Here in Southern California I usually start seeing the Rattlesnakes by Easter weekend. I’ve been around them my whole life. I have a comfortable respect for them. This weekend we were up at our Family property on Palomar mountain. We had our annual archery contest for the kids and our .22 accuracy contest with there great grandfathers Remington single shot. It was a great day with Family. During the day we came across a gopher snake and two different baby rattlesnakes. Probably 10”-12” long. For those that don’t know they are live born and ready to strike with venom. It’s said that the babies bite is worse as they dump all there venom on a bite. Well everything was fine until the third rattlesnake that we didn’t see bit my 13 year old niece. My two brothers instantly grabbed her, jumped in a truck and 4x4’d out of there to the nearest fire station. They called ahead and set things in motion for a helicopter. We sent pictures of the snake for identification for the anti venom. They took her to a hospital near the San Diego Zoo where the anti venom was on hand. It was a long horrible night but she’s resting and going to be ok. I’m sharing just to give a reminder to everyone to be extra alert when in the field. John

Glad everything will turn out alright.

I believe this is a Pacific Speckled Rattlesnake

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake - Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/images/cmpyrrhuslongsd.jpg

Praying your niece will be ok in Jesus name.

Prayers for her full recovery.

I hate that happened. Prayers for your niece. I am not a fan of snakes.

I stand in agreement with the prayers of these fine gentlemen.

Prayers sent for your niece.

Prayers from Illinois.

Prayers sent.

Praying for her recovery.

Prayers for the young lady!

Glad she'll be ok, and kudos for the fast reaction team. Terrible thing to go through.

Prayers sent. I hate him. They hate the ole 12 gauge. Killed 5 about 10 yards from my cabin porch in the last 3 years. And two copperheads.

Iam surprised they didn’t have any anti venom at the Escondido hospital. When Bearstate Bowhunters shared the police range we were told they kept it on hand. I had many a close in counters on that range.

Hate = Fear.

Snakes aren’t Evil just because they don’t wanna be messed with. Trouble is, they’re so well camo’d that it’s easy to make them feel threatened by mistake.

Mountain Lions prey on people when given the chance, but nobody seems to hate them for it.

Glad she got the help that she needed so quickly, and here’s hoping/praying that her recovery is quick and Full.

Prayers sent from Michigan

They might not be evil but I kill em so they won't bite anyone. That it is just me and you can do what you choose.

Prayers for the little girl sent

And agreeing with babysaph. I do the same. For the record, I don’t care much for mountain lions either.

Prayers for the girl's speedy recovery. On a lighter note, I'm a leftover Neanderthal and I've been bitten by lots of God's creatures. I don't hold a grudge because in all honesty, many times I deserved it. My doctor's receptionist greats me with "hi Richard, what's bitten you today"? I've had the rabies shots and the upside is if I get nailed again I only need one and not the whole series! Which is a good thing as it's approx. $14,000 out of pocket if you don't have health insurance coverage. Probably gone up too, as that was 10 years ago. Snapper trapping's just around the corner...haven't got bit by one of those yet, bet if I do you'll all hear me scream and get to read about it here!

Prayers sent

Prayers out

Prayers sent. Here in Florida near Daytona,... they are all over the area now giving birth..uuughhh

Nothing against 'em but glad they're not common in these parts. As said above, great response getting her to help asap.

Nice pic. Man they blend in well. I carry a 38 now with snake shot. Great target lol

Corax x2. Go get yourself a Jack Russell terrier and that little bugger will warn you of snakes and they may even take them out too. Also, keep your area free of food that rodents want and you'll lower the number of snakes around.

Glad we only have one kind here in MI, and a pretty rare one at that. Only ever saw one and it was squished on a gravel road many years ago. Nothing against any of Mother Nature's creatures and nothing against anyone that kills em, either.

Glad to hear the niece is gonna be okay!

Glad to hear that she is going to be ok.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate all of your prayers and kind words.

Prayers for a full recovery and a hope that this does not dampen her love of the outdoors.

I know they have a place in nature, but I just don’t like them. In Arizona it’s time to lookout for them and we usually see to many of them.

RonL

Thanks for the warning John! Sounds like y’all did everything right. The quicker you get the anti venom, the better the outcome. I found out the hard way...........took almost 5 hours to get the first dose when I got bit. Which caused me a lot of pain, suffering and tissue damage. Still dealing with the effects almost 4 years later! : (

Hope your niece has a much better outcome! Will say some prayers for a speedy and complete recovery! How is she doing today? Was there much tissue damage?

I’ve only seen 2 timber rattlers in the wild and neither one of them rattled- even after one of them bit me. I found out Timber Rattlers are notorious for NOT rattling. So if anyone is reading this in Timber Rattler country (most of the East Coast from Fla up into NewEngland) don’t count on a warning rattle.

Also, get yourself a pair of snake boots and wear them if you have poisonous snakes in the area. I thought about it, but decided not to spend the money. Worst decision I ever made. Could have saved myself thousands of dollars in out of pocket expenses not covered by my insurance. Not to mention the time off work and excruciating pain.(for weeks)

FYI- it is often said that smaller, younger rattlers expell all of their venom with one bite and therefore are more dangerous, but from what I have read that is not the case. I read a study that concluded the size of the rattler was directly proportional to the amount of venom received in the bite, so the bigger the snake, the more venom. Not to diminish in any way what your niece is going thru! Any bite from a poisonous snake is a horrible thing- unless you get lucky and get a “dry” bite with no venom.

Well, hope she bounces back quickly and does not have any lasting effects. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions- I learned way more about rattlers and bites than I ever wanted to know, while recuperating from my unfortunate incident!

Prayers sent.

I hate snakes. They ruin my entire day even if it is a gopher snake. Prayer sent for a speedy recovery for your niece.

Glad yal we're able to get medical attention. I hate rattlers

Sorry to hear John, wish your niece a speedy recovery...

While waiting at our Ohio primary voting poles this morning I was surfing the web on my phone and trending now was an article about venomous snake bites... I hadn't realized between 3,000 - 4,000 snake bites are recorded annually, and about 5 deaths... Hadn't any idea numbers were that high...

Timber rattlers are not real common in SW Wisconsin......but, they are around. This one was crossing the road beside our property last August.

I didn't run over it, but someone did. My son had just gone up that road in my Gator. One half hour later after putting up a treestand he returned and this guy was on the road.

Bernie

Prayers sent for your niece.

Prayers for a full recovery

Prayers up.

Been too cold here along the Mn. Mississippi Rv. Bluffs for them to come out.

The anti-venom is very expensive, hope the parents have good insurance but most important that she will be fine.

+1 monkeyball. Copperheads are invisible and unfortunately very quiet.

You ain’t kidding jjs! The drug company wanted $420,000 for my anti venom! My insurance company negotiated it “down” to $219,000. THANK GOD I had insurance! I am still paying off the over $7,000 in OUT OF POCKET expenses that were not covered by insurance.

At the time, the Toxicologist from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was talking about the new synthetic anti-venoms they are working on. Supposed to bring the price way down in the future.

Here’s my Hospital bill. Note the last line item for medications:

Don’t know why, but it won’t let me attach a photo

Agree with Rut Nut. Snake boots are cheap insurance vs the cost of anti venom. I wear them most of the hunting season here in south Alabama.

It’s been over ten years since I had to a vet bill for my Lab that got it on the face and anti venom was $420 a vile. We used two.

RonL

RonL, check out the rattlesnake vaccine for dogs. Gave it to my bird dogs for about 10 years. Two were bitten on top of the nose within a week of each other with little damage. Both were in woods near my house and came up with two drops of blood on top of nose obviously by a small snake. One only had a knot like a bee sting that quickly went away and the other made a sore that oozed for about two days and then healed. No real damage to either dog. Here’s a picture of second dogs nose.

They must use a different anti-venom for dogs. My bill was $219,000 for 30 vials or $7,300/vial back in 2018......................

Bad shoes I assume looking at the location of the bite, luckily she'll be ok. There is a reason turkey hunters normaly wear snake boots. A regular leather hiking boot most likely would have been enough in this case.

never heard of a snake vacciene?

had a friend from Missippi that said his dog would go to pond and kill watermoccins

had been bitten so many times they did not have any effect

??/ dont know just what said to me

It’s been on market since 2003 and causes the dog to develope antibodies against the venom and lessens the severity of the bite. Unfortunately it has no effect on cottonmouth or eastern diamond venom but helps protect against copperhead and most rattlesnake venom. Made by Red Rock Biologics.

thanks Greenstyk

How is your niece doing now John?

Yea how is the little girl doing?

hate to see anyone get bit. it's against the law to kill snakes here in TN if i'm not mistaken. i've herded timbers and copperheads out of the roads here. found my biggest timber between my feet while kneeling and filling water bottle in creek years ago. never rattled, never struck. she DID flick her tongue at us a time or two when we picked her up to see just how long she was. (4 1/2 ft) ruined my buddies weekend. that night, if a leaf rustled, he was up with the flashlight! snake was still in edge of campsite under a tiny pine when we gave up & went home. it's the snakes i can't see that get on my nerves...

Good fast work by your brothers! Glad she's OK.

I just sold my first cabin to some city slickers from Baltimore. After the closing I told the yuppy lady to watch out for the rattlesnakes around the cabin. I told her there is a den close by and they like to lay under the cabin when it is hot. I think I will be able to buy it back cheap. LOL

Killed six copperheads in the immediate vicinity of the house this weekend. Caught one rat snake in the chicken house and set him free with an admonition "Do your job and hunt the copperheads!"

I’ve killed 2 copperheads and 5 rattlesnakes at my cabin. I wear snake boots all the time I always have a load of number 6’s close by as well

Kill the gently & save those skins please. >>>----. Ken

I do. I have some in the freezer now. just shoot the heads off.

My Niece is doing well, walking without crutches. Thanks for asking guys. I know all of your prayers were answered. We’ve talked with all the kids, they seem to be ok with going back up to the family property soon and all agree they want high boots. The hospital bills are starting to come in. Looks like it’ll be about $200k and that doesn’t include the Helicopter ride. They have good insurance and make a good living so everything is going to be okay. I told my brother tonight about all the prayers from across the country and it really touched him so thank you again.

Yeah it's the one ya don't see that generally get ya.Found this one here in Australia where I live.Hope the little one is on the mend.This snake was sleeping in the sun I knew it was there.I actually walked past it about 10 times with in 6" of it. most times they turn tail and run from you . Being curious I touched it and it was well and truely alive.didnt try to bite me though It just turned and slithered away.This was a red belly black snake not overly venomous .We do have some bad ones here like tiapans 5 toxins in their venom .I don't like catching them these days as I am getting too old and slow.I normally catch and release.just to protect humans and snakes too.Get well little one Osr

Posted a bit extra sorry folks my bike and my COVID vaccine doccumentation Osr

John, thanks for the update and I'm glad to hear your niece is doing better!

Prayers continued from PA for her and the family.

Its still to cold here in Spokane.No snakes

Here in NY as the turkey hunting weather warms in May, I'm very careful where I sit. I don't hunt 2 areas that I hunt early season because of Copperheads and Timber Rattlers. I still wear snake boots and snake gaiters where I hunt now. You just never know what you'll step on

I grew up with them. I look for them every step. Also, I don't kill them. Sometimes I relocate them.

Glad she is doing well John!!!! Scary stuff for her and her parents and your family I’m sure

I love to relocate them...... with a 12 gauge!

I think the word you want is "rearrange" Larry, not relocate.

But don't complain here if the rodents run wild.

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