So i Manage an insulation contracting company here in So Cal. San Diego area actually. We do a lot of existing home re-insulation, and a lot of attic clean outs where there is rat damage, and heavy soiled insulation materials.
Yesterday i had a two man crew working in a area called Spring Valley. While up in the attic preparing to remove the old insulation, one of the guys was over in a dark corner (like all corners of an attic are not dark) and he saw something there about 10 to 12" inches from him, and thought he would bag it before starting to pull out the material there, but when he reached for it, it move a bit. So he shined a light on it thinking it was a rat.
Yeah it was a Rat alright!!! Rat ...tlesnake! yes right up inside this families attic was a real live rattlesnake! As you can imagine he jumped back, and quickly exited the attic area, so he could check his shorts and see if they too needed a good cleaning!!
His partner then when back up and did the poor little snake some harm. Imagine just sitting there minding your own business waiting for a fuzzy little mouse to come along for a good hearty breakfast, and next thing you know there is a bunch of humans jumpin' all feisty wif ya!
Well so as not to be called a lying sack of ...... er .. stories they brought the little begger back to the shop to show off their great hunting skills.
The poor fella that discovered this little gem was still shaking from the encounter. I reminded him things turned out a little worse for the snake! Don't think that was much comfort.
Well as you can imagine to the home owner (with little kids) and the property management company we are just the snakizzle. They can't say enough about the guys as, in the words of the gentleman on the phone this morning that goes "Faaaaaar beyond the call of duty"!!
My crew wants to know does snake wrangling pay better than insulation work? Sadly i told them no, because now when the California Attic Snake Preservation Society, or the CASPaS calls i just have to give up there names for disciplinary action!
I have a few more jokes .... rattling around in my head!!
All kidding aside, he came very close to being bitten, good thing is was still cold up there, and the snake was kinda still sleepy.
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Sounds like some good thinking men used resolve to manage the threat.
Just be happy you don't live and work in places on this planet where the snake threat might be a Two-Stepper, which makes a Rattlesnake look rather tame by comparison...
Wow, in the attic. That's something. I'm in LA and I watched a local show a year or so ago about rattlers and how there's several subspecies of them around here and if somebody gets bitten it is really important to bring the snake in to the hospital if at all possible, or maybe some pics so they can identify it in order to administer the correct antivenin.
Even though these bites are usually not fatal they certainly can be serious like losing the part of your body that was bitten for example. The venom is very toxic, it kills the surrounding tissue which is what can cause your finger, toe or even somebody's entire hand or foot to have to be amputated in some cases.
Nothing to mess around with and I don't think I would have let any of my crew to go up there to kill the thing. Stop the job and call in some pros. For all you know there could have been more than one hiding up there.
They'd snuggle up into the lumber piles when I worked construction in Texas, which is why the hammer and 2X4 were common tools.
My first thought was always "don't move; where is it??", as I would usually hear the rattle before actually seeing it. Only once did I see one before hearing it. That one was crossing a trail we were hiking on, and he lived on. I wasn't going into the bushes after him, as it was about five foot long.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I once knew a singer down in San Antonio area, the fellow was an Elvis impersonator on the weekends and a Midas Muffler technician during the week, he was also a Native American.
That guy could run up on a rattler and reach out and grab it right behind the head very quickly,
Personally witnessed him doing that twice. The first time we were out doing a little fresh water fishing in a large cattlepond. About a year after that, he pulled the same stunt while we were small game hunting.
Both times, he practiced Catch and Release, simply holding the snake up for all to see and then walking much further away from where we were and letting the Rattlers go again.
Both were fairly good-sized 'uns, too.
Me, well that is something I wouldn't even think of trying.
I wouldn't try that either. I did once pin a copperhead to the ground (right behind the head) with the fork of a stick and then grab him though. I had taken a group of kids camping and it wandered into camp. I did lots of dumb things when I was in Texas; grabbin' poisonous snakes, riding out a hurricane on an island, first marriage .. some memories are better than others.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
When I was in the AF I went to the intel tech school at San Angelo Texas for close to a year. We joked there was nothing there except for miles and miles of miles and miles.
There were all kinds of desert critters all over the place from horned toads and lizards to tarantulas and snakes. Lots of snakes. Rattlers on land and moccosins in the streams and small lakes. This is one area where they have big rattlesnake hunts and you see gazillions of snake heads nailed to walls, fences, whatever.
When I first read Robb's post all I thought about was my friends attic that is very tight. It's really just a bit larger than a normal crawl space, not one of these big attics you can walk around in that you see in old homes out East. If I were crawling around up there on my hands and knees face first and ran into a rattler, there isn't anyplace to go except to back off slooowly. If Robbs guys had plenty of room to move and they could tell there wasn't any more hiding up there then sure I probably would have grabbed a hammer too.
After watching some of these shows with doctors in the ER, they just make me nervous.
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