Why Mark Ray & Others Wear Snake Boots in the South

[Todd Poer]

Nuff Said.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/07/30/huge-rattlesnakes-loud-warning-to-mississippi-man-goes-viral.html

[Mark Ray]

Yessir!....
Two days ago, resting in the middle of a coiled water hose......learned my vertical jump at 58 and 275 is still as good as it was at 18 and 180!!,! Biggest coral snake I have ever seen, 40”!!

[Todd Poer]

We don't see those in my neck of the woods but it does get your attention.

[Mike Poindexter]

Kill a fella!

[Dean Romig]

That snake looks like it was clubbed by the B.C. cave woman. :eek::rotf:





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[Mark Ray]

Dean.....funny you should say that. This water hose is out in the pasture (picture hay field) about 500 yards from the house. I had put on my backpack sprayer with just the concentrated Roundup in it, and walked up the road to this faucet to fill the tank closer to my spraying project. No Snake boots....shorts and flip flops.I saw this guy as I was reaching for the end of the hose, and he definitely saw me because he snapped up into a defensive coil. the only weapon I had was the little wimpy plastic spray wand for the sprayer, and it is only about 20" long. I am sure I looked a sight, on my hands and knees repeatedly thumping the rascal on the noggin with that little tube! When I was sure he had succumbed, I walked to the house to get a hoe to carry him back for show and tell for Robin.halfway back with the snake draped over the hoe handle, he "woke up" and slithered off the handle onto the road and was making for cover, so he got a few "lizzy borden style whacks with the hoe.

[Todd Poer]

Holy smokes, not certain which is more deadly, the genetic altering roundup or the snake. Problem is nothing really works better than Roundup.

I'll bet if you had a tree to climb this would have been you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSxAc8jHBdk

[Mills Morrison]

I have never seen a Coral Snake in the wild and hope it stays that way. They have been seen on a place not too far from my parents'

I have seen more than my fair share of Rattlesnakes, Moccasins and Copperheads

[Todd Poer]

Oh they are probably there but are largely nocturnal and pretty shy, as I have been told. No snake expert but understand the coral snakes are like grandaddy long legged spiders, very toxic venom but mouths on spider are too small to even bite and teeth are so small on coral snake they have to chew on you some to envenomate. Pretty sure not letting one hang around me long enough for that to happen. I think most bites are when kids pick this things up

[Mark Ray]

Oh they are probably there but are largely nocturnal and pretty shy, as I have been told. No snake expert but understand the coral snakes are like grandaddy long legged spiders, very toxic venom but mouths on spider are too small to even bite and teeth are so small on coral snake they have to chew on you some to envenomate. Pretty sure not letting one hang around me long enough for that to happen. I think most bites are when kids pick this things up

Im not an expert either, with the exception of experience and exposure. I have encountered a couple dozen coral snakes over the years, and those I have bumped into that were no where near dwellings or structures, have been admired and sent on their merry way. I can tell you that when aggravated, they can be quite aggressive, and they “strike” just like any other snake. On the “chewing” that is sort of accurate, when they bite, they clamp down HARD, then grind their jaws to distribute the venom. I have taunted them with sticks, and can vouch that they will hang on to a stick, and dangle their entire body weight.

Ones that have a real chance of encounters with people or pets are dealt with more severely. I have two good friends that narrowly escaped death from coral snake bites. Both bites could have been avoided by excercising more caution.

[Mills Morrison]

"Only come out at night"

Boy that makes me feel better.

[davidboyles]

Mark I have killed 2 corals at my house while in the yard away from house. One was about 14" other about 18". 40" is a B&C snake. I hope you saved him for several colorful hatbands!! Would be great in the dove field.

[Mark Ray]

Mark I have killed 2 corals at my house while in the yard away from house. One was about 14" other about 18". 40" is a B&C snake. I hope you saved him for several colorful hatbands!! Would be great in the dove field.

Kinda messed it up with the hoe!! I have four of these guys, including the “subject snake” in the deep freeze though. Unlike other poisonous snakes though, the coral snake has a very powerful neurotoxin that can work transdermally (through the skin). SO, if your buddy ever gets bitten, dont go all “John Wayne” and suck the poison out, or you will be dead faster than your buddy. A taxidermist friend told me he wears two pair of latex gloves when he skins one, and constantly reminds himself not to scratch himself.

[Michael Meeks]

I'll take my chances with the Roundup and leave Mark to his coral snakes! Glyphosate (Roundup trade name) targets genes that are only found in plants. There is a lot of recent evidence that shows Roundup is not carcinogenic or genotoxic to humans.

Holy smokes, not certain which is more deadly, the genetic altering roundup or the snake. Problem is nothing really works better than Roundup.

I'll bet if you had a tree to climb this would have been you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSxAc8jHBdk

[Todd Poer]

Thanks for the heads up about Roundup. I used the stuff for years and have had it all over me a few times. Had not heard of the latest info about roundup. There is so much information out there pro and con supposedly coming from experts, it is just so hard sometimes to decipher what is real or smokescreen info.

Btw Mark I had not heard about getting the toxin from their skin as well but makes sense. Probably means they don't have a lot of predators either.

Sister and her husband are stationed in San Antone and was talking with her since they just got new lab pup. Brother in law is out of town so she goes to let dog out late to do business. Big old coral snake was on patio and freaked her out. She is not liking Texas too much since only a week before the snake a swarm of killer bees were trying to nest behind the wall and they had to have someone come in the middle of the night to get rid of them. Heat and pestilence are taking a toll.

[Victor Wasylyna]

Nuff Said.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/07/30/huge-rattlesnakes-loud-warning-to-mississippi-man-goes-viral.html

That gal would make a nice pair of snake (skin) boots!

-Victor

[Jay Gardner]

Growing up in central Indiana I never really worried about running into poisonous snakes BUT last summer some one filmed a rather large timer rattler about 3-hours from my hometown. I had no idea they could be this thick. https://youtu.be/dbJpV3VGK7o

[Dean Romig]

Jay, something about that “snake” doesn’t ring true. They don’t crawl or slither with their body straight like that - and they don’t generally crawl that slowly either.






.

[Jay Gardner]

I'm no herpetologist but it seems legit to me. Here is another from the general area: https://youtu.be/kKLPNZ-pxKg

[Mark Ray]

Looks legit to me...diamondbacks that are just “traveling” move like that, with their tail elevated.

[Rick Losey]

Kill a fella!

yup- as we learned as kids -

red on yellow kills a fellow
red on black's a friend of Jack

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Thanks Rick, Ive been racking my brain trying to rermember the second half of that ryhme.

[Mark Ray]

We learned it “red on yellow, kill a fellow, red on black venom lack. Which was all well and good until I went on an excursion to catch Arapaima (worlds largest freshwater fish)on a fly rod, in Guyana a couple of years back. The damn coral snakes down there are red on black!! And another one that gets real big that is black and white!

Unbelievable trip! Worst part is that my Nikon D5300 now lives somewhere on the bottom of the Rewa river!