the sidewinder rattlesnake

THE SIDEWINDER RATTLESNAKE

phys.org

the sidewinder rattlesnake always fascinated me 
it could slither across the desert at 18 mph
the average man can run about 5.9 mph
the average woman can run about 5 mph
the fastest human runs about 28 mph

you can do the math
im afraid the sidewinder rattlesnake would catch up to most of you if not all of you reading this blog

when i was in college i lived with my historian brother
he i must say was not fond of snakes
he especially was not fond of me catching rattlesnakes and bringing them home

my dad was deadly scared of snakes
any snakes
much less a fast slithering sidewinder rattlesnake
he was heart attack scared of them

once when i was in college i was home and captured some copperhead snakes and put them in a container under my dads back porch
he didnt sleep at all that night
i eventually let them go back in the woods where i caught them
he wanted me to sacrifice them

i would get extra credit for my zoology classes if i caught and brought in good specimens of rattlesnakes
so
i would go out just after the sun would go down way out in the desert along the highways where no one was driving
i could catch these rattlesnakes laying out on the highway since the pavement was still warm

once i caught a rattlesnake called a mojave green
if you read the article you wouldnt have gone with me that night to capture them
it has a neurotoxin venom that paralyses your respiratory nerves
there are stories of folks getting a minor bite on their hand or fingers 
thinking they were ok they would just go home
some were found dead having died from respiratory paralysis

luckily there is an antivenom for the mojave green venom 

if you ever saw the rattlesnake bite show on television a few years ago about the emergency room doctor who was a rattlesnake bite expert then you might have seen the show about the mojave green
where i went to college was in that area

well one night i brought home two mojave greens and they were put in a gallon jar with holes in the lid for ventilation
my historian brother no fan of snakes was not pleased
he didnt sleep a wink that night
if he had read that article on the mojave green he probably would still having trouble sleeping
ok
so i kept them just inside the front door in the living room

so
the next morning 
i took the snakes to the biology lab and received extra points for my specimens
they were in snake cages for a few years in the lab there
yes i got an a in both my zoology labs partly due to my snake catching abiltiy 

i only captured a sidewinder rattlesnake once off the highway pavement once dark night
i tried to chase down a few but never was able to catch up with them
see the mph each of us would be traveling above

here is a nice article explaining why they go sideways and why they can go so fast

then
here below is a nice video on the sidewinder rattlesnake
warning to those of you who are one of those deadly scared of snakes persons
dont watch this video 
you wont sleep at night for awhile

you can see the sidewinder slithering at 18 mph catch with the human trying to out run them

i was just kidding about the sidewinder running down the humans
they are actually very scared and skittish around humans

my advice 
dont try to capture them 
leave them alone
but
watch the video as it does explain how they move so fast
another warning the video shows how they capture their prey
click here for the link if video doesnt show on your feed

no this video didnt keep me up last night

the organicgreen doctor