Ang, don't quit your day job. Last I checked, Raccons are night Owls or Insomniacas..... Take your pic.

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

THIS IS NOT A PYTHON!


This is a 15 foot Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake - the largest ever caught on record, in fact. This snake was found Near the St. Augustine outlet, in a new KB homes subdivision just south of Jacksonville FL.

A little research revealed the following:

One bite from a snake of this size would contain enough venom to kill over 40 full grown men.

The head of this snake alone is larger than the hand of a normal sized man.

A bite from those fangs would comparable to being stabbed by two curved, 1/4 inch diameter screwdrivers.

The knife being used to draw out the fangs for the bottom picture has a blade around 4 inches long.

This snake is estim ated to have weighed over 170 pounds. (How much do you weigh?)

Notice the girth of this snake as compared to the cop's leg in the first picture (and he is not a small man).

A snake of this size could easily swallow a 2 year-old child (and dogs, pigs, etc).

A snake this size has an approximately 5 1/2 foot accurate striking distance. (The distance for an average size rattlesnake is about 2 feet.)

This snake has probably been alive since George Bush Sr. was President.

Now just ask yourself these questions: What has this snake been feeding on and where are its offspring?

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Seems a shame to have it killed. Do they kill all of them or are they saved in some way? We have snakes along the North Saskatchewan river, but not that big.
celttooth

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Got those pics in an email. Just checked it out on snopes.com. Seems someone was playing a bit loose with their camara angles though the snake was 7'3" long so it was a big snake. The longest on record is only 8 foot long. http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/15ftrattler.asp

Celt, they only kill them if they are found near populated areas. Some are taken to the University of Florida if they can catch them alive. Had a friend here on the Police departments motorcycle unit. He got called out on a call about a snake near a KMart. He took one look at it and called for a car with a shotgun. That one was near 6 foot long.

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Seems a shame to have it killed. Do they kill all of them or are they saved in some way? We have snakes along the North Saskatchewan river, but not that big.
celttooth

They lays a few eggs, How many I don't know and these snakes are very deadly, The area where the snake was found is where a lot of people live, It probably killed more than a few missing pets, first the bite which kills, then the snake swallows the victim whole, And as PJ said It's big enough to swallow a 2 year old child, feet first, the lower jaw can detach Itself from the upper jaw to swallow larger prey like small humans or small animals(cats, dogs). They don't chew food, as except for the fangs, I think they have no teeth.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Vic, see my next post, it seems the small children are safe from being eaten though it will still bite and most likely kill them. The cats and small dogs are still fair game for a snake over seven foot long though. Anything bigger than that they leave for the gators down here.

Oh, and rattlesnakes are vipers, they bear their young live. No eggs.

And again, they do have other teeth, they help hold the prey and are slanted back to help get it down and so it can't get away before the poison takes effect.

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Vic, see my next post, it seems the small children are safe from being eaten though it will still bite and most likely kill them. The cats and small dogs are still fair game for a snake over seven foot long though. Anything bigger than that they leave for the gators down here.

Oh, and rattlesnakes are vipers, they bear their young live. No eggs.

And again, they do have other teeth, they help hold the prey and are slanted back to help get it down and so it can't get away before the poison takes effect.

This is correct! I know as I am an amature herpetologist and have kept snakes since I was 8 years old. The only child that snake could possibly swallow is a newborn infant. It would certainly be very dangerous though. If I had come across that snake, I would have relocated it, or at worst took it into captivity as a prime example of a beautiful specimen. It is too bad it was killed. Even though the venom is not as toxic as say a Mojave Rattlesnake, the amount delivered in a bite is enormous, and would almost certainly result in death untreated.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

Apparently they have been having some problems with Annaconda's running loose in florida. One got into a scrap with a gator, Aligator played dead, snake at it, then the gator ate and clawed its way out of the snake.

Animal Kingdoms version of Men in Black?

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Janice

Apparently they have been having some problems with Anaconda's running loose in Florida. One got into a scrap with a gator, Aligator played dead, snake ate it, then the gator ate and clawed its way out of the snake.

Animal Kingdoms version of Men in Black?

It means Snakes should never eat Gators, As Gators are tough and will result in snake indigestion which is most often fatal when Gator is eaten.

Heck I'm rooting for Gators over Snakes...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Heck I'm rooting for Gators over Snakes...

Either make a fine pair of boots! :-)

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Heck I'm rooting for Gators over Snakes...

Either make a fine pair of boots! :-)

WHAT? Now where did I put that rolling pin...

Talking of crocs always reminds me of my zoology professor who said:
Never try to run away from a crocodile - they can run faster than humans!

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Carola
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I'm multilingual - I can misunderstand people in several languages!

Heck I'm rooting for Gators over Snakes...

Either make a fine pair of boots! :-)

True enough and they do say Snake tastes like Chicken... :D

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Here's My sink cat, Isn't She comfy... No I don't mind if She lays in this one, As It can't get clogged...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I've had an alligator, a Spectacled Caiman, and hundreds of snakes. They may taste very good, but I couldn't bring myself to eat what I once called a pet.... The snake eating the alligator is well known in the snake world. What happened is that the snake killed the aligator and swallowed it. Due to the motion of the snake, one of the claws on the alligator punctured the snakes skin, and the pressure did the rest. I do lead a secret life in the world of the snakes.... Currently I have 14 of them. One died just a couple of months ago. The two Burmese pythons are doing very well, and are about 9 feet long at the moment. The albino is very irritable, and the normal phase is very gentle. One thing I can say for sure, is that snakes have very different dispositions. They vary as much as different people. I have had a very tame 14' 100 pound Burmese, and was darn near killed by a 16' Reticulated Python. I had an 8' African Rock Python that was the meanest snake I have ever seen. It took 20 minutes and two people to pack that monster up for shipping to a final home. Oh, the storries I could tell. My mother had a few moments she wished I was never born...:D

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

The one I am aware of was in Florida.. And the gator definately was not dead. It walked away.

They have had a problem with invasive annacondas in the everglades. Quite detrimental to some of the rare wildlife.

Hey Steve! I have an idea for your next vacation!! bring a BIIIIIG glass box. ;)

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Janice

The one I am aware of was in Florida.. And the gator definately was not dead. It walked away.

They have had a problem with invasive annacondas in the everglades. Quite detrimental to some of the rare wildlife.

Hey Steve! I have an idea for your next vacation!! bring a BIIIIIG glass box. ;)

I was not aware of the one that walked away. I will research that, as it sounds interesting. I also hadn't realized anacondas were in the everglades. Burmese Pythons are there, and I have seen several shows on them, plus my snake lists. Pythons have definitly become a real problem. They also have iguanas, which are native to South America. My father lives in the Florida Keys, and he gets iguanas all the time. The last time I was there in 1/2002 there waqs a good sized iguana on his deck. I walked up to it, and it jumped in the ocean and swam across the channel. I didn't realize they would ever tolerate salt water, even if to swim away.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

Steve, do you keep a snakebite kit in your home?

Steve, do you keep a snakebite kit in your home?

No, I have no venomous snakes. Large constrictors can be even more dangerous. If you get bit by a venomous snake, you have time to call 911, write a will, or do a few things. If you get wrapped up by a large constrictor, you will never make it to the phone. Back in 1998, My ex wife and I were liscensed as a reptile rescue. The Federal Fish and Wildlife service confiscated 10 rattlesnakes and two copperheads from a man in southern New Hampshire. They gave them to us to keep until the court case cleared, which at that time we sent them to Bill and Nancy Haust in Florida for venom extraction. We were given a temporary exibiters permit to keep them, and were the first in NH to obtain such a permit. We bought a locked cabinet, to put the cages in, so there was a double seal from the snakes to the rest of the house. My ex was showing them to someone one day, and left a piece of tape inside the copperhead cage. The poor little fellow got all tangled up in the tape, so we had to get some mineral oil, handle the snake, and carefully remove the tape.

In another incedent, one of the rattlesnakes was a 3 foot Eastern Diamondback. I was cleaning the cage, and I had hooked the snake and put him in a holding tank while I cleaned his cage. So far no problem. Then when I went to put him back in his cage he slipped off the hook. I picked him up again and he slipped off again. I tried again, and when he slipped off he fell on the bed. He then slithered onto the floor, and headed under the closed door to the living room. I wasn't worried about getting bit, as I knew what I was doing and stayed out of range. I had grabbed the tongs at this point, and went out into the living room. My ex's cat Granite was starting to walk toward the snake. I yelled "No Granite", and for the first time ever, he listened to me and got away. I tonged the snake, and put him back in his cage.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

Yikes! Feeding raccoons is a lot safer!

I have searched, and searched, and I can't find any information on the Python eating a gator, and the gator ate and clawed its way out and survived. Soft, can you remember where you saw that info? I would really like to learn about it.

I did see an experiment on TV once where they measured the force a constrictor puts on it's prey. They had a 10 foot anaconda which is small by anaconda standards, and had it eat a live duck, on which they attached a pressure transducer to measure the force. they used a live duck so they could get the full affect of the constriction. The force exerted by the 10 foot anaconda was the equivilant of putting a school bus on a mans chest. The strength of these animals is really hard to comprehend. They are incredibly powerful.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website