Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued..... - Experts Forum at VenomousReptiles.org

Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued.....	Reply
by levi3 on May 29, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
List the top hottest rattle snakes, just in the states not mexico. Interested to see where the timber falls in..... Thanks RB

RE: Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued.....	Reply
Anonymous post on May 30, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
I can tell you the Timber ranks pretty high, they have a good percentage of neurotoxic venom as well and hemotoxic. The Eastern Diamonback is way up there, if not #1, for the sheer amount of venom injected per bite...you do not want to take a Eastern Diamondback bite!! Some of the smaller species will be high on the list also...Southern Pacific, Mojave...Hope my input helped you..thanks.

RE: Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued.....	Reply
by Chance on May 30, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
I'm going to assume that by top ten hottest, you are referring specifically to potency of venom and not to relative danger the snake poses. Based purely on venom toxicity, the tiger rattler (C. tigris) and Mojave rattler (C. scutulatus) would be our top two, respectively. Following these two would probably be the timber. These are all based on LD50 accounts, which although certainly do not translate directly or even very indirectly to humans, do at least give us a relative idea of a snake's potency. LD50 is best used with a grain of salt, but at least it gives us a straight across the board (usually) test applicable to all venomous animals. Now if you're going to consider the danger aspect, I'd probably be inclined to put eastern diamondbacks and probably even western diamondbacks closer to the top of the list. Both of these species can inject huge amounts of not-so-hot venom, which is just as bad if not worse than a very hot snake injecting very little. Not only that, but easterns and westerns are pretty nastily hemotoxic, and just purely IMHO, I'd rather take a neurotoxic bite than a hemotoxic one. Anyway, I hope I helped shed a little bit of light on the subject at hand. I look forward to reading responces by people a bit more interested in Crotalids than myself. -Chance

RE: Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued.....	Reply
by Phobos on May 30, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
Hi Ray: As I said before you don't want to take a hit from any of these snakes, but since you specifically mentioned the Norther Timber (C. h. horridus)I can tell you it's bite is not fun to endure. Not a huge neurotoxic component as it's southern cousin but it makes up for that with it's hemotoxins. In addition to lots of pain and edema which you expect with a bite from a Rattlesnake. You can expect severe coagulation problems like Thromobcytpenia,low levels of platelets. Without circulating platelets you have no ability to clot, so spontanious bleeding from anywhere you can think of is possible. Local tissue distruction is moderate to severe causing some lasting disabilities. All said and done; I would put C. horridus and subspecies somewhere in the 5-7 range on the chart. Best, Al

RE: Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued.....	Reply
by levi3 on May 30, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
To all that resonded Thanks for the info. I am not planning to take a hit from any of the little devils I was just curious. The timbers is what I can go find regularly around here and was just wondering. I dont want bit by a black rat snake let alone a timber! The timbers that I find around here are generally really laid back and very uninclined to strike. They usually ride a hook very well from the beginning and are no trouble to handel at all. Anyway I enjoyed reading your comments THANKS

RE: Hottest rattle snakes Top ten continued.....	Reply
by new2hots on May 31, 2004	Mail this to a friend!
Just wondering, where does the N.Pacific fall in this category? Same as its cousin.

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