15 footer ????, check out THIS Rattler!!

[flyster]

[i

This is why you shouldn't go looking for the golf balls hit

'Out of Bounds' in Arizona !!!

THIS IS NOT A PYTHON!

This is a 15 foot Western Diamondback
rattlesnake - the largest ever caught on record,

This snake was found Near the St. Augustine
outlet, in a new KB homes subdivision just south of
Mesa Az.

A little research revealed the following:

One bite from a snake of this sizewould contain enough venom to
kill over 40 full grown men.

The head of this snake alone is larger than the hand of a
normal sized man.

A bite from those fangs would be comparable to being stabbed
by two curved, 1/4 inch diameter screwdrivers.

The knife being used to draw out the fangs for the bottom
picture has a blade around 6 inche long.
This snake is estimated to have weighed over 170 pounds.
(How much do you weigh?)

Notice the girth of this snake as compared to the cop's
leg in the first picture (and he is not a small man).
A snake of this size could easily swallow a 2 year-old
child and dogs, pigs, etc).

A snake this size has an approximately 5 1/2 foot
accurate striking distance.
(The distance for an average size rattlesnake
is about 2 feet . )

This snake has probably been alive since George Bush Sr.
was President.

Now just ask yourself these questions:
What has this snake been feeding on and
where are its offspring?

[Dry Fly Rie]

H...O...L...Y C...R...A...P!!!!!!

It scares the pooh out of me, but I can't stop looking at it.

[dray]

That is just crazy. I guess he doesn't miss many meals.

[darrin terry]

1st and foremost…this has been going around the net for a while and is false.

See this:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/15ftrattler.asp

[tyflier]

I don't buy it for a second. I've seen 10 or more similar claims floating throughout the interwebs over the last 10-12 years, and none of them prove true.

IF there was a 15' rattlesnake in North America, it would be a complete genetic anomoly far more rare than gigantism is in humans. For comparison, a 15' atrox with gigantism of some form, would equate to an 18' tall man with gigantism. 15' is more than 3-times the largest average size of the species. A typical wild atrox is around 3-4' in length.

With thousands of Crotalus atrox being bred in captivity every year, and the HUGE number of genetic traits already discovered in the species, someone would have found something in a captive breeding program, not a neighborhood, and had it reported and tested long before now...

CHECK THIS OUT!! Now THAT, is some incredibly significant news for snake lovers. I first heard about parthenogenic births in captive snakes about 5 years ago, with a report of a captive born and raised, solitary female Western Diamondback producing a healthy litter of pups without ever having been introduced to a male...2 years in a row...

Now TAHT is very interesting, indeed...in my opinion, at least...

[briansII]

1st and foremost…this has been going around the net for a while and is false.

See this:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/15ftrattler.asp

Nice catch Darrin. When I read the title, I was going to snopes myself. Still, that's a big rattle snake in the pictures.

briansII

[darrin terry]

Gotta love how people are fooled by pics and description. It's like holding the fish out in front of you so it looks bigger. I get emails from a certain friend all the time and am checking the stories out on snopes. They are usually false stories.

[Bernard]

True or false, this is still one of my favorite threads

[WanderingBlues]

I was calling BS as soon as I saw it. Still, it's fun to get people thinking!

[fflutterffly]

How about this:
Contact ST. JOHNS COUNTY
Contact Car #714
Find out if this is true.

[teejay]

Seems like I remember something from biology class about how snakes in a desert enviroment have a physiological advantage with a smaller size. I'm not conviced with this claim, but then again, my name is Thomas.

[darrin terry]

Seems like I remember something from biology class about how snakes in a desert enviroment have a physiological advantage with a smaller size. I'm not conviced with this claim, but then again, my name is Thomas.

Actually, that is true. Deer and wolves of the same species are generally a good bit smaller in a hot, dry ecosystem than their cousins in colder, wetter systems. I don't know whether or not that would apply to all types of animals though.