SNAKES
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So, funny story. After pranking my gf and her whole family and a few neighbors with my new pet we hear the doorbell ring at 11pm. I look through the peep hole a see a cop standing wayyyyy back. I open the door and he says don't move. There is a snake at your door. I casually walk over the snake and laugh. He came to the door to let us know we left a kids bike on the sidewalk and was met with the snake curled up at the front door. Gotcha! One more victim to the snake gag! |
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This is was my first time encountering a snake while climbing. I was out climbing with a group of friends at the Riverside Quarry. I had just clipped the chains and was being lowered this guy was right under me. So I announced that there was a rattler which immediately got the group nervous. It made its way into a hole by my be layer as I hit the ground with enough time to snatch it up by its tail. |
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Check out the route "whodunit" at Tahquitz, in one of the photos (about halfway) you can zoom the photo and see a rattler in the photo hiding in a small cave/crevice. For those that dont know the route is 900 ft so the snake is about 400 ft off the deck |
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This thread has absolutely assured that I will never go climbing in AZ or Cottonwood canyon. |
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Not a good photo, but a week ago we found this dude chillin at the start of a climb in Courtright. |
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That looks like a rubber boa. They are also pretty prevalent at Lovers Leap along with rattlers. That place is sanke heaven, but not nearly as bad as AZ or cottonwood from what it sounds like. They are crazy snakes though, I have ran in to ones off the deck on belay ledges. |
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I grabbed a snake in a horizontal in the Gunks climbing by headlamp at night. Man was I glad the rope was above me. |
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Nick K wrote: "Snakes, why's it always gotta be snakes?""That's just my pet snake Reggie." Best movie OF ALL TYME! Edit to add: "Asps, very dangerous. You go first." |
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I was leading a group of 5 down the trail to the falls at Fosters this past spring/summer and happen to stop to look back at everyone. I heard, what to me sounded like a katydid (i'd never heard a rattler). I look 3'-5' off the trail and there is a good 3.5' ft rattle snake. Beautiful |
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Josh Kornish wrote:My partners in Yosemite had some fun encounters with king snakes. Nothing like reaching up to a hold and grabbing a snake. They love to chill under packs as well. A friend of a friend topped out a boulder problem here in Montana and was bitten by a rattler. He had to get a heli evac and once at the hospital was just recommended to ride it out instead of fork up the cash for anti venom.Ride it out? I was bitten by a rattler in JTree and I'm pretty sure if I'd have ridden it out i wouldn't be typing this - even with the horse serum it was pretty disturbing. But fortunately not permanent. |
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That's the story. I don't much detail beyond that. |
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I agree with Chris. NEVER try to ride out a venomous snake bite. Even a copperhead, which will certainly not be fatal, can cause permanant disfigurement & morbidity than could seriously affect your lifestyle to say the least. Bites for N.A. rattlesnakes have ~5% mortality without treatment, so you could realistically ride it out and live. HOWEVER, the tissue destruction can be absolutely devastating & also cause damage to organs that could be permanent. The longer you wait to get antivenom on board, the more tissue destruction you are looking at. |
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timt wrote: As a note, to avoid lifelong health & financial problems NEVER EVER EVER pick up a rattlesnake as Zach did in the above post.Or at least wear a helmet... |
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Back in the '70s, two pioneering Texas climbers, John Sanders (aka Goomba John) and Lauren Clayton caught enough rattlers and sold them to the San Antonio Zoo to buy their first cars in high school... |
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I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane! |
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L. zonata
Lampropeltis zonata California mountain kingsnake observed at Calaveras Dome. Saw another of the same species at Tahquitz on Sunday. Snakes are pretty cool.. Nice ringneck snake Brent. |
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@Bryan G: californiaherps.com/snakes/… |
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I have heard from multiple people that the base of Stained Glass and Fly Boy boulders in the Buttermilks is a massive rattler den that becomes active with hundreds of baby rattlers during April. Can anyone confirm or deny this and do you have a picture? |
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Greg, that's a Pituophis, which (bull, gopher) would depend on where you found it. I found a beautiful female a couple weeks ago, I scooped her up off a road to relocate her after helping with a bad shed. While dealing with the shed I noticed she was gravid so I hung onto her until she laid as I will get a 100% hatch rate in my incubator and I will let the babies go after they hatch (I found a dead female in the road with 7 eggs shot out behind her from a car). I absolutely love them! |