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Old January 14, 2013, 08:39 PM   #26
hogdogs
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No one has four foot long arms... and his are not out stretched... Snake is no more than 20-22 inches closer... With a snake that big... (body shape and number of diamonds (I counted 33-35+ depending on how much definition you want to look at) is a good reference point) you would be strained to hold it on a stick (stick must be strong too) with outstretched arms...

And then you have 13-14 rattles and look at how small they are compared to even the smallest end of body...

Yes that is all of 7 feet...

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Old January 14, 2013, 09:03 PM   #27
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That is one BIG rattlesnake! You can tell by its body shape that it is a bruiser.
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Old January 14, 2013, 09:41 PM   #28
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Quote:
No one has four foot long arms... and his are not out stretched... Snake is no more than 20-22 inches closer... With a snake that big... (body shape and number of diamonds (I counted 33-35+ depending on how much definition you want to look at) is a good reference point) you would be strained to hold it on a stick (stick must be strong too) with outstretched arms...

And then you have 13-14 rattles and look at how small they are compared to even the smallest end of body...

Yes that is all of 7 feet...

No one has 4 foot arms. That is true, but the comment was in reference to your original posting where the guy is holding the snake closer to the camera via a stick or section of log of some length via his partially outstretched arms. He is definitely forcing perspective. So now we have gone from 8.5' to 7' a significant reduction of about 18% and putting it well under a record length.

Nobody doubts its a big snake, but it isn't the snake that was claimed.
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Old January 14, 2013, 09:51 PM   #29
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I am saying MINIMUM of a 7' But not having layed my stingy tape measure alongside... I won't go along with the 8.5'...

Someone did, in fact, use the claim of holding it 4 feet closer to the camera...

Anyone else here surprised by their strength when trying to catch one alive???

I learned even a 2-3 footer is surprisingly powerful... Learned that when my stick broke as I tried to keep one pinned down to grab it with my hand... Glad I learned that as an early teen when I was MUCH quicker to react than now... This guy/gal might almost dislocate your knee if it struck hard...

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Old January 14, 2013, 11:38 PM   #30
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I've eatten rattler in the mountains.
Were it not for the fish-like rib bones, I'd prefer it to chicken....... though I do not know of any free for the taking free range chicken .
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Old January 15, 2013, 08:04 AM   #31
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Same here... I don't like to pick thru my food for bits of meat!!!

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Old January 15, 2013, 12:33 PM   #32
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Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if that snake is at least 3 feet closer to the camera than the guy.

I'd estimate that his right hand is at least 18 inches in front of him. That stick is hard to estimate but I don't think 18 inches is unreasonable, at all. I wouldn't be surprised if it's 2 feet.

I'm estimating that the end of the stick is about the width of a man's hand, 3 1/2-4 inches wide. It measures 1/2" on my screen. The snakes measures about 11 inches on my screen. That would make the snake 22 times 3 1/2-4", max of 48 inches.

The average width of an adult human head is 6 inches. Even completely ignoring the perspective issue, that stick is no wider than the man's head, 6 inches or so. Considering that the tip of the stick is AT LEAST 2 or 3 feet closer to the camera, which is very likely at least 1/2 the total distance between the man and the camera and probably more like 3/4, a reasonable estimate for it's width is again 3-4 inches, making the snake still around 4 feet max.
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Old January 15, 2013, 12:36 PM   #33
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I found them!

These are from a rattlesnake hunting newspaper back in the 80's. Just wondered what you thought the size of some of these might be...





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Old January 15, 2013, 01:07 PM   #34
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Stick is against his chest. I challenge anyone to show me a diamond back four feet long with thirteen rattles and them be that narrow compared to the tail. Obviously no hands on experience.

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Old January 15, 2013, 01:21 PM   #35
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My wife encountered a monster rattler in her garden years ago. Called me on the cell phone, was working that day with a guy from Finland. Much hilarity ensued.
That was till I got home and saw just how darn big the snake was! 6.5 feet. 14 buttons on the rattle.
I still have the rattle. My friend in Moreno Valley CA bought a piece of property that was loaded with big rattlesnakes, he killed em off to protect his dogs.

Then his property was totally overrun with packrats and pocket gophers. Don't mess with ma nature.

S. Cal has some big rattlesnakes.
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Old January 15, 2013, 01:22 PM   #36
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Wow, those are some large snakes - all of them. I know a guy that spent three days in the hospital and almost lost his foot from being dumb enough to try to chase a pygmy rattler off a trail with his toe. Unfortunately his toe was clad in a running shoe. Lil pygmy had enough tooth for that, and he was maybe a foot long.

I get the creeps everytime I need to go into the crawlspace below the house. At least those monsters would be big enough I might see them before they become annoyed.
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Old January 15, 2013, 01:49 PM   #37
Brian Pfleuger
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Nope, no hands on experience with snakes, but if that snake is 8 feet long, that guy's head is 12 inches wide.

I have no doubt that it's a big snake, but every measurement I take indicates that it's a lot less than 8 feet. I might get 4 feet, 5, 6 feet. No where near 8 1/2.

The perspective is radically wrong. It's painfully obvious that he's holding it well out in front of him. It might be 18, 20, 24 inches, but it's certainly not held close to his body.

I don't know, too many variables.

I do know one thing, if I'm making extraordinary claims about the size of something, my pictures would include a tape measure and theirs should too.
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Old January 15, 2013, 02:06 PM   #38
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His arms are bent so not fully extended. Now look at the one my son is holding. Blow it up and look at the rattle and tail. I have handled over 150 that were three or more feet. With several dozen four or more.

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Old January 15, 2013, 03:40 PM   #39
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Have never seen a 4 or even 5 footer with 13 buttons. Handled one years ago just over 6' that had 12 buttons. My guess is this snake is not 8 1/2' and do agree that the snake is made to look bigger in the pics., but I have no problem at all guessing this snake to be in the 6 1/2 - 7' range.

Would love to see the fangs on this specimen.

Too, a bit off the DB subject but many don't believe the length's nor the aggressiveness of cottonmouth's either...

...until they spend some time around them.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT have a degree in Herpetology nor photography BUT have enough experience in both fields to be dangerous....to myself.
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Old January 15, 2013, 03:57 PM   #40
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I do know one thing, if I'm making extraordinary claims about the size of something, my pictures would include a tape measure and theirs should too.
+1
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Old January 15, 2013, 07:42 PM   #41
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How long do you estimate these snakes to be? I try to figure a foot and go down them and find them pretty long. Not talking about the original pic. The first guy is a BIG guy. The second one they are not outstretching their arms.





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Old January 15, 2013, 11:31 PM   #42
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A better question is to ask what species they are specificall. Additionally, who caught them and where and what are the circumstances of the event?
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Old January 16, 2013, 06:01 AM   #43
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Ok, I've studied the picture. There is some forced perspective going on but don't let detract from the fact that that's a big (expletive) snake.
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Old January 16, 2013, 07:05 AM   #44
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The guy in the white t-shirt is a pro handler and may have been the owner of the place in the shirt... Snake a Tarium Panama City beach Fl...

I can get a "circa" of the place and may even get his name too since the fishing forums I use are up here including PCB...

http://thefiringline.com/forums/show...ght=largemouth

In this thread by rickyrick from a while back, I show a big ol' bass... But as you see i tried to include a fair est. of length with a tape... I also mention trying to create a pic with "false perspective" but was too wore out from hurriedly haulin' her up from the pond for as pic so I could her released...

If the guy with the big snake I posted in the OP was able he may have held the snake out fully but when they are that big, they are VERY much heavier than they look... The stick is very likely tucked under his left armpit and may not have even been able to hold it where he is with out the additional leverage support...

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Old January 16, 2013, 11:57 AM   #45
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Yeah, so the Snake-a-torium became Zoo World in the 90s and they apparently had a lot of varieties of snakes, now with over 250 animals.
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Old January 16, 2013, 12:00 PM   #46
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Thanks DNS... Saved me some leg (finger0 work...

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Old January 16, 2013, 05:06 PM   #47
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Ok I was trying to figure out how he was holding the snake on the stick. Tucked under the armpit makes sense to me now.
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Old January 16, 2013, 05:19 PM   #48
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hogdogs, without a name, handn't a clue what to look for and didn't think the words on the shirt were necessarily a key clue, LOL. So you provided the key.
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Old January 16, 2013, 06:18 PM   #49
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IF the snake in the pics. hogdogs posted was 8 1/2' long, its weight would most likely be between 12-15lbs. Seeing that an 8 footer has an average weight of about 10lbs.

Given those weights, it would not be hard at all to hold a smaller snake out away from your body to make it look bigger while taking pics..

A good story to Google is one about a DB caught in FLA. that was reported to be 15' long and weighed 140lb. A few articles even reported the snake to weight 170lbs. Pics. show a cop(I think) holding the snake.

This story, IFAIK, was debunked and not only was the length grossly exaggerated but the laughable reported weight of 140lbs or 170lbs(depending on which story you read) was found to not be possible in a DB even if a freak DB was to ever be caught that was 15' long.

But, the story(fantasy) sure did sell a lot of newspapers.

Last edited by shortwave; January 16, 2013 at 06:33 PM.
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Old January 16, 2013, 10:10 PM   #50
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IF the snake in the pics. hogdogs posted was 8 1/2' long, its weight would most likely be between 12-15lbs. Seeing that an 8 footer has an average weight of about 10lbs.
Good observation. See also...http://joomla.wildlife.org/documents...-and-Means.pdf


Quote:
A good story to Google is one about a DB caught in FLA. that was reported to be 15' long and weighed 140lb. A few articles even reported the snake to weight 170lbs. Pics. show a cop(I think) holding the snake.
I provided the links above.
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