97 lb rattlesnake found in just SOUTHEAST of Morehead City on Radio Island before Beaufort. 9 feet, 1 inch - 97 lbs. - Biggest rattler found since Bob Eaereds captured one in 1969 that measured 9 feet, 1 inch but only weighed 78 lbs. This old guy was found inside an open water drum near an abandoned boat hull laying on the shore

8/27/2009 5:15:35 PM

rip =/

8/27/2009 5:17:05 PM

holy hell

8/27/2009 5:21:43 PM

hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooly shit

8/27/2009 5:22:58 PM

so how many buttons on the tail, like fucking 25??!?~?~?~?!

8/27/2009 5:25:42 PM

Stone Cold Steve Austin is much bigger than that

8/27/2009 5:26:03 PM

one of the few times i agree with dnl.

RIP.

8/27/2009 5:27:04 PM

that thing is awesome

8/27/2009 5:27:09 PM

That shit is badass

8/27/2009 5:28:57 PM

Oh, I guess it is dead. Looks like blood on the neck like he shot it or something.

Guess that thing would be a nuisance, given that it could eat small children and all. Jesus...

8/27/2009 5:29:56 PM

Snakes don't scare me or anything...but I'm sure if I was to come up on that snake all of a sudden I might pee a little.

8/27/2009 5:30:53 PM

i find it hard to believe the snake pictured is 97#

[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 5:51 PM. Reason : well no shit it's dead, no snake handler would hold a venomous snake that far from its head]

8/27/2009 5:48:48 PM

Yeah it definitely looks dead. It seems too docile to be hanging there and not trying to bite that guy.

8/27/2009 5:49:33 PM

^^Austin Stevens has. On one of his shows, he crawled into a rattlesnake den.

8/27/2009 5:53:12 PM

holy shit

my bowels would open up like a morning glory if i stumbled upon that thing

8/27/2009 5:53:24 PM

Quote :

"97 lb rattlesnake found in just SOUTHEAST of Morehead City on Radio Island before Beaufort. 9 feet, 1 inch - 97 lbs. - Biggest rattler found since Bob Eaereds captured one in 1969 that measured 9 feet, 1 inch but only weighed 78 lbs. This old guy was found inside an open water drum near an abandoned boat hull laying on the shore"

Old, false, and variation #67342

...But I still wouldn't fuck with that snake

8/27/2009 5:57:11 PM

welcome to texas, 1995

8/27/2009 6:04:35 PM

[insert big dick comment here]

8/27/2009 6:05:24 PM

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/txsnake.asp

8/27/2009 6:07:17 PM

jesus fuckin christ this is old shit.

i dont want to waste my time ripping this one apart, but im going to anyway, because it's raining and i cant do my field work right now.

first of all, this picture is years old. it's made its rounds through forwarded emails, which perpetuate the rumor.

TWO major things wrong, off the bat, even if you haven't seen this stupid fucking shot before.

1) if you put something on the end of a pole, extend that pole towards the camera, and take a shot, the size of the animal is exaggerated by means of perspective, obviously the closer something is to the camera, the bigger it is gonna look.

2) that species doesn't even exist in the southeastern US. It's a western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). If you wanna see where it lives, well, fucking google it.

And beyond those first two points that refute the claims made by the OP, i'll do a little more learnin' on ya.

1) The eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) is the most closely related species that actually even occurs in NC. Actually, it's an endangered species in NC. How can I tell that the pictured snake isn't an eastern? The white/black banding at the end of the tail does not occur in easterns.

2) The largest record of an eastern diamondback was around 8 ft or so. That size doesn't occur anymore, thanks to good ol' Homo srapiens. Larger rattlesnakes will occur further south in GA and FL due to the fact they're able to be active and grow through a greater portion of the year. Still, it is extremely rare to find an eastern diamondback around 6 ft, even in south Florida. In South Carolina, where I am doing my doctoral research on eastern diamondbacks, I have found approximately 40 this year, and only 1 is confirmed to have broken 5 ft (although Sunday I caught one I have yet to measure which might be a hair over 5 ft). North Carolina diamondbacks should not be expected to be significantly larger than 5ft (although I am not ruling out the fact it could be over 5 ft, it's extremely unlikely to grow anywhere near 9 ft, as claimed above).

3) 97 lbs...even though that guy looks like he's only about 5' tall, do you really think that snake is gonna weigh as much as a scrawny high-schooler?

4)As I've already mentioned, that fucking godforsaken picture is about as old as the internet. There are many more like it. It makes rounds every fucking summer, and a good number of idiots believe the story that accompanies it...because...well...if it's on the internet, IT MUST BE TRUE!

5) The ONLY thing that could be true is that an eastern diamondback was found somewhere around radio island, seeing as it isn't far from where the last of NC's diamondbacks occur.

6) Go ahead and type rattlesnake in at Snopes.com. They aren't rattlesnake experts there, so they can't determine anything on either side. I agree, the photo isn't doctored, but the details in the text are. But if you click on the different links there, you'll see that the same sort of story comes from just about every picture some dumb fucking redneck takes in the same sort of fashion: a big rattlesnake (and actually, not always a rattlesnake) at the end of some sort of stick, pole, or clamp.

^beat me to part of my argument.

Quote :

"^^Austin Stevens has. On one of his shows, he crawled into a rattlesnake den."

Austin Stevens is a crock of shit. The shows you see on TV are often staged, but his shows especially. Yes, some rattlesnakes den communally. You are correct in the fact that you can handle a snake that far back without imminent danger, as long as you aren't holding it with your bare hands.

[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 6:13 PM. Reason : I lied about being done.]

8/27/2009 6:09:31 PM

Quote :

"It's a western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). If you wanna see where it lives, well, fucking google it."

Thanks for the confirmation. My grandfather sent out this same shit earlier this year (except with the claim that it was found near Burgaw), and I pulled a Reply All with 'actually, other than problems X, Y, and Z, here's this'.

And I thought it was a western, but I wasn't sure, so I just linked the wikipedia page instead

8/27/2009 6:12:30 PM

i doubt the guy is strong enough to carry 97 pounds like that.

8/27/2009 6:13:17 PM

yea...it's hard enough to hold a 6lb rattlesnake at the end of a 3ft snake hook. That tiny fucker wouldn't be able to stand up straight.

And I just saw another detail that doesn't exactly jump out and bite ya...but don't you think they'd build elevated houses on a tiny island off the coast of NC?


[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 6:22 PM. Reason : and who the fuck is Bob Eaereds?]

8/27/2009 6:17:02 PM

I thought this thread was about EMCE's wang

[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 6:32 PM. Reason : ಠ_ಠ]

8/27/2009 6:29:18 PM

Son of a bitch.

OK, you know what, you fucking assholes that just post shit you get in an email forward onto TWW all the time just need to go jump off a bridge, or maybe go do hard labor in salt mines for the rest of your life.

8/27/2009 6:42:40 PM

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/txsnake.asp

8/27/2009 6:49:39 PM

we have a rattlesnake at work that is 29 years old....
the more you know.........................................

8/27/2009 9:34:47 PM

I can't believe they killed Big Ricky.
I had beers with that snake the last time I was on Radio Island.
He was chill. All the local fishermen would toss him a live fish or two when they weren't big enough to be keepers. He would never hurt anybody. He was practically domesticated.

RIP BIG RICKY.

8/27/2009 9:39:16 PM

haha we do that same shit to make fish we catch look bigger

8/27/2009 9:47:24 PM

damn...I didn't realize I was going to get torn apart by posting this. Internet is serious business.

8/27/2009 10:04:37 PM

do you have blue veins on your breasts?

8/27/2009 10:05:07 PM

Rattlesnakes are serious business, at least to me. Misinformation is a huge hurdle in trying to educate the general public about the ecology any conservation of these animals.

8/27/2009 10:06:30 PM

Quote :

"My grandfather sent out this same shit earlier this year (except with the claim that it was found near Burgaw), and I pulled a Reply All with 'actually, other than problems X, Y, and Z, here's this'."

Are you kidding me

It was your fucking grandfather

What the fuck is wrong with you?

8/27/2009 10:07:53 PM

unfortunately education isnt gonna rid the populace of their stupid perception of snakes

I almost feel like its a waste of time, but im sure youve seen progress being that you are personally involved in the effort

i just dont see people not hating and killing snakes for no reason, but kudos to you man keep it up

8/27/2009 10:08:34 PM

i try to talk people out of their irrational fear of snakes. i'm no herpetologist, but i know damn well that every snake you see isn't a copperhead or cottonmouth.

and that's what grinds my gears.

8/27/2009 10:23:12 PM

i try to do the same thing about spiders and insects, i just wish i had more actual knowledge

8/27/2009 10:26:49 PM

yea, ima keep doin' what i do, even knowing pretty well that the general public isn't worth fighting against. but really, you gotta get em while they're young [no illegal].

But fortunately, my work isn't gonna be about educating the public. It'll be about enhancing our knowledge of how to manage for species including those that most humans perceive as risky. Actually, a big part of my dissertation is gonna be new stuff regarding risk perception.

8/27/2009 10:28:22 PM

ah i didnt mean to oversimplify your job description

8/27/2009 10:29:21 PM

Hmm, well at least this thread provided a learning experience son. I was not aware of this rumor so the thread turned out pretty well IMO.

8/27/2009 10:31:26 PM

nah man, no oversimplification.

it's just that rattlesnakes have a special place in my heart, and the fact that so many people still believe anything they get in forwarded emails really bothers me.

8/27/2009 10:34:27 PM

I would still be scared as shit if I saw a rattle snake.

I would be all like " ohhh shittt!!!!!"

8/27/2009 10:44:26 PM

people dont get outside enough.

8/27/2009 10:46:54 PM

at the risk of offending umop-apisdn and Chop, I have a story to share:


haha, we used to kill copperheads all the time when I was a kid living in ATL. Used to see them all the time in our neighborhood by the creek that ran by the baseball field. We all thought we were some bad- asses apparently, cause we all carried around knives
But yea, we would find a stick, pin it's head down, and cut that mofo up. Then high-5 each other like we were the shit.


Years later, I realized how stupid we were as kids. Both for 1) fucking around with venomous snakes and 2) killing snakes that were probably JUST TRYIN' TO LIVE, YO!

God, I'm a douche...

8/27/2009 10:49:22 PM

I don't care who you are. If you happen to walk up unexpectely on a snake that large you're going to be startled.

8/27/2009 10:50:57 PM

well obviously

that doesnt equal fear though

8/27/2009 10:52:39 PM

being startled by walking up on a snake is not the same thing as considering snakes inherently evil and killing each one that crosses your path.

8/27/2009 10:55:27 PM

Well yeah but just cause someone screams at the top of their lungs like a little girl doesn't mean they are scared.

8/27/2009 10:56:21 PM

come on haas youre smarter than this

8/27/2009 10:57:02 PM

we're talking the difference between a quick "AHH! A SNAKE! ha ha ha! that scared the shit out of me!" and "AHHHHH! A SNAKE! OMG! OMG! OMG! KILL IT! KILL IT!"

8/27/2009 11:00:57 PM

Well, I guess some people enjoy killing more than others, you know?

8/27/2009 11:05:29 PM