Speaking of snakes...

[Michael Cody]

Don't worry, it's a fake -- unless someone had a pet -- it's a diamond back and they don't grow naturally in Michigan (neither do copperheads BTW).. the real thing you have to look out for is pets. Lots of "IDIOTS" like to keep exotic and often venomous snakes as pets then release them or they get away. That is what I would worry 'bout if I did worry about them. Saw a show on PBS from Chicago Animal Control. Some criminally stupid fool sold 40 Gabon vipers (very very deadly) at an exotic pet show. They found one in a garage in suburban Chicago.. some kids were playing with it. Could have ended badly for sure! It's not like a Chicago Hospital keeps that kind of anti-venom around I wouldn't think.

[Curt Fuller]

When I was in the Army (AIT) at Ft Sill, Oklahoma the big guns (artillery) we were firing would bring big rattlers like that out of the ground. Folks there would make belts, boots, wallets, etc from the skins and deep fry the steaks. They were so sluggish that they weren't much of a threat though.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Curt.........As a kid living in Blanding Utah....My dad helped move an oil rig that had been stacked out for a year. They moved one of the pipe bins and Dad went to the car and got his 22 rifle. He killed 31 rattlesnakes. Lots of snakes in the desert in southeaster Utah .....at least there was in the '50s.

[Barry Stratton]

I'll take a very P.O.'ed sow grizzly with cubs on a moose kill over a snake ANYDAY!!!!!!! Those crawly things give me the heebies big time..........

I have to admit, they do taste good though.

[Rick Gibson]

Sure makes me glad I live in the frigid north. I think the last time I even saw a snake outside a zoo was about 20 years ago and then it was just a garter snake.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

In my hometown, Kelowna BC, Canada, we have rattlers on the west side of the lake, none on the east side. Way back when, they had a real problem with the snakes killing cattle, dog, and people, so some smart guy brought in a bunch of wild pigs. I gather that the pigs HATE snakes, and the pigs hide is too thick for the snakes to bite through, so the pigs eradicated the snakes, good news!

Fast forward a few years, and yep, you guessed it, they had a big problem with wild pigs

Killed a rattle with a big stone when I was a kid, we were walking up a narrow path in a gully, rock all round, we got the the end, and it did not go up the mountain any further so we had to back track. On the way back, we ran into a rattler, maybe 3 feet long, we had no where to go, so my buddy grabbed a long stick and poked at it to keep it's attention on him, and I went up the rock a bit on the side, and dropped a big rock right on it's head, killed it.

Scared myself silly

Nope, don't like snakes....

[Eddie Watkins]

I can't image a guy being able to hold 97# on a stick that long straight out like that. We have several towns around here that have a "rattlesnake roundup" once a year where a bunch of goofies get together and catch rattlesnakes. Usually, they will catch hundreds over a weekend. Evidently the venom is used for other purposes and the hides are used for belts, boots, wallets, etc. They have a big cookout with rattlesnake meat and it is kind of a carnival/social gathering thing. Oddly, I have never seen a rattlesnake around my house, but they are pretty much everywhere around here.
Recently, a guy that wouldn't kill snakes on his property was bitten on the foot by a rattler and when he fell trying to get away, a pygmy rattler bit him on the arm. He was able to get to a hospital and get treated and was fine after a few days.

[Jerry Clark]

It may be a fake picture-- but that is still ONE BIG SNAKE-- I don't like snakes-- We do have several Gopher snakes here and I leave them alone--

[Tom Sherman]

Just think of all the snake skin pens you could make with that thing.

[Steve Ash]

Just think of all the snake skin pens you could make with that thing.

No Thanks....I don't like touching a snake even if they are dead

[Doug Shepard]

Dont know what type of rattler is was, but when I was a kid I used to take (with help) a 5-gallon pickle jar to school for show and tell. Inside was a rattler my uncle had shot with a bow about 2 miles from here. That snake was coiled inside and completely filled the jar, along with formaldehyde. It was a big hit with all the girls in class. So they do come that big in Michigan.

[Vaughn McMillan]

When I was in about 5th or 6th grade, my dog cornered a decent-sized rattler under a bush on our property. Figuring I needed to kill it, but knowing my dad would kill me if I used one of the guns that were always kept loaded in the house, I grabbed my Bear bow and the 5 target arrows I owned and went out to "save my dog".

Of the five shots I took from just a few feet away, only one managed to pierce the snake, and it was far enough from the head that I was afraid to reach into the bush and grab the arrows that missed. The snake was wounded, but still pretty lively and mighty upset, so I couldn't finish it off (as I'd always been taught to do). Resigned, I took the dog in the house, and hoped the snake would die overnight. First thing the next morning, I went to check, and the snake wasn't under the bush, but I found it a few feet away, definitely injured, but still very much alive. Now able to get my arrows -- minus the one that was still stuck in the snake -- I was able to shoot it fatally from point blank range fairly quickly. I still feel bad about the whole thing.

I should mention here that I don't like snakes (or reptiles in general) at all, but I'm tolerant of them if they aren't threatening me. Nowadays, I would have just taken the dog away from the rattler. LOML doesn't mind reptiles, but hates insects, so I handle the bugs and she handles the occasional lizard or skink that comes into the house.

- Vaughn

[Paul Downes]

Steve, you're exposing a weakness. I might have to bring a pet snake to the next wwing meeting. My son caught another garter snake today. He's got quite a collection. Chip off the old block.

My dad was a scientist and we typically spent a lot of time in the field. He would always instruct us on what was ok to catch and what wasn't. Of course we always looked for the poisoness snakes. I will admit that I've been bitten by non-poisoness snakes several times. I once caught a 5' blue racer by the tail as it went down a hole. That bugger swaped ends on me in a hurry and bit me 3 times on the hand before I could let go. Way faster than the western diamond back I had in a cage. In Michigan we have caught massasaga ratlers several times. We found one once on the main hiking trail in a popular state game area. We took it to a remote area and let it go. My brother in Florida hunts snakes with his samuri sword. He makes stuff from their hides. He got nicked by a pigmy once and is a lot more cautious now. Those little buggers have a highly potent venom. Not to be messed with casually.

[Mike Tempel]

Yes that pic has been floating around for quite some time now. We had that one along with some others of reportedly the same snake that was found by the tires of an airplane at Ellington Air Force base here in Houston. All in all it is still a very impressive specimen. My grandfather was a flight instructor at Ellington back in WWII and he used to tell some whopper stories about snakes. One of which was that the first thing every morning before chow they all (everyone on the base had to help) had to get their brooms and go out and sweep the snakes off the runways. It seems that the snakes would lie on the concrete at night to soak up the heat from the hot concrete and they had to be removed before any flight ops during the day since the airplanes would slip and slide on the snakes when landing or taking off. Like I said it is a whopper of a story but if you knew where Ellington is and the terrain around it and subtracted 60 years of development it seems to be a quite plausible story.

[Frank Fusco]

That was one of the very first urban legends to make the rounds when e-mail was just starting to catch on almost 20 years ago. I don't know if it is real or fake. But it is ancient by computer standards.