base's "back 40" (like 40K of woodlands).

We got to the point where we'd see him on his rock, and stomp our feet walking up so he felt the vibrations and had time to leave.

HE got to the point where he didn't even coil and rattle at us. He'd just go "Humph!" and slither off into the brush and wait for us to leave.

I don't have any friendly rattlers hanging around up here in the Northwoods, but I do have an enormous ratsnake that lives under my trailer and likes to bask in my driveway.

I just step over her.

She's gotten so used to me that I can shoo her out of the way physically before backing my truck out, without her freaking out.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Marg -

Mouse in a matchbox? WOW...that took some work!

I was thinking of Dermestid beetles. Probably one of the most fascinating things I've ever watched. (gross warning for others)

Yeah. Them things. Couldn't remember the name of them for a bit.

And it was a planigale, they're actually a bit smaller than a mouse.

Definitely a job for beetles.

We also had snake skeletons on display at the uni, the best-looking ones came from China. The vertebrae seem to almost have a ball and socket joint between each bone.

Back to marsupial mouse thoughts - I don't think the planigale is in this category, but a slightly bigger cousin, the antechinus (still smaller than a mouse, I think) may have the right idea when it comes to reproduction - the males literally bonk themselves to death.

I kid you not.

Mating takes several days, after which the males' bodies just shut down in total exhaustion, shock, depletion - you name it. As a result, they have lots of babies (50% of them males) each breeding season. And no, they haven't got a proper pouch (you'd never fit in all those babies!) but they have a shallow depression on their tummies where the babies latch on to a teat and stay there until they're big enough to ride around on their mother's back. They're not pretty. Think- small, ferocious, carnivorous opossum with about twenty babies on its back ready to take down creatures many times their size in the desperation for a meal.
And heads very flat and triangular, so they can slip between cracks in rocks and survive in amazing conditions, even huge fires. They can fit in a crack in a rock that would give a spider difficulty.

Marg
 
Top