Shortwave

You can also tell by the scales on their bellies. As if I am going to roll the thing over. Lol

Italia12

Wow, that’s scary. Fortunately nothing like that around these parts!

kwb377

I've had a few close encounters with Cottonmouth recently on mtb rides and have been wondering...

When riding in remote areas that may take a while for EMS to get to you, would it be better to stay in place and wait for them to come to you (and keep your heart rate/circulation down) or pedal back toward a trailhead where they can reach you faster (but raise the heart rate and circulate the venom faster)? I have no medical training other than being able to access whether or not a wound needs a BandAid or a tourniquet, so the answer may be obvious/simple.

Rick_D

Nailed one yesterday on the parkway path--crossing my lane in a shaded area--didn't see it until a couple feet away. Bump-bump. Gopher or rattler? Could have been either and decided to not circle back and perhaps encounter a ticked off version of the second option. Besides, what does one do for an injured snake? Chest compressions?

Either type I feel bad, critters have a hard enough life as it is without my maiming them.

Big day for turkeys. They were everywhere.

rumrunn6

w/o mouth-to-mouth?

Camilo

I've only seen three rattle snakes in my life and two of them were last month in the Tucson area. One was slithering in the shade along a curb on the side of the "Loop" near Catalina SP. The other was along the Bajada Loop in the western part of Saguaro NP. Both were trying to avoid people so I was able to watch them from a distance.

Disposable

I was walking near my parents' home in northwest Arkansas, and as I stepped over a gap in some rocks I heard a sudden Hisss and looked down to see A COBRA! coiled beneath me. What the hell? They don't have cobras in Arkansas! After I landed I examined it closely, from about ten feet out. Near black, short body, very thick, that neck spread out flat and cocked back, just waiting for me to get closer. Nope. I got home and told my folks about it and Dad said "Oh that's a puff adder. They're harmless except for the heart attack." I think they're more formally called hognose snakes, I've never gotten to see another one.

Bob Ross

^^^This.
Like OP, I too live in Tucson AZ, and lately I've been encountering at least one rattlesnake per ride...and these are road rides, not MTB rides! But they want nothing to do with us, and if you just give them a wide berth you'll all coexist without incident or drama.


A neighbor here has told me that in many parts of the city and surrounding areas, if you call 911 and tell them there's a rattlesnake in your yard the response time will be significantly quicker than if you call 911 and tell them you're having a heart attack.

big john

What if you tell them you're having a heart attack because there's a rattlesnake in your yard?

philbob57

I was on a gig in a Western US state. The client and I were talking about my relocating and coming on board as an employee. Then I noticed that the local TV station broadcast PSAs about avoiding getting attacked by a mountain lion. Nope, not for me. That was scarier than rattlers.

cyccommute 

Some places even celebrate them.

Very realistic pits on that viper.




This one has an unnervingly realistic “rattle” at the south end. So realistic that I nearly jumped into the air and didn’t come down.