Here in the Central Texas Gulf Coast on the Lavaca-Matagorda Bay system there's a lot of rattlers, mostly Western Diamondbacks. Actually, the Eastern is more venomous and gets about a foot longer on the maximum end, but the Western is more aggressive or so they say and more prone to make multiple strikes. They also have
a lot of venom especially when coming out of hibernation when they havent eaten in a few months.
A guy that worked on the same shift with me but in another unit in the plant I worked in came to work one morning and called me and we talked about ten minutes. We hung up and got ready for our day and then I called him back about an hour later, but they told me he had an emergency and had to go home. I found out what happened that afternoon, His wife was getting the kids on the school bus and she stepped out the front door. A 4 foot Diamonback bit her on the back of the calf. A neighbor took her to the hospital in Victoria, about 20 miles away. He was called and met them at the Hospital. They were testing her to see if she was allergic to the antivenom. They give 4 test. Well the doc came out about half way through and told him he'd given her two test but her BP was dropping and they were loosing her and that he needed his permission to go ahead and give her the antivenom right then. So he did and they gave it to her. He said almost immediately she started improving. She survived but her leg got huge and black for about a week. Luckily she improved and went home in a few days.
That and a couple other incidents around here made me a believer. When I hear people play down the danger of venomous snakes I think they are clueless. Venomous snakes are not to be fooled with. I take every precaution when I'm out and about. Along these bays and out on these prairies rattlers abound. Back when I was in high school we had a savy game warden that told me this county, Calhoun, had the second highest population of rattlers in the whole state of Texas. I believed him because I had seen many when I was a kid living out on the prairie about a half mile from the bay. They may not be very aggressive but if you step on one or even get too close there's a good chance you will be bitten and if you're far from your transportation and far from town you may very well be in the middle of a situation.
