Sorry, no politics in this post:
Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes customarily range from 3 to, at max, 6 feet in length.
Check out this unique specimen:
An accompanying article from News4 in Jacksonville, Florida indicates:
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The trappers who caught and killed a giant rattlesnake in St. Johns County said the snake was 7 feet 3 inches long.Experts said it’s one of the biggest rattlesnakes they’ve ever seen.The rattlesnake slithered its way into Tuscany Village, a St. Augustine townhouse community, over the weekend.
If that snake was 7’3″ long, then I’m an M1 Abrams tank.
Look at the photos. An e-mail circulating around the internet (thanks, Chris!) states the snake was 15-feet long. I’m not so sure. But I’d posit the estimator was off by more than just a few feet.
Look at the thickness of the snake at its greatest point as compared to the deputy taking the photo in the top illustration. The snake appears to be roughly as thick as the thigh of the officer. The entire length of the snake is not seen in the top photograph — and, as you can see, the snake is curved towards the bottom.
That snake is easily longer than the deputy in the top photograph. And not just by a foot or so. Further, the second photo doesn’t even detail the full length of the creature. Fifteen feet? I don’t think so. But it’s clearly, in my opinion, longer than a mere seven feet.
One strike from that monster would kill a child in a matter of minutes, and kill an adult human. My guess is: you would not walk away from that snake’s bite, no matter how much antivenin pumped into you. The head and, thusly, the venom glands are simply too big.
Another reason that, along with heat and humidity and hurricanes and rampant pythons: you can keep Florida. Thanks but no thanks.
I think the Jaguars have nice uniforms. Does that help?
BZ
It’s DEAD… Really dead… Make boots…
Ooooooo, boooooots, yeaaaaaaah. . .
A platoon of boots. . .
BZ
You said :Sorry but this blog is not about politics”
But by the looks of that snake, I thought this blog was about Liberals.
Yep, good sized FLA rattler… 🙂 That’ll make a hatband or 3 (dozen)…
Hey, BZ – let the camera guy in you come out for a second and think about the ANGLES involved in the shots – that first shot has the guy with the camera several feet away from the snake, while the snake itself is fairly close to the lens.
I’m not saying it’s short, but it’s not nearly as long as you might be thinking. Even a five footer weighs in at thirty pounds of meat, a seven footer would have about forty – fifty pounds, so holding it out on a capture stick like that would take some muscles…
Mal: The Malcontent 1; Liberals 0.
Cary: yes, it sure would. I still find it hard to believe that snake was only 7 feet long. Yes, perhaps the perspective is wonky, but. . .
BZ
What was the length of that Burmese Python caught in FL a year or so ago? Twelve feet as measured by the animal control officer who nearly got controlled by it… if memory serves.
Rattlers, though, are seeing a trend upwards in size the past decade. No real clue as to why.
Wow! I remember seeing some decent sized ones in Eastern NC when we lived there but nuttin’ like that bruiser!
So, maybe the reporter said to himself, “Yeah, 7, maybe 7-3, that’s the ticket, close enough. No way I’m going over there to measure anything.”