# 15ft Rattlesnake



## beaupower32 (Oct 20, 2009)

Got this in a E-mail today.


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## RabidAlien (Oct 20, 2009)

Mmmmmmmmm....tasty! Lotta good meat on that bad boy!


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## lesofprimus (Oct 20, 2009)

Biggest rattler Ive ever seen, and Ive seen a few.....

Damn....


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## beaupower32 (Oct 20, 2009)

RabidAlien said:


> Mmmmmmmmm....tasty! Lotta good meat on that bad boy!



lol, I heard that. Could feed a whole family. I love Rattlesnake meat.


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## ToughOmbre (Oct 20, 2009)

Seen a few myself, but none remotely approaching that size.

TO


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## syscom3 (Oct 20, 2009)

http://blogs.tampabay.com/bizarre/2009/09/huge-rattlesnake-caught-in-st-augustine.html

September 30, 2009
Huge rattlesnake caught in St. Augustine
Suddenly, those 15-foot Burmese pythons don’t sound so bad. An eastern diamondback rattlesnake found in St. Augustine over the weekend is estimated variously from *6 feet to 10 feet*. And a diamondback, besides being highly venomous, can strike a person two-thirds of its body length away. Judging by the photo on staugustine.com, we don’t have any problem with an estimate of 10 feet.

Problem is, according to the St. Augustine Record, that nobody measured the snake. The person who called Sunday night reported a “possible 6-foot long snake.” Deputies arrived and said 6 feet was a gross underestimation. Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, a spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, saw the snake only in photographs but estimated it was at least *10 feet*.

However, the deputies didn’t measure the rattler before it was killed and removed by an animal trapper.

Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said herpetologists who saw the deputies’ photographs confirmed it was an eastern diamondback but couldn’t say how big it was. “It’s the biggest diamondback I’ve seen,” said Hill. The largest confirmed eastern diamondback was 8 feet long.


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## Pong (Oct 20, 2009)

Holy cow, that is huge!


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## beaupower32 (Oct 20, 2009)

I only said it was 15 feet cause thats how it was listed in my E-mail. I do agree though its about a 10 footer. Biggest ive seen in person was about 5 feet. But none the less, they all still taste the same, hehehe.


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## Thorlifter (Oct 20, 2009)

THATS A BIG A$$ SNAKE!!!!!

But I sure don't believe a diamondback can grow to 15'. 

BUT THATS STILL A BIG A$$ SNAKE!!!!!


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## vikingBerserker (Oct 20, 2009)

6' is plenty big enough for me!


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## Wildcat (Oct 21, 2009)

Damn!! The only good snake is a dead snake IMO.


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## Wayne Little (Oct 21, 2009)

..Man thats one BIG Mother!


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## Torch (Oct 21, 2009)

Damn, I'm in St.Augustine now.

Damn, just found out it is near the Golf course I play at.


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## Gnomey (Oct 21, 2009)

Damn, that is a big ass snake!


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## Colin1 (Oct 21, 2009)

That second pic
based on assumptions obviously, but if the tail is touching the ground, that snake is as long again as that man is tall - it's got to be nudging 12 feet.

Dumbass question but if something that size bit you, you'd be dead, right?


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## beaupower32 (Oct 21, 2009)

Colin1 said:


> That second pic
> based on assumptions obviously, but if the tail is touching the ground, that snake is as long again as that man is tall - it's got to be nudging 12 feet.
> 
> Dumbass question but if something that size bit you, you'd be dead, right?




Well, depends. A snake wont bite untill a last resort. So you really would have to piss it off to get it to bite. They dont want to waste the venom on anything other than what it wants to eat. If it did bite you though, it would be a heafty dose of venom, and would require you to get to the hospital asap. 

From the looks of it, This snake has not missed a meal. Colin, your probably right about the hight, figuring the guy is around 6 feet tall the snake is somewhere between 10 and 15 feet. 


Here is a qote about a rattlesnake... Source unkown


> The Rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America. She never begins an
> attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: she is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage... She never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, given to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. However, once aroused and provoked to attack, she is lethal.


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## Bucksnort101 (Oct 21, 2009)

Did someone say that's one big ass snake? 
Skin that sucker out and send the skin to me. Would make a beautiful backing for a Osage Longbow I've got in the works.


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## wheelsup_cavu (Oct 21, 2009)

That is one big snake. 


Wheels


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## diddyriddick (Oct 21, 2009)

Colin1 said:


> That second pic
> based on assumptions obviously, but if the tail is touching the ground, that snake is as long again as that man is tall - it's got to be nudging 12 feet.
> 
> Dumbass question but if something that size bit you, you'd be dead, right?



It could definitely rock your world, C. But that wouldn't be automatic. Dry bites are not unheard of.


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## diddyriddick (Oct 21, 2009)

beaupower32 said:


> Well, depends. A *snake wont bite untill a last resort*. So you really would have to piss it off to get it to bite. They dont want to waste the venom on anything other than what it wants to eat. If it did bite you though, it would be a heafty dose of venom, and would require you to get to the hospital asap.
> 
> From the looks of it, This snake has not missed a meal. Colin, your probably right about the hight, figuring the guy is around 6 feet tall the snake is somewhere between 10 and 15 feet.
> 
> ...




Not necessarily true, Beau. Snakes are like any other animal(including humans) their personalities run the gamut. I've seen Mojave Rattlesnakes strike without provocation, and Blacktails not strike after repeated pokes with a sotol stalk.


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## lesofprimus (Oct 21, 2009)

I wonder how many bands this one had on its rattler.... One band per year of life....

Gotta be 15 to 20 years old....

Rattlers will usually get that rattle making some noise prior to striking, but it doesnt always happen that way....

Riddick is correct on his posts above as well.... The venom is as potent in a baby snake as it is in the one above, it never gets stronger, but the amount that a large one can inject into u is massive...


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## Messy1 (Oct 21, 2009)

Glad it was in St Augustine versus my own back yard!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 21, 2009)

Beautiful snake! Too bad they killed it.

On a side note, rattlesnake meat is very good. I tried it at the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo in Alabama. Won't eat them anymore though, probably because of my passion for snakes.



Colin1 said:


> That second pic
> based on assumptions obviously, but if the tail is touching the ground, that snake is as long again as that man is tall - it's got to be nudging 12 feet.
> 
> Dumbass question but if something that size bit you, you'd be dead, right?


 
Not necessarily. The size of the snake does not determine the amount of venom. Rattlers can even bite you without injecting venom. A rattler may strike at you to try and make you leave it alone, without wanting to waste its venom on something it might actually need it for. As others pointed out, bites without injecting venom are not uncommon The most dangerous believe it or not, are the small juvenile rattlesnakes, because they can not control or regulate the amount of venom yet.

On a side note...

Rattlers get a very bad rap. They are not monsters that go out there way to bite and kill humans. I used to see quite a bit of Eastern Diamondbacks and Timber Rattlers when I lived in the south. In all my encounters they always rattled their tail first, and most in the end would turn and slither away after a few moments, not wanting to waste energy on an engagement.


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## Wurger (Oct 22, 2009)

Wildcat said:


> Damn!! The only good snake is a dead snake IMO.



Some of guys can add " and fried or boiled "  But I agree with you Andy.


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## Bucksnort101 (Oct 22, 2009)

Wildcat said:


> Damn!! The only good snake is a dead snake IMO.





Wurger said:


> Some of guys can add " and fried or boiled "  But I agree with you Andy.




C'mon Snakes aren't that bad. Would you rather come accross a few snakes or be over run by the disease carrying varmints, mice and rats to be particular, that the snakes prey upon?

Plus, many primitive archery afficianados like to back thier longbows with snake skins.


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## Wurger (Oct 22, 2009)

In fact, a human is not a pig, eats all.


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## jamierd (Oct 22, 2009)

the size is not related to the strength of the venom some of the worlds deadliest snakes wouldnt reach half that size


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## diddyriddick (Oct 22, 2009)

Herpetologists long thought that one could determine the age of a rattlesnake by the number of rattles. This has been disproven in recent years.


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## drgondog (Oct 28, 2009)

Colin1 said:


> That second pic
> based on assumptions obviously, but if the tail is touching the ground, that snake is as long again as that man is tall - it's got to be nudging 12 feet.
> 
> Dumbass question but if something that size bit you, you'd be dead, right?



Colin - if it was a Brown - yes. 

The Rattler, except for Mojave, all have hemotoxic venom so a massive injection is treatable given a couple of hours - but there would be massive muscle tissue loss.

I have seen a LOT of rattlers in Texas, Mexico, Georgia, Florida, etc - never one over 6 1/2 to 7 feet. I've seen Bushmasters in the 10 ft range in Panama and Columbia areas but that Rattler is almost unbelieveable.


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## Thorlifter (Oct 28, 2009)

drgondog said:


> I've seen Bushmasters in the 10 ft range in Panama and Columbia areas but that Rattler is almost unbelieveable.



The largest rattlesnake on record is 12 feet. As I said in my other post, I really don't believe that snake is 15 feet long, but it's still a big a$$ snake.


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## Njaco (Oct 28, 2009)

awful big for a native species.

I picked up a 11ft redtail boa last week and the rattler in that pic appears to be a smidge longer.


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## Thorlifter (Oct 28, 2009)

Just looked at the pic again.

Note the men in the background and how far back they are. (I don't blame them). It's going to give the perspective that the snake is bigger than it really is. We don't see a complete pic of the snake from head to tail. My complete guess is it's probably 7-9 feet long.


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## RabidAlien (Oct 28, 2009)

I was thinkin the same thing, Thor...the fact that they're farther back increases the impression that the snake is huge. Plus, the guy in the background has probably stepped down off the curb (again, don't really blame him). That, and the fact that this "monster, record-breaking snake" was killed and its head lopped off and body carted away by an animal control officer BEFORE it could be measured. One would imagine that an animal-control officer would recognize an extraordinarily large snake and want to at least take some credit in its capture and official recording. Huge, yes. 15-feet? I have my doubts. Tasty? Undoubtedly!


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