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Papa Spot Wrote:Okay, it's fixed. It no longer says that.

Remember that Wikipedia is written by readers. In other words, the person who wrote that article was probably the night clerk at the Git-N-Go who fancies himself a herpetologist. I only corrected a couple of the most stupid errors; I don't have time to rewrite the whole thing. All you have to do is take a look at the glaring inconsistencies in the article to know that the writer doesn't have a clue. The writer claims (well, CLAIMED before I edited him or her) that rattlesnake bites usually result in death. Then he goes on to admit that, of the average 8,000 people bitten in the U.S. yearly, only about fifteen die. He claimed that the use of anti-venom reduces the number of deaths to about four percent. Do the math. Fifteen is less than 2/10 of 1 percent of 8,000. And 2/10 of 1 percent is a LONG WAY from being "usually fatal." (Two-tenths of one percent means that, for every 1,000 people bitten, two of them die. The FLU has a lot higher mortality rate than THAT.)

Now here's some more math. If a single bite from a Fierce snake (a.k.a. Inland Tiapan) is toxic enough to kill 100 human beings yet only two people out of every one thousand die from a rattlesnake bite, is it realistic to say that the rattlesnake is "one of the most deadly snakes in the world"? In my view, it doesn't even come close.

While I think Wikipedia can be fun it's value as a source is pretty limited. Like I said, ANYONE can write, edit or completely rewrite any article there.

I'll have to check out the article now

I'll have to find a snake book and see which snake is the most deadly!!!!!!
Rattlers probably aren't as deadly as a black widow spider, right?

As soon as a boot back up in Linux, I'll post some pictures of different snakes that I saved.
(I'm on Windows at the present, and my pictures are on my Linux partition.....)



Dr Small

Here's the pictures:

FirefoxWiz Wrote:I'll have to check out the article now

I'll have to find a snake book and see which snake is the most deadly!!!!!!
Rattlers probably aren't as deadly as a black widow spider, right?

I don't know how they'd compare with black widows 'cause I'm not that familiar with black widows. One variable is sensitivity. If a person is highly sensitive to black widow toxin, they could die from a bite. Since black widows are neurotoxic, a person is a lot more likely to be highly sensitive to their venom than they are to the hemotoxic rattlesnake venom. But from what I understand, most people don't die from a black widow bite; they just get sicker than a dog. But I think that, barring complications, recovery from a black widow bite is usually complete. With rattlesnake bites, you're likely to have some local muscle damage that's permanent. Most people that you see that have sustained a rattlesnake bite will have some pretty nasty scarring in the area of the bite.

One thing to remember is that rattlesnakes don't usually inject their full load of venom when they bite a person. In fact, they often don't inject any venom at all. Their venom is designed to paralyze and kill their prey and since humans aren't prey for them, they aren't inclined to waste it on us.

Papa Spot Wrote:I don't know how they'd compare with black widows 'cause I'm not that familiar with black widows.

Me neither, an I don't want to me. I've only seen one about 4 or 5 times, one crawling right beside my hand... :eek:

Papa Spot Wrote:But from what I understand, most people don't die from a black widow bite; they just get sicker than a dog.

Ohh. I thought people bitten by black widows usually died. :O

Papa Spot Wrote:One thing to remember is that rattlesnakes don't usually inject their full load of venom when they bite a person. In fact, they often don't inject any venom at all. Their venom is designed to paralyze and kill their prey and since humans aren't prey for them, they aren't inclined to waste it on us.

Good!! Still, I don't wanna meet a live rattler up close!!! They look scary!

FirefoxWiz Wrote:Good!! Still, I don't wanna meet a live rattler up close!!! They look scary!

LOL! I understand, FW. And, if ya don't know exactly what you're doing, it's best to give them a wide berth.

And I wanna emphasize again, I'm NOT saying that rattlesnakes aren't dangerous. But they're not the demonic serpents that people have made them out to be. Their hemotoxin is just not THAT powerful. And they detest and avoid humans even more than humans detest and avoid them. (The difference is that humans like to kill rattlesnakes but rattlesnakes just want to avoid humans.)

There is one neurotoxic snake that lives in the U.S. and that's the coral snake.



These little guys do have a pretty nasty venom. On one hand, it's fortunate that bites to humans are rare (and for an interesting reason). The coral snake is so small that it can only bite a human adult in the web at the base between the fingers. In fact, most coral snake bites to adult humans are on the web between the thumb and forefinger. Sadly, children's fingers and toes are small enough for the coral snake to bite. And their bright colors tend to attract children to them.

FirefoxWiz Wrote:I've only seen one about 4 or 5 times, one crawling right beside my hand... :eek:

It was crawling beside your hand?? :gasp:

Papa Spot Wrote:And they detest and avoid humans even more than humans detest and avoid them.

Uh-uh. I think that's opposite for me

Sara Wrote:

FirefoxWiz Wrote:I've only seen one about 4 or 5 times, one crawling right beside my hand... :eek:

It was crawling beside your hand?? :gasp:

Yeah, didn't scare me though, I just grabbed a stick and squished it. Scared my mom more than me, she wouldn't let me go back up there without gloves...

Papa Spot Wrote:There is one neurotoxic snake that lives in the U.S. and that's the coral snake.

Yeah, I've seen it's picture in snake books before.

1. Do you cry easily? No

2. What characteristics do you despise? General Bad habits (e.g. Nose picking, eating with open mouth, etc)

3. Favorite item of clothing? Jeans

4. If you could go anywhere worldwide, where would
you go? New York

5. Tell us 3 things that you are scared of. Spiders, Anything Poisonous and Heights.

6. When is your birthday? 18th March


8. Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi


9. Are you an early bird or night owl? Night Owl


10. Do you have any pets? 2 Dogs


11. What did you wanna be when you were little? An Astronaut

12. Favorite Candy Bar? Don't have one


14. What color are your eyes? Blue


15. Ever been in a car accident? No


16. Favorite restaurant? San Carlos


17. Do you like flowers? No


18. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Vanilla


19. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None, still need to take it


20. Which store would you max out your credit card? Forbidden Planet


21. Who did you go to dinner w/last? Guys from work


22. What are you listening to right now? 30/30 150 - Stone Sour


23.Are you addicted to chocolate? No


24. Do you see a glass as half empty or half full? Half Empty

25. Cotton or feather pillow: Whichever is more comfortable at the time

26. Mechanical or regular pencil: mechanical


27.City or country? City


28. What are you wearing right now? Plain White T-Shirt, Volcom Jeans


29. What kind of hairspray do you use (if any)? N/A

30.Do you always keep your room clean? No way!


31. What are your favorite colors? Black, White, Blue


32. What's the weirdest/ most foreign thing you've ever eaten? Octopus


33. Can you speak any foreign languages? Some French, German, Italian and Japanese and a smidgen of Spanish


34. If you could have one super-power, what would it be? Invincibility!


35. Lipstick or Lipgloss? Neither


36. What is your FAVORITE hobby? That's a hard one....I guess my job, Application Developing

1. Do you cry easily?

No.

2. What characteristics do you despise?

Bullies, arrogance, acting as if you have authority over somebody when you clearly do not, perverts, disgusting bad habits such as the ones protoman listed.

3. Favorite item of clothing?

My EMS 'uniform'.

4. If you could go anywhere worldwide, where would
you go?

Las Vegas!

5. Tell us 3 things that you are scared of.

*My own death, strange thing is though, while I may be fearful of it, I would certainly take the risk of it for someone I love or while in the line of duty for the ambulance. While I know that death will happen to everyone at some point, it still isn't pleasant to think about.

*Wasps/Hornets/Bees, I freaking hate those things. Their sting not only hurts pretty badly, but my dad almost went into Anaphalatic Shock when a wasp stung him in the lower lip.

*Yes I know this is going to be strange for someone who is into the whole EMS scene, but I am indeed a little freaked by needles bigger than 25 gage (IF THEY ARE BEING USED ON ME).

6. When is your birthday?

October 17th, 1991.

8. Coke or Pepsi?

I love them both, can't decide!

9. Are you an early bird or night owl?

Night owl, everything is just so much more fun and exciting at night. Also, I have alot of trouble sleeping at night, yet during the day, it isn't a problem for me.

10. Do you have any pets?

Yes.

11. What did you wanna be when you were little?

A police officer.

12. Favorite Candy Bar?

Well, it isn't really a 'bar', but lemme tell ya, I am absolutely addicted to sour candy. Sour Patch Kids, Sour Twizzlers, Sour Tangerine Altoids, you name it!

14. What color are your eyes?

Brown.

15. Ever been in a car accident?

Can't drive yet.

16. Favorite restaurant?

Pat's Pizzaria.

17. Do you like flowers?

I don't care one way or the other.

18. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

Twist.

19. How many times did you fail your driver's test?

N/A

20. Which store would you max out your credit card?

Spencer's Gifts :whistling:

21. Who did you go to dinner w/last?

My family.

22. What are you listening to right now?

"Bad Boys (Theme from COPS)" by Inner Circle.

23.Are you addicted to chocolate?

Nope!

24. Do you see a glass as half empty or half full?

Half empty usually.

25. Cotton or feather pillow:

Feather.

26. Mechanical or regular pencil:

Neither! I prefer pen!

27.City or country?

City!

28. What are you wearing right now?

T-shirt and pants.

29. What kind of hairspray do you use (if any)?

On a rare occasion, I'll use temporary hair color from the Halloween store (Blue or Red) just to scare my Grandma or just if I randomly feel like it.

30.Do you always keep your room clean?

That'll be the day Lacy waives the swearing rule here.

31. What are your favorite colors?

Blue, Red, Black

32. What's the weirdest/ most foreign thing you've ever eaten?

Can't recall.


33. Can you speak any foreign languages?

Minimal Spanish.

34. If you could have one super-power, what would it be?

That's way too tough for me to pick.

35. Lipstick or Lipgloss?

None!! I'm a guy.

36. What is your FAVORITE hobby?

EMS!