Transcript Cotton Headed Rattle Moccasins

How to keep
from Getting
Snake-Bit
By Tim Anderson
Objective:
Don’t get bit
by a snake
Strategy #1
• Avoidance(Don’t be in
the same place as a
Snake)
Strategy #1
How to avoid Snakes: Stay out of
and don’t create Snake Habitat:
Overhead cover/shade (canebreaks,
brush thickets, rocky areas, slash piles,
holes, logs, leaf litter, river and creek
banks,etc.) near sunny areas and prey
concentrations (rodents, frogs, lizards,
birds, and fish).
Activities that create Snake
Habitat:
• Piling debris
• Attracting snake prey(providing
food for rodents or birds,
creating ditches or pools that
might be inhabited by frogs or
fish)
Strategy #2
Don’t mess
with snakes
Strategy #3
Dispose of
Snakes
Does the
snake present
a significant
threat?
Venomous
VS Nonvenomous
Western
Diamondback
Rattler
Massasuga Rattler
Timber Rattler
Cotton Mouth
Water Moccasin
Copperhead
Texas Coral Snake
Non-poisonous snakes tend to look like the
poisonous ones. This helps to protect the
non-poisonous snake.
Some examples from Texas:
Big bend milk snake
Mexican milk snake
Texas long nose snake
Texas lyre snake
Big bend Milk Snake 
Mexican Milk Snake
Coral Snake 
Texas
long
nose
snake

Snake Disposal Methods:
• Beat it to death with a Long-Handled
implement (shovel, hoe, etc.)
• Crush it with a large rock thrown from
a safe distance.
• Shooting- Don’t shoot at snakes if
the shot poses a greater threat than
the snake!
• Others?
• Exercise caution when handling snake
carcasses
Questions?????
Texas Lyre Snake
Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake 
 Timber
Rattlesnake
Pit Vipers
Pit Vipers
• The name comes from the depression/pit in
the maxillary bone. It sits between the nose
and eye, but a little lower.
• The pit is believed to be a heat sensing
organ that help the snake to detect it’s prey.
Especially at night.
• It is believed that the pit also helps the
snake to determine the amount of venom to
release by how much heat the prey emits.
Elliptical pupil and Nostril
Pit
Pit Vipers
• Other identifiable characteristics:
– vertical elliptical pupils
– Triangular head
– Most have “rattles”. One rattle per skin slough.
Rattles are to let you know you are in the
vicinity of the snake. Rattle increases the
closer you get to the snake.
– Two part tongue used for smell.
Pit Vipers
• The fangs of a pit viper are at the front of
the jaw and are “hinged”. They fold
backward against the roof of the mouth
when not in use.
• The venom apparatus consists of a gland
and hollow duct connected to the fangs.
• Pit vipers are most active between April and
October.
Pit Vipers
• The venom is composed of hydrolytic
enzymes and proteins designed to
immobilize, kill and digest its prey.
– Hydrolytic enzymes cause the red blood cells to
break down and affect the clotting mechanism
of the blood, leading to necrosis and infarction
of the tissue.
• Depending on the amount of venom
injected, the venom can cause various toxic
effects on the blood and other tissues.
Pit Vipers
• Venom can cause:
– Hemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells and
the release of hemoglobin)
– Intravascular coagulation
– Convulsions
– Acute renal failure
– secondary bleeding can lead to hypovolemic
shock from coagulation defects and massive
swelling.
Pit Vipers
• The snake can release any quantity of
venom on any given strike. From none to
the entire amount in the glands.
• Bites are usually on the legs or hands
• 20% of bites do not result in envenomation
• Pit viper bites have a distinctive two
puncture holes with teeth abrasions.
Pit Vipers
• Pit vipers strike is lightning fast.
Depending on the snake, the striking stance
is different.
Pit Viper
• A severe bite form a pit viper can result in
death from shock within 30 minutes
– Most deaths occur from 6 to 30 hours after the
bite.
Pit Vipers
• Signs and Symptoms
• Fang Marks
• Swelling and pain at
bite marks
• Oozing at bite
• Weakness, dizziness,
or fainting
• Sweating and/or chills
• Thirst
• Nausea and Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Tachycardia and
hypotension
• Bloody urine and GI
hemorrhage (late)
• Shallow Resp.
progressing to failure
• Numbness and
tingling around face
and head (classic)
• Metallic taste in mouth
Pit Viper
• Management
– Bring the snake to the hospital for identification
DEAD. If possible or practical. Do not delay
patient care to find the snake.
– ABC’s
– EKG and IV
– Immobilize bite
– Lymphatic constricting bands
– DO NOT USE ICE PACKS OR COLD
PACK
– In hospital - antivenom
Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake
• Holds first place for most serious bites and
highest fatalities in US.
• Average three to four feet in length, but
have been know to grow to seven feet in
length.
• Has a rattle which grows longer after each
molt. Used to scare off intruders.
• Life span of about 15 years.
• Young are born with fangs and venom
intact.
Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake
• They are aggressive and excitable.
• When alarmed they make a sound that
resembles a sudden burst of steam.
• Hibernate in groups.
• Hibernation in colder habitats are in holes
and tunnels of burrowing mammals.
• Hibernation in warmer habitats are in rock
crevices and they hibernate in small groups.
Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake
• They are nocturnal hunters.
• They inhabit area such as dry, rocky, shrubcovered terrain and conceal themselves
inside crevices in the rocks.
• They will stand their ground when
disturbed.
• In a defensive posture they will raise their
head and loop the neck up high above it’s
coils. This gives it a better striking position.
Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake
• Lidless eyes that are protected by an outer
skin.
• Has alternating bands of black and white
that are of equal width in the tail.
• Brown diamond shaped markings are found
along the middle of the rattler’s back.
Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake - Variations
Albino Western
Diamondback
Rattlesnake
Melanistic Western
Diamondback
Rattlesnake
Massasauga Rattlesnake
• Average about 3 feet in length
• Life span of about 14 years
• Young are born with fangs and venom
intact.
• Fangs are about 5.0 to 5.9 mm in length.
• Eyes have an elliptical pupil.
• They are nocturnal in the hot months
• Often seen basking on rocks.
Massasauga Rattlesnake
• Hibernation sites include rock crevices,
rodent and crayfish burrows, old stumps,
and rotten logs.
• Can survive a freezing body temperature for
short periods of time without harm.
• Reports describe the Massasauga as
sluggish and mild-mannered or very alert
and irritable. All should be considered
Extremely dangerous.
Massasauga Rattlesnake
• They will rattle their tail and strike if
someone comes to close.
• They inhabit areas such as swamps,
marshes, bogs, wetlands and wet prairies.
• They are also found in open sunny areas
with elevated basking areas.
Massasauga Rattlesnake
• Grey to brown bodies with dark blotches
down their back.
• Tail is ringed with alternating dark or light
bands
Timber Rattlesnake
• Average about 3 to 6 feet in length.
• Maximum life span of 30 years.
• Newborns are equipped with 2.6mm long
fangs and venom intact.
• Adults have fangs 8.7 - 10.4 mm in length.
They can replace fangs if lost or broken.
• They will hibernate in large groups.
• They may migrate for miles to specific
hibernation locations.
Timber Rattlesnake
• Their dens are rock crevices in south facing
slopes, mammal burrows and large hollow
logs.
• They will retreat if disturbed. If cornered,
they will form a loose coil with head raised
and strike when the intruder is close. They
will coil and strike with the rattle active the
whole time.
Timber Rattlesnakes
• They are mild tempered compared to other
rattlesnakes, but are still extremely
dangerous.
• They are ambush predators that “sit and
wait” for prey.
Timber Rattlesnake
•
•
•
•
The head is yellow and unmarked.
Tail is always black.
Belly is white gray with dark flecks.
Has black or brown crossbands on a yellow
or brown body.
Cottonmouth Water Moccasin
• Average length up to six feet.
• Young are born with fangs and venom
intact.
• Stubby, muscular snake.
• They rarely stray from water.
• Moccasins can bite underwater, However,
they cannot strike underwater due to the
water resistance..
Cottonmouth Water Moccasin
• Most commonly found in marshes, swamps,
ponds, shallow lakes, ditches and canals,
slow moving streams.
• They are very defensive and aggressive.
They will stand their ground or even
approach its aggressor.
• They will readily vibrate their tail when
provoked and can make make an impressive
“rattling” sound against leaves, water or
solid objects.
Cottonmouth Water moccasin
• Their mouths will snap shut when touched
like a trap. Hence, the nickname
“Trapjaw”.
• Their powerful jaws support the snake
latching on, rather than a strike and release,
when biting.
Cottonmouth Water Moccasin
• Body is brown, olive or blackish in color.
• With a lighter belly and crossbands
extending all the way down around and
across its belly.
• They have a dark stripe on
their cheek that runs
through the eye.
Copperhead
• Average about 2 - 4.5 feet in length.
• Life span of about 29 years
• Young are born with fangs and venom
intact.
• Adult fangs are about 1.1 to 7.2 mm in
length.
• They are nocturnal during the hot months.
• They bask during the day in spring and fall.
• They may climb into low bushes or trees to
hunt or bask
Copperhead
• Eyes have an elliptical pupil.
• They migrate to communal hibernation
dens.
• Hibernation sites include: caves, gravel
banks, old stone walls, building
foundations, animal burrows, logs, stumps
and sawdust piles that extend well below
the frost line.
• They have no affinity for water,but do favor
Copperhead
• Fatalities from the bite are almost
nonexistent, but they should be considered
extremely dangerous.
• They will lie motionless in a coil when
approached.
• They are often touched and stepped on due
to the camouflage pattern.
• When touched they will strike or flee or
may remain quiet.
Copperhead
• If handled, they will spray a musk. It smells
of cucumbers.
• Adults are ambush predators
• Young actively stalk their prey.
Copperhead
• Copperhead are without a rattle.
• The body is copper, orange, or pink tinged
with brown to reddish-brown saddle shaped
bands.
• Bands widen along the sides of the body
and narrow at the center. (hourglass pattern)
Coral Snake
• The coral snake in contrast to the pit vipers,
has round pupils and small fixed fangs
located near the anterior end of the maxilla
• Has three-color pattern with red, yellow and
black along with a black snout.
• Many non-poisonous snakes in the US
mimic the appearance of the coral snake.
• “Red on Yellow will kill a fellow, Red on
Black will venom lack.”
Coral Snake 
Big bend Milk Snake
Mexican Milk Snake
Texas
long
nose
Snake

Coral Snake
• Coral snakes are shy and docile and they
seldom bite unless threatened. They will
rarely bite when handled.
• Most common bitten area is the finger, toes
or folds of skin, due to small mouth and
fangs.
• Coral snakes have to chew rather that strike
it’s prey.
Coral Snake
• The venom is a neurotoxin and blocks the
acetylcholine receptor sites.
• It affects the nervous tissues.
• The bite will generate little to no pain.
• There is no edema or necrosis of the tissue.
• Systemic effects may not appear until 12 24 hours after the bite.
Coral Snake
• Signs and Symptoms
• Slurred speech and
excessive salivation
• Dilated pupils, double
vision and drooping
eyelids
• Localized numbness,
weakness and
drowsiness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Flaccid paralysis of
tongue and larynx
• Loss of consciousness
• Seizures
• Hypotension
• Abdominal pain
• Death from respiratory
failure
• Late signs arise from
the nervous system
dysfunction.
Coral Snake
• Management
– Supportive only
– Wash wound with copious amounts of sterile
water.
– Apply constricting bands between bite and
heart. Lymphatic bands only, not venous or
arterial. No tighter than a watch band.
– In hospital - antivenom