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That is correct. Chased being the operative word. If you just stand there a snake that is "chasing" you will "chase" right past you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Line Squirrel
I must confess that when I know where one is, I avoid the immediate area.
It's not because I am a "sissy". It is because I am not a "dummy".
And I think that most of these "attacks" are just that, the snake trying to get away from what it thinks is a threat. Sometimes it's just trying to get to the water and the shortest distance may be between your legs lol. If it wasn't beaten to death with a nine iron first, it would have just kept going right on by.Quote:
Originally Posted by hunabku
My grandmother was walking in the backyard and got bit by a cottonmouth on her ankle. She had a nasty scar and chronic pain in that joint for the rest of her life.
The best man at my wedding was bitten a few years back. He was walking along a river bank ankle deep in water (at dusk) and stepped on a WM. it bit him. He then drove himself to the nearest hospital which was 3 hours away (Texas). When he got out he said his entire leg was twice the size of his other leg. He spent about 3 to 4 weeks in said hospital recovering.
I've never been bitten, and having lived in the desert in Arizona for many years, have seen my share...but they stay away from you if you make enough noise.
You just need to carry a rabbit with you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqy8YwNSUvY
Here's some info about the snake: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology...onpconanti.htm
suggests it is has gotten the bad rap as aggressive because of the open mouth threat response. The miami venom response database goes through 2008 and there is info there on wm snake bites:
http://www.miamidade.gov/fire/librar...m-response.pdf has some interesting data, it was up an running in 2001 and the data through 2008 suggests about 8.5 human bites per year from wm. August 2005 was a bad month with 5 and it looks like Broward county is where the majority take place. Bill
I used to kill them constantly during spring bass bed season when I was a kid. Those things were everywhere when walking around the banks looking for bass spawning beds. Out of all the cotton mouths I've killed I've only had a very few actually get aggressive and try to bite me instead of running away.
They actually taste better than the bass I was fishing for :P
I had seen that rabbit video before, and think it is an excellent example of atypical animal behavior, Monty Python aside, I'm not concerned about rabbits as they aren't "armed", but wild animals are just that, and they may or may not act like you want them to.Those of you that believe that a cotton mouth when it opens it's mouth and hisses like a tire going flat and then comes for you, is not being aggressive. Be sure to stand your ground. I'm sure it is just trying to escape from you and is confused about the fact that one does not usually escape from something by going directly toward it.
You asked who had been bitten and have been told of three people who have.
This thread reminds me of the idiot who was going to live with the Brown bear in Alaska, worked for awhile, before I think he and his girlfriend were partially eaten, gee I wonder who was eaten first, and if whoever was second tried to console the bear?
From the Florida Museum of Natural History website ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Line Squirrel
Habitat: Any wetlands or waterway in the state. Cottonmouths can be found along streams, springs, rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes, swamps, sloughs, reservoirs, retention pools, canals, and roadside ditches. It occasionally wanders far from water, and has been found in bushes and trees.
Let the debate continue ... lol
I want to clarify myself on tree climbing, I'm not talking about Tarzan skinning up to the tops of trees and swinging from one to another on vines kind of tree climbing, I'm talking about getting high enough out of the water to fall into a canoe type of climbing.