we had a rattlesnake in our yard!

yikes, luckily my husband wasnt bit. Now I am worried about the dogs. Wylie more, because she loves to chase the critters. this was inside our fence.

we have seasonal grass that needs to be week-wacked. he hit it and killed it. he didnt realize it was a rattler until he looked up the pic. I have been worried because we have neighbors whose dogs have been bit. But not I now am really worried about my husband because he weed-wacks about 3 acres this time of year to prepare for the fire season.

 

I just saw that there is a vaccine for dogs for rattlesnakes. I ALMOST picked up a brochure, but I figured my dogs couldn't get it since they can't get any other vaccines. I'm sure you could find some info online.

Also, I don't know where you're located, but we have something called snake-away here. I know it's sold at Lowe's and I think it works on pit vipers. You could put it around your dogs' area at least. (Tell hubby to get some snake boots--LOL)

And YIKES is right! My dogs found a garter snake last summer and it scared me so bad!!

 

coppersmom, my vet advertise the snake vaccine, but I just dont want to add more chemicals to my dogs.

but WOW, thanksk for the info on snake repellant, I have never heard of it. I googled it and there are lots of safe things to use, I do have a home depot so I am going to check that out.

I am also going to check out leg guards of some sort for hubby

 

Heres a couple of snake info sites. They are mostly about S.California snakes, identification and what to do in emergencies etc. I dont know what snakes you have where you are.
The last time I checked on Snake Away, while Ive heard only great things about it it was not approved for use in California although Ive heard from a couple of people that have got it on line or through friends, Ive never actually used it though.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... INT&A=1717

http://www.llu.edu/llumc/emergency/venom-er/

 

My only fear about the snake-away is that you could trap the snake IN the area instead of OUT of the area. But I'm kinda paranoid like that! :roll: My idea was to mow and weed-eat the yard first to scare the snakes away, and then put the snake repellent out. But I haven't tried it--yet. I saw a corn snake Friday, so I know they're a lurkin'.

And I agree about more chemicals in our dogs. I figured those expensive plantation/hunting dogs would be the ones that vaccine is targeted for.

 

I live in Northern N. Califonria, thanks for those links


I found this

http://www.serpentguard.com/?OVRAW=snak ... C=standard

 

Oh no, how scary!

I live in LA and I found a gopher snake just last week, very bizarre! With my Chloe being the size of a gopher, I've been watching her during our playtime. It was only a baby but surely there's a momma snake around somewhere. I couldn't imagine finding a rattle snake though..yikes!

 

Gwen, just so your aware of it the baby snakes (venomus ones) can be and often are worse than the adults, it takes some practice for them to learn how to control the amount of venom they inject so your more likely to get the 'full blast' as opposed to an adult hitting with either a dry strike (no venom released) or a defensive strike with less venom.
I never saw too many when I lived in LA (mostly around Covina, Bev Hills and Arcadia) but I did used to go up to Chantry Flats (San Gabriel Mtns) with my dogs and we came across a few rattlers up there. The Mojave Greens are the ones youve really got to be careful of but they are mostly up in the Victorville/High Desert area and are mostly found on the flats not the mountain areas.

 

We don't really have much of a snake problem around here, I have never seen one around, although peopletalk about them alot? I have seen them 2 hrs away on the river (same river as here) but never anything close.
Anyway coppersmom why can't you get vaccines for your dogs?

 

Wow, sounds like we live(d) in the same areas! San Marino and Brentwood for me, where we're at now. I live in the hills just above West Hollywood, so we have quite a big yard (for being LA) but it's rare to find any critters around here. I don't think gopher snakes are venomous, but my chihuhaua is definetly being supervised extra carefully during her playtime now!

I don't plan on heading out to the high desert anytime soon, so hopefully garden/gopher snakes is the only bit of "wilderness" I'll have to encounter in my part. I actually managed to get a picture of the little guy, because he just wouldn't move! I had to pick him up with a rake and toss him over the hillside.


That's him there, hopefully the last time he'll be seen.

 

lil, my dogs are allergic to their yearly vaccines--rabies etc. Within a few minutes they puff up like a shar-pei. We tried pre-medicating them too, but they still reacted so now I don't feel like it's worth it to even try.

 

Definitely not!! They don't need yearly boosters anyway.

 

that is crazy! I am glad you found out safely, well they survived. I haven't ever heard that before! I am so glad Luther stayss healthy!

 

Our Chiauhua got bit by a Mojave Green rattlsnake last summer. We had heard to give her margarine & milk and it would absorb the poison. We gave her about 8 tablespoons of margarine and then washed it down with milk. We also gave her black walnut powder in water. After about 1 1/2 - 2 hours you couldn't even tell that she had been bit by a snake. She was fine and we didn't have to go to the vet. She had gotten bit on her face.

Ezriyah

 

bullilover...where did you get that 'technique' from?? Im not disputing it at all but I am curious as most dogs die within a couple of hours from Mojave bites unless its a dry strike. (incidentally there usually is no swelling, if there is it is minimal).
Do you have some information on it.....people have there pets euthanized after a bite from a Mojave as they often cant afford the antivenin. If there is a quick, inexpensive fix for this I would love to know more about it.
Thanks.

 

DeLaUK, is there any way to tell if there was venom in the bite? Also, how much does the antivenom cost?? I can't imagine putting my dog to sleep if there was a treatment available. Is it thousands of dollars or something?

 

I think the cost is around $1000 for treatment. we have a frined who got bit last year and tiw as $1000 a vile and he needed 11 viles not to mention 3 days in the hospital

 

DeLaUK-
A bunny breeder had told us that her dog got bit by a rattlesnake and she had a vet tech as a neighbor and the vet tech told her to give the dog as much margerine or butter and milk as it would eat and drink and it would asborb the toxins. About the black walnut powder- my mom is into herbs and she had read about giving a human black walnut powder if they got bit by a snake.

Ezriyah

 

Thats more than we used to charge, I think we only charged cost though, about $400 a vial. To be honest most of the time the owners dont bring them in until its too late and they are usually already going into respiratory arrest. In 5 years the only one that we managed to save from a Mojave full strike was a Pit Bull, owner brought her in about 20 minutes after the strike, an hour or so later she went into resp.arrest and was in a coma for 4 days, cost the owner about $3000, he brought her back to visit us a month later, she was still unco-ordinated and a bit spacy but he said there was a very slight improvement daily.
On the Diamondbacks though the venom is different, we rarely lose one and usually dont use the antivenin, just a lot of morphine as ithey are extremely painful, IV fluid therapy and antibiotics, I know because of the cost that not everyone can afford to hospitalize and I know many of them that have been treated at home and done well.

Thanks for the info bullilover. Ill look into that, see if I can find something on line.

 

we found a piosonous snake in our yard once. We just kept my dogs away from the scene, and let them out on leashes untill we examined the yard thoroughly