Field Herping Blog http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog Snake Hunting Reports and Other Adventures Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:25:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 A bit of herping in southern Oklahoma http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/a-bit-of-herping-in-southern-oklahoma/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/a-bit-of-herping-in-southern-oklahoma/#comments Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:58:28 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=62 I took a short camping/ herping/ fishing trip to my favorite pygmy rattlesnake spot in Oklahoma over the weekend. I did not have much luck. I found some copperheads and a big DOR timber rattler but not much else. Hopefully when it cools down just a bit things will pick up.

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/a-bit-of-herping-in-southern-oklahoma/feed/ 0 Ridgenose Rattlesnake – Crotalus willardi http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/ridgenose-rattlesnake-crotalus-willardi/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/ridgenose-rattlesnake-crotalus-willardi/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:31:32 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=58 crotalus willardi

Photo that I took from southeastern Arizona. A very beautiful snake! I love the prominent white streaks below the eye.

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/ridgenose-rattlesnake-crotalus-willardi/feed/ 0 Only a few more rattlesnake species to go… http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/only-a-few-more-rattlesnake-species-to-go/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/only-a-few-more-rattlesnake-species-to-go/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:13:00 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=53 I am getting closer to accomplishing my goal of finding every rattlesnake species in the United States. I have spent a bunch of time in southeastern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas so I have found pretty much every species there. I still need to find an eastern diamondback, a speckled rattlesnake, a red diamond rattlesnake, an Arizona black rattlesnake and a tiger rattler. Hopefully next year I will find those five species.

twin spotted rattlesnake

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/09/only-a-few-more-rattlesnake-species-to-go/feed/ 0 My Experience With A Rattlesnake Bite http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/08/my-experience-with-a-rattlesnake-bite/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/08/my-experience-with-a-rattlesnake-bite/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:36:17 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=43 I got bitten by a juvenile timber rattlesnake in my middle finger near Gainesville, Texas. The following is my account of what happened as a result of the rattlesnake bite.

The bite did not hurt. There was a little bit of blood at the site of the bite but the bleeding was by no means severe. I hopped in my car and started driving to the hospital. For the first few minutes I was hoping that I got a dry bite, in which no venom was injected.

After about ten minutes the finger started to swell up. As time went on the swelling extended up my arm. It did not hurt too bad; it just felt kind of numb and irritated and tender.

Not too long after I arrived at the hospital my whole hand and arm were swollen up like a balloon. My hand was as thick as it is wide at one point. The swelling extended past my elbow.

The hospital started to inject me full of antivenin. I received six viles of CroFab. The antivenin worked fantastically. Within a couple hours of receiving the antivenin the swelling had decreased greatly.

I stayed in the hospital for three days (two nights) mostly as a precaution. I felt good and the swelling was way down by the next morning. However, they kept me to make sure that I didn’t have any adverse reactions to the CroFab.

I went back for a checkup about a week later and blood tests showed that my blood wasn’t clotting at all! Rattlesnake venom is hemotoxic and it thins the blood. I was forced to stay at the hospital for another couple days until they got my blood clotting at a reasonable level. They told me that it would be irresponsible for them to let me leave the hospital because if I got a head injury or something I would just bleed out and there would be nothing that they could do to help me. After vitamin K injections the doctors eventually got my blood to a reasonable level and I was allowed to leave the hospital.

There was no long term damage to my finger and my blood is now normal.

I guess this just goes to show you that you should handle venomous snakes with a snake hook instead of trying to be the badass crocodile hunter type that wrangles snakes with his bare hands.

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/08/my-experience-with-a-rattlesnake-bite/feed/ 0 Herping West Texas – Some Pictures From Snake Hunting Val Verde County http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/07/herping-west-texas-some-pictures-from-snake-hunting-val-verde-county/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/07/herping-west-texas-some-pictures-from-snake-hunting-val-verde-county/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:07:50 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=28 I try to make my way out to Val Verde County once or twice a year to look for some Chihuahuan Desert snakes. Here are some photos of some of the herps that I found this year:

blacktail rattlesnake - Crotalus molossus

Blacktail rattlesnake

Mottled Rock Rattlesnake - Crotalus lepidus lepidus

Banded Rock Rattlesnake

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/07/herping-west-texas-some-pictures-from-snake-hunting-val-verde-county/feed/ 0 Timber Rattlesnake From North Texas http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/07/timber-rattlesnake-from-north-texas/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/07/timber-rattlesnake-from-north-texas/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:06:22 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=24 Here are a few pictures of one of the beautiful canebrake rattlers that I found this spring night driving for snakes north of Dallas…

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

Canebrake Rattlesnake from Texas

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/07/timber-rattlesnake-from-north-texas/feed/ 0 Night Driving For Timber Rattlesnakes North Of Dallas Report http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/05/night-driving-for-timber-rattlesnakes-north-of-dallas-report/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/05/night-driving-for-timber-rattlesnakes-north-of-dallas-report/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 20:07:37 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=20 I went night driving last night at a spot that has timber rattlesnakes north of Dallas. No timber rattlers, unfortunately, but I did see a few other snakes:

1 Texas Rat Snake

1 Huge Great Plains Rat Snake

1 Texas Brown Snake

Also saw a bunch of mammals (armadillos, deer, raccoons). Hopefully next time I will get my Canebrake.

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/05/night-driving-for-timber-rattlesnakes-north-of-dallas-report/feed/ 0 Albuquerque New Mexico Snake Hunting http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/albuquerque-new-mexico-snake-hunting/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/albuquerque-new-mexico-snake-hunting/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:03:53 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=16

nm milksnake

New Mexico milksnake found herping near Albuquerque… also found some prairie rattlesnakes, glossy snakes, gopher snakes and blackheaded snakes.

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/albuquerque-new-mexico-snake-hunting/feed/ 0 Some Pictures From Herping The Ouachita Mountains http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/some-pictures-from-herping-the-ouachita-mountains/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/some-pictures-from-herping-the-ouachita-mountains/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:52:39 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/?p=10 speckled kingsnake

Speckled kingsnakes that were flipped under some boards.

Cottonmouth snake

Cottonmouth found near a lake

milk snake

Milk snake flipped underneath a rock

]]> http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/some-pictures-from-herping-the-ouachita-mountains/feed/ 0 Snake Hunting The Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/snake-hunting-the-lyndon-b-johnson-national-grasslands/ http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/snake-hunting-the-lyndon-b-johnson-national-grasslands/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:29:04 +0000 jalevan http://www.snake-hook-and-tongs.com/blog/2010/04/snake-hunting-the-lyndon-b-johnson-national-grasslands/ The Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) National Grasslands are located about an hour northwest of Fort Worth, Texas near the town of Decatur. I dropped by there after work one day this week for a tiny bit of herping.

I flipped some artificial cover and didn’t turn up anything. I then proceeded to some rocky hills that I like to herp to see if I could turn up anything. Flipping rocks yielded a beautiful adult copperhead, a couple flat headed snakes, some skinks and a narrowmouth toad.

In the afternoon I decided to do a bit of fishing in Black Creek Lake. Not incredibly productive but it was still fun.

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