The cost of being bitten by a rattlesnake

[DonTom]

See here.

"The antivenom alone accounted for $213,278 of the total $297,461 bill,"

-Don- Gila Bend, AZ (Rattlesnakes have been seen in this RV park many times--use a flashlight if walking around in the dark here at the Sonoran RV Park).

 

[rvlifer]

Ouch. They had to use a drill

 

[zulu]

My close encounter with a rattlesnake -- Lake Havasu 2016.

BTW, even when one of these guys is "dead", keep away from its head as you can still get bitten.

 

[DonTom]

A Mojave Rattlesnake. The best way to tell it apart from the Western Diamondback is by the extra width of the white bands just above the rattle as shown in your video at 2:30 where it shows the white bands double the width of the black bands. With the WDB, the white and black bands are very close to the same width.

These two snakes are among the most dangerous in the USA and are difficult to tell apart. And it is important to know if getting bit because of the antivenom--very different. The Mojave venom is closer to the way cobra bite works--on the nervous system. The WDB works on the respiratory system.

Nevertheless, here in this RV Park they catch them alive and relocate them farther out in the desert, they do not kill them, and neither would I.

-Don- Sonaran Desert RV Park, Gila Bend, AZ

 

[DonTom]

Ouch. They had to use a drill

Yeah, also what I was thinking, but there was probably no pain at all, the way things are done these days.

But the pain from the WDB rattlesnake venom will make just about anybody wish they were dead. It burns as it destroys tissue. While the WDB is more painful, the Mojave Rattlesnake is probably more likely to kill a person if all else is the same. The venoms are very different. The Mojave venom will paralyze a person in a few minutes.

-Don- Gila Bend, AZ

 

[Isaac-1]

My ex-mother in law was bitten by a Copperhead in her back yard when she was about 67 years old, and ended up spending nearly 5 weeks in the VA hospital recovering afterwards.

 

[Rene T]

A Mojave Rattlesnake. The best way to tell it apart from the Western Diamondback is by the extra width of the white bands just above the rattle as shown in your video at 2:30 where it shows the white bands double the width of the black bands. With the WDB, the white and black bands are very close to the same width.

These two snakes are among the most dangerous in the USA and are difficult to tell apart. And it is important to know if getting bit because of the antivenom--very different. The Mojave venom is closer to the way cobra bite works--on the nervous system. The WDB works on the respiratory system.

Nevertheless, here in this RV Park they catch them alive and relocate them farther out in the desert, they do not kill them, and neither would I.

-Don- Sonaran Desert RV Park, Gila Bend, AZ

If they are that dangerous, why not kill them. The entire species should be exterminated.

 

[DonTom]

My ex-mother in law was bitten by a Copperhead in her back yard when she was about 67 years old, and ended up spending nearly 5 weeks in the VA hospital recovering afterwards.

While copperhead bites are the most common venomous snake bites in the USA, they cause almost no deaths. IIRC, the total number of deaths is five people out of the many thousands of copperhead bites.

-Don- Gila Bend, AZ