Author Topic: rattlesnakes  (Read 6954 times)

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Offline franksolich

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Re: rattlesnakes
« Reply #25 on: February 02, 2012, 07:18:10 PM »
I lived in FL for a while as a young child (I was about 7).  But I seem to recall that the lady that lived next door (she was a veterinarian), shot a 12 foot eastern diamondback rattler.

My mom seems to recall it being 12 feet long as well.



In some other thread here, in another forum, I wish to God I knew where, Rebel posted a photograph of what appears to be a rattlesnake--it's some huge snake with a diamond head--and so I can finally see where they could grow to be nine feet long (or longer), and as thick as a man's thigh.

I had never disputed "length;" I was always disputing "thickness," but again, Rebel's photograph resolved that issue.
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Offline rich_t

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Re: rattlesnakes
« Reply #26 on: February 02, 2012, 07:32:19 PM »
Compare the girth of this snake to the legs of the guy holding it.

http://www.wildlife-removal.com/images/Diamondback01.jpg
« Last Edit: February 02, 2012, 07:41:08 PM by rich_t »
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Offline franksolich

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Re: rattlesnakes
« Reply #27 on: February 02, 2012, 07:37:21 PM »
Compare the girth of this snake to the legs of the guy holding it.

http://www.wildlife-removal.com/images/Diamondback03.jpg

Uh huh, but when reading the book, I had real "perceptual problems" imagining a rattlesnake as thick as the author alleged, and the matter was complicated by her well-known reputation for veracity and non-exaggeration.

I mean, hey, I even looked at my thigh (about 6" thick), and I couldn't imagine a rattlesnake that thick; perhaps boa constrictors, yes, but not ordinary rattlesnakes.

But Rebel's photograph showed me how such is credible.
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Offline rich_t

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Re: rattlesnakes
« Reply #28 on: February 02, 2012, 08:00:19 PM »
Uh huh, but when reading the book, I had real "perceptual problems" imagining a rattlesnake as thick as the author alleged, and the matter was complicated by her well-known reputation for veracity and non-exaggeration.

I mean, hey, I even looked at my thigh (about 6" thick), and I couldn't imagine a rattlesnake that thick; perhaps boa constrictors, yes, but not ordinary rattlesnakes.

But Rebel's photograph showed me how such is credible.

The snake in the pic I posted was probably about 6.5- 7 feet long.

Add 5 feet to that with a corresponding increase in girth.

That 12 footer I recall seeing as a kid was an absolute monster in girth.

Very few people believe me when I talk about a 12 foot eastern diamondback rattlesnake.  I was very young, but my when my mom recalls it being 12 feet long as well....
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." --Norman Thomas, 1944