PSA: Check Your Pool Noodles for Danger Noodles

AZ_Dawn

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Because a family in Buckeye, AZ found rattlesnake in theirs.

Buckeye FD on Facebook said:
Apparently, 2 pool noodles were left outside of the pool up against their cinderblock wall. The next time they went to use the pool, the pool noodles were picked up and brought to the swimming pool. Out popped a rattlesnake. The snake did not attack, but was concerned about the pool noodles as there were a couple of young rattlesnakes who were still inside the pool noodle.

:Jaw:
And here's a news story from Phoenix about this literal danger noodle. Not as informative as the Facebook post IMO, but it does give some context for those who don't live in Arizona.

Buckeye Fire Captain Tommy Taylor on Fox10 News said:
If you're going to be in the pool, and you have stuff that's stored outside overnight, might be a good idea to shake it. Might be a snake or scorpion in it

No thanks; I'll stay inside and crank up the AC. :scared:
 
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frimble3

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The snake did not attack, but was concerned about the pool noodles as there were a couple of young rattlesnakes who were still inside the pool noodle.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong, or missing something, but the quoted sentence sounds very much like 'snake as concerned parent'. Finds a nice, safe, insulated place for the kids to hole up during the day, and now they're trapped!
 

regdog

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Maybe I'm reading this wrong, or missing something, but the quoted sentence sounds very much like 'snake as concerned parent'. Finds a nice, safe, insulated place for the kids to hole up during the day, and now they're trapped!


According to this article, they are protective.

Though rattlesnakes don’t exhibit extended parental care; newborn diamondback rattlesnakes are protected by their mothers for a brief time. Young western diamondbacks disperse hours or days after parturition, while eastern diamondbacks remain with their mother until their first shed -- up to two weeks later. This protection provides a significant benefit as the odors associated with their birth can attract predators.

Link
 

frimble3

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That's so cool. Although not so much if it's your yard she's being protective in. And why am I feeling bad for a poisonous reptile, in parental distress?
 

regdog

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And why am I feeling bad for a poisonous reptile, in parental distress?


Because it's parental distress.

It speaks volumes about someone who doesn't have any concern for a parent worried about their offspring.
 

LittlePinto

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Because it's parental distress.

It speaks volumes about someone who doesn't have any concern for a parent worried about their offspring.

And she's just a snake doing snake things. It's not her fault that the perfect spot she found to shelter her offspring happened to be in some recreation equipment.
 

frimble3

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Exactly! A nice, snake-shaped spot - the kids could stretch out if they wanted, instead of being all smooshed together. Insulated, held the body-heat nicely. Near water, good for skin-shedding.
And then she finds out why it's vacant: violent, screaming neighbours!
 
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AZ_Dawn

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Maybe I'm reading this wrong, or missing something, but the quoted sentence sounds very much like 'snake as concerned parent'.
And why am I feeling bad for a poisonous reptile, in parental distress?

Come to think of it, that is a bit touching. And that's coming from someone who thinks snakes are creepy.

Fortunately for all involved, it didn't turn into a don't-mess-with-mama-snake situation.
 

hester

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Frimble, that post about "violent, screaming neighbors" made me LOL.

And yeah, I thought it was sweet that momma was concerned for her snakelets!
 

Lyv

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I'm fine with snakes as long as I know they're not poisonous (little boy next door tried to terrify me with his pet snake and I crushed him by calmly taking it from him and cooing to it. And it was a literal snake, and we were 9 or 10).

If I can contribute one possibly helpful thing to this thread, it is this: If you are ever bitten by a snake and someone kills the snake, the part you need to bring to the ER, if you can, is the head. Any part is better than no part, but if you can, bring the head. Why, yes, I did once work in an emergency department.
 

AZ_Dawn

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If I can contribute one possibly helpful thing to this thread, it is this: If you are ever bitten by a snake and someone kills the snake, the part you need to bring to the ER, if you can, is the head. Any part is better than no part, but if you can, bring the head.

Just be careful when you collect that head, because the darn thing can bite you after death.

Nat Geo said:
...snakes—like many other reptiles—retain their reflexes even hours after death. The bite reflex is extremely strong in venomous snakes, because their instinct is to deliver one extremely quick bite, move away, and wait for their venom to work. Unfortunately for the Texan, this bite reflex can be triggered hours after the snake dies.
 

LittlePinto

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I was once pulling weeds in my arena, and a snake crawled out from under the mounting block when I shifted it. There was no cover out there, so the snake dove for the safest spot it could see...right under my boot. I took a step away, and the snake followed. I walked it that way across the arena to a pile of rocks, but the snake refused to move when I stopped. He was perfectly happy with his head under my foot and his tail sticking out. I gave him a little nudge. He got the hint.

He was just a cute little ribbon snake.

One of my kittens caught another one in the yard a few years later. She was pawing at it, very curious, and he was striking at her. His mouth was so small he couldn't get a good bite. She was entirely perplexed by the whole thing. I scooped him up with a shovel and moved him to safety.

I don't see many venomous snakes though. They don't get the same courtesy, although I'd feel quite badly about evicting a mama snake with her little ones. They really are just trying to live.
 

MaryMumsy

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I once caught a flying snake in mid-air. I was in high school, overseas. One of the boys brought his two pet snakes to geography class. Both were innocuous. He and I and another girl had one of the snakes out in the hallway. She was holding it, improperly. It bit her in that fleshy flap between the thumb and forefinger. She screamed, flung her arm, and the snake went flying. I grabbed it right behind the head, and that was that. But there was a huge kerfuffle. She and he and the snakes all had to go the base hospital to make sure they truly were not poisonous, and I think she might have gotten a tetanus shot.

Good times.

MM
 

Brightdreamer

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Sigh... four days of this thread, and no MST3K Eegah! callback of "Watch out for snakes!"...

Culture is dead. ;)

As for snakes around here, when my sister and I were kids, we and a friend used to catch-and-release them in the back yard. Don't see nearly as many as we used to, but I'm glad when I do see them; they're garter snakes and they eat the slugs. Plus they only ever bit any of us once, when our friend, for unknown reasons, dropped a snake down his pants.
 

Tazlima

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Dibs on "Danger Noodles" as a band name.
 

Roxxsmom

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Excellent. I was feeling sorry for the snakes.

Me too.

Rattlesnakes get a bum rap. They play a vital role in keeping rodent populations in check, and most of the time they simply mind their own business. When they wander into human areas (which are expanding exponentially into their range), they are nearly always killed with impunity. Sometimes people even go out and hunt them actively, a practice that is actively selecting for snakes that don't give a warning rattle.

There are safe and nonviolent ways to remove them. I used to work with a snake biologist who had a business on the side where he removed snakes from people's property and re-released them into more appropriate places in the wild. He brought a rattler by the lab one time (securely stowed in a food grade bucket) that had been peacefully attempting to hibernate under a woman's bed.

I've had a pet snake (a gopher snake, not a rattler) for the past 25 years that this guy rescued from the book stacks in the University of Colorado library. She wasn't the local subspecies of gopher snake, so he offered it to one of us grad students to keep as a pet. Gopher snakes are frequently misidentified and killed by people who think they are rattlesnakes as well.
 
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Kitkitdizzi

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Sometimes people even go out and hunt them actively, a practice that is actively selecting for snakes that don't give a warning rattle.
I was just discussing this with my coworkers. I've worked in the Sierra Nevada for 4 years and encountered dozens of rattlesnakes and don't recall a single one rattling. There were six alone last week and none rattled. One seemed a little too interested in what I was doing and made me a little nervous. Another was dozing by the side of the trail to the ranger station and couldn't care less. I wonder if anyone has been doing research on that. I should go look it up.
 

Ketzel

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I remember one of the late night comics doing a bit about a news report that rattlesnakes were evolving into "non-rattling rattlesnakes or, as the comic put it "snakes."
 
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