Maybe the Cottonmouth Fixed Stupid

Those antivenom treatments are ve-e-e-r-r-y expensive. A recent case in Mississippi ran up over $200,000 in costs, the great majority of which were paid by insurance. Untrained persons should never mess with venomous snakes. I am trained and experienced in the identification and handling

of snakes and I do so with the utmost caution if the snake is venomous or suspected of being so, as with a snake concealed by weeds or water such that it is not readily identifiable.

The first day following a major venomous snake bite, many victims are afraid they will die.  The second day, as the pain intensifies, they are afraid they won't.

Many have a fear of all snakes. I have a fear on venomous snakes, only. First, I learned to tell the difference.

Stupid isn't a strong enough word to describe anyone that would handle any kind of snake.

It was one of those "hold my beer and watch this" moments.

More like a "Tweet this" moment.

The Rednecks I know, would NOT try to "kiss" a Cottonmouth.

They would have a new "belt".

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Right, plus an appetizer. 

This is a case of "dude, I had to laugh, even if it had killed you".

A random question. How did he live to be 18?

Same thing I wonder about you.

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Just chop all the vermin and there's no having to figure out whether or not they're venomous.

Some like the hog nosed snake aka puff adder are fun to watch, plus they eat vermin. 

Florida Man Faces Charges After Being Bitten Attempting to Kiss Venomous Snake

https://gma.yahoo.com/florida-...abc-news-health.html

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Adding insult to injury, but deservedly so.

From study and observation, I believe that men and women are about the same in intellect (IQ), although men may have a slight edge in mental conception of 3D objects.

However, I also came to the conclusion that women, as a group, demonstrate more common sense than men.  Of which this idiot is a prime example of lack thereof,  However, ladies, with so many joining ISIS, the scale is coming to balance.

Don't know that I have ever seen a puff adder. Rat snakes, yes, my dogs kill those things all the time during the summer, and I thought it was too early or cold but they have already got two this year. Cottonmouth, yes, I've seen, but from a distance. Rattlesnake yes, same thing, from a distance.

I've had a few friends bitten by pit vipers but only one by the snake he "saw."  He said he was bitten by the "stick" he was picking up to kill a snake with.  Another was a turkey hunter who was bitten on the hand as he sat down.  Both of these snakes were copperheads.  Another friend was bitten on the his left calf as he stepped over a log by a western diamondback.

While canoeing blackwater swamps, I've passed by many cottonmouths sunning on logs, but while few retreated, fewer still "displayed."  Gigged a few while gigging frogs.

Depending on your [non] beliefs, I was either blessed or dam lucky with pair of canebreak rattlers I encountered while walking through sagegrass a lowland pine forest.

No telling how many other times I passed by while walking through palmetto fronds in eastern diamondback country and not knowing they were right there.

From last frost to second frost, snakeboots are my favorite footwear on the farm.

I'm betting Contendah has a lot more stories.

Repost from last year. I saw the story a long while ago.

Years ago I saw a man interviewed that had been bitten by a fer de lance, the most dangerous snake to man. The story was about how he was bitten in an area in Australia we'd call the middle of no where, but how things fell into place perfectly in such a way he got medical treatment saving his life. He was so funny. He said a friend told him god was watching over him, and he wondered if god was watching why did he let the d*** snake bite him in the first place. He was bald, and where the snake bit him, looked like his knee area, a patch of hair grew . He said he wished the thing had bitten "me on me head".

Best, God and good luck is what got me to 18. Good luck was about all you had, wasn't it?

I made my own luck jt, unlike you I didn't whine around for others to make it for me. If there was a god, I don't think he'd like you either.

The cobras and king cobras in Nam, I really feared..  One evening, during a changing of the guard, we heard an M16 on full auto from a bunker.  Soldier entered the bunker to find a cobra and cut loose.  Next time he reported for guard duty, in his rucksack something was moving -- a mongoose. He tossed the critter in the bunker before he would enter.  Mongoose ran around and then back to him.  The lieutenant looked the other way. 

Best, I think the story you read was bogus, but perhaps he got his facts wrong.  As far as I know the Fer de Lance is a snake found in South and Central America, not Australia. It could have been a King Brown, Fear snake, or some form of adder.  The Fer de Lances I know of are pretty vicious creatures, and are commonly fatal in the jungles of central and south America where people have little to no access to healthcare.

It wasn't a story. It was a show, something along the lines of "I shouldn't be alive". I could have the snake wrong, but I remember it was 'deadliest snake' alive and that when it bit you were pretty much gone. He was a chubby, bald austrialian guy, and they told how everything just fell into place, a doctor, transportation near, someone with some form of communication, when that was rare and almost unheard of someone having in the middle of no where. There was a little spot of hair where it bit him, seems like it was by his knee. He was funny and wasn't having any of that "god saved you" stuff.

Well we can disagree about whether God saved him or not....lol...., but I think the snake that he was referring to was a Taipei or something like that.  I do remember seeing that episode.  As I recall that snake typically bites multiple times, and has a pretty bad demeanor. He does not back down when confronted. Most people don't last over 15-20 minutes.

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Come now, semi--"any kind of snake"??  Day before yesterday I picked up a tiny garter snake partially hidden behind a downspout.  How would that make me or anyone else stupid? I once had temporary possession of a 5-foot corn snake, a gentle species that readily adapts to handling by humans.  I used that fine specimen in a little nature talk to several dozen 4-H clubbers, a visual aid if you will.  I handled that snake and let them touch it to show them that snakes, contrary to the belief of some, are not slimy.They enjoyed the "show" immensely. What is stupid about any of that?

You are just an old ophidiophobe.

BTW, some of our larger native snakes are capable of devouring feral kittens, thus producing a notable benefit to the ecosystem.

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As I said it's been a while and I just remember how deadly the snake was, and how amazing everything just fell into place to save him. Glad you remembered, I was searching everywhere for the story, found some that could have been him but not any real info, just they survived the bite. Some stories were on a show called "I was bitten". That may have been it too. Depends on how long ago it was.

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Did I stutter? Yes, any kind of snake! Maybe I should have said Fool instead of stupid. (I don't like that word)

Some snakes are capable of killing human beings, thus producing a notable benefit to the human race. People would speak of how big a fool they were to handle it in the first place.

Ophidiophobia? I wouldn't say I have an abnormal fear of snakes. It's a normal fear of snakes that anyone with half of a brain would have.

Semi says  " It's a normal fear of snakes that anyone with half of a brain would have" and yet somehow I have gotten by.  That brief post I deleted proves it.

I liked Dire's comment about "proving it."  We all know folks who "prove it" time and again.

Okay, no piling on.

I have a healthy respect of snakes, but no fear.  I could rationalize it by saying doing what I do where I do it, it's just the way it is.

But on the other hand, spiders and lightening ... ... I'm outta here.

When dating my late wife, she saw a small garter snake and practically jumped into my arms,  She was quite appreciative when I picked the critter up and carried him into the nearby woods. Always had a soft spot for the little green guys after that.

As this thread winds down, I would like to point out that few things in nature rival kissing a cottonmouth first thing in the morning.

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Some cats (e.g.lions, tigers, leopards, cougars) also are "capable of killing human beings," but that does not make fools of those who dote on their Persian, Siamese, Abyssinian,  or plain old tabby house cats. There is as much difference between a lion and a house cat as there is between a garter snake and a python.  How officiously absurd it would be to lump all felines into the same category and condemn as "stupid" or foolish the handling of any types on the basis that some are dangerous or potentially lethal. Yet that is what you are doing with snakes, semi. Consistency, thou art a jewel! 
  

 As I recall that snake typically bites multiple times, and has a pretty bad demeanor. He does not back down when confronted. Most people don't last over 15-20 minutes.

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That one is called a "kiss your butt goodby" snake. That's about all the time you have.

Mimicry I understand, However, mimicking  a species not native to America is the strange part,

I've heard a political analogy like that too, but really good question.

I just guess scary is scary.  After all, it was scaring folks over here long before they knew there were cobras, before they had something to compare it to.

Now imagine someone from here who had been around hog-nose all their lives and then went over there and seeing a cobra for the first time and thinking anytime now it would roll over and play dead if they messed with it.

Or could it be the cobra is copying the hog-nose?