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Welcome back, I hope the rest of the recovery is speedy and as painless as possible.

I have a family member who has to the deal with pain management and the whole opioid debacle is much like gun control. It doesn’t matter if the criminals are controlled or not but will make things tough for the law abiding.

The vast majority of snakebites, even from Mr. Rattler, do not result in death, but it's not a sure thing. Best wishes to Narcissist, at minimum he's having a painful time.

carlson1 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:37 am When we lived in East Texas we bought a house. I still own it and it sets on Lake Palestine. Because of the copperheads and water moskins my wife kept a shovel at the front door and back door. Back then I had a .410 Snake Charmer just to be a help.

I've used a hoe to deal with copperheads I have a lot of them where I live, but if I encountered a rattlesnake, I think I'd want something with more stand-off capability than a hoe or a shovel. The .410 sounds better.

Many moons ago when I was a boy scout back in Indiana, we had a talk by an conservation officer who was a snake nut. He brought bags of snakes, both poisonous and non-poisonous, and laid them on a table, then pulled them out one at a time and talked about them. This was in the middle of the winter, and he explained that the snakes would be pretty sluggish because of that.

He of course saved the poisonous snakes for last. He dumped a copperhead out on the table and toyed with it a bit with a reach pole, and it struck at the pole a couple times. He then reached around behind it and grabbed it just below its head, brought it around so we could see the fangs and eyes. Then he put it back in the bag and tied it off.

He then dumped the water moccasin on the table, waived the reach pole around in front of it while it struck a couple times. Then while distracting it with the pole he reached around behind it and grabbed just below its head, brought it around where we could see its open cottonmouth, etc.

Then next bag was different. It was making rattling sounds. He dumped the rattlesnake out on the table but noticeably gave it more "clearance." He put the reach pole out there and it struck several times. I was amazed at how much FASTER and FARTHER it struck than the other snakes. He did NOT reach around behind it while distracting it with the pole -- he clamped it to the table, THEN he moved in and got ahold of it just below the head. We could see the fangs just fine from where he was standing. He made it pretty clear that in terms of danger the rattlesnake was in his own class.

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:37 pm

ELB wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:34 pm I’ve searched every day for “Texas man snakebite“but all I get are stories about the guy who cut off a rattlesnake head and still got bit.

Yeah. That story has been around awhile. It made him famous.

and nearly dead.

I’ve searched every day for “Texas man snakebite“but all I get are stories about the guy who cut off a rattlesnake head and still got bit.

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2019 12:45 pm I sure hope you have gone in by now. I don't think I have ever known anyone who "waited it out" after a snake bite. The picture I posted just after you made the post was the least gruesome I found. Most of the pictures I found were too graphic to post here. The longer you wait the more damage is done.

In my old hometown in Indiana we had a guy who ran a serpentarium. Part of the "tour" was a big fat book of photographs of poisonous snake bites that people had "waited out"...and some that didn't wait but it didn't go well anyway. It's one of the more gruesome things I have seen. I indeed hope OP has long since made it to the ER and most of these posts are superfluous.

GO. Yesterday.

Your hand is particularly vulnerable because there is so little flesh and it is a very complex part of your body.