This does not happen very often here in Arizona! What’s also amazing is the size of the individual flakes – bigger than silver dollars!
Don’t worry – forecast shows mid to high 70’s next week!
Tank gets bitten
Early Saturday morning October 27th, Linda let Tank and Bella out into the backyard as normal for their morning duties. There was no fuss or noise but Linda noticed that Tank had two blood spots on his nose when he came back into the house. She went outside and heard the snake and came and got me. Here we go again!
We actually have taken preventative measures and this is the first time a snake has gotten into the inner sanctum of our back yard. We have a mesh on the lower parts of the fence and deploy Snake Away pellets yearly. This has worked well, until now.
It was about 5:45am. I tend to lean towards a shotgun but Linda reminded me it WAS a bit early for that amount of noise and asked did I REALLY want to make that loud of a bang. She is smart. Shovel it is.
Here is the result:
Tank was a trooper, he didn’t make a fuss or really act differently but we still rushed him to the Emergency Vet Hospital so they could treat him. If you look at his nose you can see the rattler bit him at a 90 degree angle. You can also see the swelling starting in these pictures. Poor dude!
The question is always “was it a wet or a dry bite?”. Snakes usually won’t use their venom for a wet bite unless they can eat the pray. Obviously this snake was not going to eat Tank, but the blood work showed damaged red blood cells so there was some venom used.
They gave him antivenin (yes, thats spelled correctly, don’t ask me why but it is) and he stayed overnight for monitoring. We picked him up the next day. Bella was not the same without him around (she kept looking for him).
We learned later that Tank was the first of TEN snake bites that day. We believe its because its getting colder and the rattlers are looking for places to bed down for the winter.
I am sure there are those of you who are angry that I killed the snake. I bet I know who you are. Tough. There are plenty of them and they are not protected, its our land, our dog, our choice.
We decided to keep the skin and display it some way. Here is a look at how to skin a snake (there is more than one way).
Scorpions in January
The great thing about living in Arizona is that while most other areas of the country are complaining about the cold, snow and spending $500 a week on propane to heat the house for someone who really can’t even ever get warm, we don’t have those particular complaints.
But as they say “there must be balance in the Force”. I bet nobody in Boston killed a scorpion before breakfast this morning.
My wife found this little guy taking a nice nap on the floor in front of our door. I personally didn’t know scorpions were back sleepers.
I woke him gently with the bottom of my wife’s fuzzy lined pink Croc’s I just happened to be sporting and escorted him outside.
So we have 75 degrees while y’all have snow. But we have scorpions in January.
It’s a dry heat
People from Arizona are always saying “it’s a dry heat” because it actually is. Personally, I like it hot. It’s not “hot” until its over 110. Today its hot.
Just for giggles I used the laser temp gauge to test how how the cement on the patio is – its 132.2 degrees!
Drink lots of water and be safe out there Arizona.
They are actually cancelling flights out of Phoenix because its so hot!
According to American Airlines, the maximum operating temperature for each aircraft is based on manufacturer data:
• Airbus: 127 degrees
• Boeing: 126 degrees
• Bombardier CRJ regional aircraft: 118 degrees
Scorpions are a way of life…
We chose to live in the desert and therefore we choose to live with the consequences. One of those consequences are scorpions.
We get surprised once in a while like this morning – most of the time they are dead and other times they are only mostly dead.
We have been pretty lucky so far and we have the house sprayed monthly with some really good stuff (thank you Robert!)
It’s really not a big deal. I would suspect that most areas of the country have special issues they deal with based on where they live!