Snakes The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

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How to Minimize Encounters

If this sort of close encounter causes you more worry than pleasure, you can take simple steps to minimize snakes from finding the area around your home attractive. First and foremost, meticulously eliminate food sources and hiding places for snakes’ small rodent prey. People often ask about chemical deterrents, but pesticides have a far greater negative effect on people and domestic animals than they do on wandering serpents. Instead, the next step up in snake deterrence is to enlist a couple of aggressively tempered outdoor cats or an alert dog, such as a terrier. Feisty cats or dogs will harass snakes until they clear out, and unless they are bitten on the chest, both dogs and cats can overcome snake venom with treatment from a veterinarian. Another option is to keep pot-bellied or domestic pigs — animals that are largely inured to the effects of reptile venom by their thick hides and subcutaneous fat, and that will happily devour any small snake whose musky scent attracts their keen noses.

Rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes are the most dangerous serpents in North America. Descendants of copperheadlike pit vipers, the rattlesnake developed a tail tip with loosely connected columns of swollen, thin-walled scales that — when vibrated — make a high frequency buzz that warns away potential predators and grazing animals that might trample them.

Living mostly in open country and often consuming prey larger than itself — such as rabbits and prairie dogs — the rattlesnake evolved venom that’s much more toxic than that of its ancestors, and long hypodermic fangs to deliver it. Whereas eastern copperheads easily adapt to life in the presence of humans, rattlesnakes have a much more aggressive temperament, although they generally clear out once a rural homestead takes on the hustle and bustle of active habitation. But in places where rattlesnakes are abundant, a chance encounter is almost inevitable. Therefore, important precautions include heavy boots, a habitually watchful demeanor and caution when reaching down to pick up trash, lumber or metal siding. While almost nobody dies of rattlesnake bites these days, these steps are important, because even when properly treated a venom-injecting bite will cause severe pain, usually for days, and considerable tissue necrosis.

Although emphasized in every outdoor survival manual and training course, first aid in the field is — beyond a few basic measures — of minimal significance. All pit viper venom disperses so rapidly into the body — like ink dripped onto a wet sponge — that even in the first seconds after a bite there is no good way to get it back out. Cutting and sucking the fang punctures doesn’t work and often leads to both excessive bleeding and infection. The application of cold has little effect, except an ice pack placed on the victim’s forehead will combat nausea. The most practical first aid is merely to immobilize the bitten limb and remove rings, shoes and anything else that might act as a tourniquet when the inevitable swelling begins. Most important of all is to get the victim to a hospital, pronto.

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