# ever been snake bitten on a ride?



## beer weasel (Jul 20, 2006)

I was riding my local trail tonight and I come flying around a corner and there is a big, fatty snake stretched across the trail. There was no way to go around him and no time to slow down, so I went over him. He didn't like that. I heard him hiss as I rode away. Scared the HELL out of me. I have seen snakes off the trail many times, but never ran over one before. Just got me thinking that it could have been much worse...Anybody been bit?


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## Mr.Breeze (Jul 30, 2006)

snakes on a trail


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## piotrek91 (Dec 2, 2004)

Mr.Breeze said:


> snakes on a trail


sounds like a good name for a movie...

No, I've never been beitten, but have seen quite a few rattlers on the trails, and ran over a gardner snake once on a bike path.

My closest encounter with a snake was when i stopped to rest on a climb, put my feet down, and about a foot away heard rattling... not a fun experience.

You should learn how to bunnyhop, so that you can hop over snakes. It's a little safer than running them over.


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## Eric Hoefer (Jan 19, 2004)

My closest encounter with a snake was earlier this season when we were exiting the trail at a school and my buddy found half of a gardner snake (dead of course) that fell victim to the lawn mower and threw it at me.


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## Ricko (Jan 14, 2004)

No snakes but I came flying around a turn and had to emergency bunnyhop a raccoon once....he didn't like it either:madmax:


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## dfioc (Jul 24, 2006)

No snakes but I've had to dodge a few squirrels and rabbits that just sit there in the middle of the trail and don't move even though you're coming at them at 25+ mph.

I've had bees fly in my helmet too. That's enough to make you run off the trail into a ditch...


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## rockcrusher (Aug 28, 2003)

I would think that your chances of being bitten while riding is very slim. Snakes do not hear but go by vibration, sight and smell. Since you are moving fast you will sneak up on them and they will more than likely not be ready to bite. The bad thing is that if you do startle them and keep going you are leaving an irritated and very alert snake in a defensive mode on the trail for the next rider. 

The best thing to do is get off your bike after the snake and wait around for awhile until the snake has cleared the trail.

I have stopped with my front tire directly on an AZ rattler before and all it wanted to do was get away as fast as possible. The only experience I have ever had with an aggressive rattler has been when I have come upon one that is sunning after eating. They are very aggressive but not fast when they are like that.


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## Roland (Jan 15, 2004)

*Yup, non-poisonous tho*

I was cruising down hill on a gasline right of way. Sucker got me right in the shin a few times, it hurt like hell. I thought, at the time, I'd run over a wasp or hornet nest and kept riding to the crest of the next small hill. I looked down and saw a couple dozen blood dots in these little u-shaped formations all over my shin and knew right away what had happened. Must have gotten kicked up into the cranks somehow.
I went to the ER just to be on the safe side, they treated me like I was some kind of idiot. 
The doc was like "a snake did this?, Yeah sure, OK buddy, whatever". So they rubbed it down with betadyne and sent me home 50 bucks lighter. 
The next day my whole leg from the knee down was swollen and red where the bites were.
I called my regular doc and got some antibiotics which took care of everything.
Now when I ride through tall grass I take it slow and look at what I'm running over.


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## TNC (Jan 21, 2004)

Our local trail in West Texas has rattlesnakes out the wazoo. We have cactus, mesquite trees, mice and rats...the perfect rattler habitat. We even have a sign warning riders about rattlers. They are all over the place...even the parking lot. That said, no one has ever been bitten. We've run over them and even walked/ridden right by them. Personally I've run over at least two this year and have seen about 3 more. I think TV and movies makes way too much out of their capabilities and their nature. Don't stop and pet them, but don't make too much out of seeing one.


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## Rover Nick (Jul 13, 2006)

My dad did that a while ago, but never gotten bitten. 

But one time in the parking lot, a hawk swooped down and grabbed a snake and flew away with but. But the snake must have been fighting cuz the hawk dropped it from aways up in the lot. Lots of people were freaking cuz now there is snakes falling from the sky


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## walrus (Feb 13, 2004)

I was about to open and go through a gate in Briones Park, when I saw two rattlesnakes mating right next to it. They were coiled together standing up about two feet. I watched them for a while then climed over the fence farther away from them.


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## badjenny (Mar 13, 2006)

Mr.Breeze said:


> snakes on a trail


There's motherf$%&in' snakes on that mother$%&in' trail...


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## RTTR (Aug 8, 2006)

I almost ran over snakes before, but the biggest scare for me EVER, has been a deer running in front of me across a trail about 2-3 feet away, if I was going any faster, BAM!

I had to get a change of shorts after that.


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## onbelaydave (May 10, 2006)

*Near miss this spring by a rattler*

Startled one, and had it buzz/strike, just miss my ankle by an inch :eekster:

I was already on a decent climb, so the extra adrenaline from the near miss made me ditch the bike in about 30 yds to get my heartrate back to "normal". I had to keep checking for a puncture as the "rush" subsided just to make sure it did miss !!


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## Loki (Oct 15, 2004)

*Yup*

It was on a long climb in a rocky shaded area. Right on my shin. Fortunately for me it was a dry bite, so no real damage done except two holes in my leg.


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## man w/ one hand (Dec 29, 2003)

Saw a rattler last Sun. while ridin' in Wilsons Creek. Closest I've got to one. Wanna keep it that way too.


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## sonyisdope (Jul 24, 2004)

No snakes, but earlier this week a moth flew in my helmet at night. It was a really big moth, and it was going crazy! Man that was some scary stuff. I'm pretty sure it was a venomous moth, but it didn't bite me. I'm ok though. Thanks for asking.


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## Pugdawg1 (Aug 28, 2005)

I've pissed off more than a few. There's a dirt road I like to ride when I want a nice easy putt putt ride on the mtn bike, and it runs along a river and some irrigated fields, so there are tons of snakes out there. When I've come across the bullsnakes I shoo them off.. they don't do any harm, aren't poisonous. I did go zipping by a rattlesnake this summer, whoa was he... angry.  Never been bit, hope my luck continues.


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## unit (Nov 24, 2005)

*Yeah.*

But I was not really riding at the time...I stopped when I found a nice black rat snake, picked it up and it bit my wrist. Did not hurt, but it was clear the snake was not interrested in being an exhibit.

I study reptiles, and I am quite familiar with most. If I find one I can not identify from a distance, I leave it alone.

The guy who said wait and let the snake clear the trail has a great idea.

The chances of a snake actually biting you while you are riding (around here at least) are quite slim. Most snakes bite for one of two reasons....food, or fear. Most cyclists are far too large for a snake to consider as a meal....that leaves fear, and if you are riding at any speed at all, the snake has little time to fear you, and even less inclination to bite a fleeing threat. Now, if you frequently ride in areas where very large snakes exist or VERY aggressive snakes call home (Austrailia comes to mind) disregard my comments.

here is a pic of a little guy I found a couple weeks ago.


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## onegymrat (May 31, 2006)

Dude, show us your bike!


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## unit (Nov 24, 2005)

*was that directed at me?*



onegymrat said:


> Dude, show us your bike!


If so, there are several pictures available on my blog (a link is included in my sig. below).


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## ironbike1 (Jun 9, 2006)

I use to fish at a resevoir in NY that was known for Timber Rattlers a long time ago, well they are very much alive there. I know it is not while biking but it is all the same when you put your tackle bag down about 1' from a 3' rattler & about 10' away from him was a bigger one sitting on a rock. Needless to say I dont fish there anymore.


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## 9.8m/s/s (Sep 26, 2005)

Rode 45 miles on a deserted road in the bottom of New Mexico (to Antelope Wells, on the Mexican border), and must have seen 200 rattlers sunning themselves. It was scary at first but repetition brings familiarity and boredom, so within a couple miles we started bunnyhopping them (swerving had gotten to be a pain). Later we decided to squirt them with water (from a distance) just to get them to rattle. Man, that sound hits you in the base of your spine. The adrenaline reflex that noise inspires is so primordal it's hard to describe. 

(For all you PETA types- one car would have picked off dozens of them, ruining a couple of their days wasn't that big a deal)


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## TNC (Jan 21, 2004)

Unit, is that a baby rattler or a bull snake? I have a hard time telling them apart until they get a little bigger and can see a button on the rattler's tail.


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## unit (Nov 24, 2005)

TNC said:


> Unit, is that a baby rattler or a bull snake? I have a hard time telling them apart until they get a little bigger and can see a button on the rattler's tail.


It is a western hognose snake. Looks a lot like the Massasaga Rattler though. Unfortunatly, one of the guys I was with, ran over this one, so it is in no condition to display its normal cobra-style antics, or the death throws that these typically do. These are really cool snakes....if you like snakes that is.


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## LoneStar (Jun 17, 2004)

No bites, but I have ran over too numerous to count. I have no idea what kind of snake they were. I usually just shout back if there is a person behind me and keep going. For some reason they were especially plentiful this year in Georgia. We found the skin of what looked like a six foot snake by our AC unit a month or so ago and my neighbor's dog was just bitten by a copperhead last week.

Needless to say my wife isn't much help in the yard these days!


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## mountaindewberry (Sep 7, 2005)

Saw umpteen over 6 years of riding in Tucson. Generally, you avoid them, they avoid you. However, STAY AWAY FROM THE BABIES!!! I can't believe no one has mentioned this. They will dump their whole load of venom, and can often times inflict a much more dangerous wound than adults. Anyway, we all carried snake bite kits. 

As a funny aside, my bro was riding ahead of me and we passed through a narrow part of the trail that dipped down to the point where the ground was at eye level. All of a sudden, a ball of fur jumped out of a bush and beat the **** out of my friend's head. I couldn't believe what I had seen. A rabbit, probably frightened by the floating head, had leapt up and boxed Jeff's helmet. I never saw the rabbit face to face, but I'm sure that both parties were wearing the same expression. After that wore off, we laughed uncontrollably.


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## mthedude (Jun 8, 2006)

I was reading this post yesterday and guess what I saw last night?

Yep, a snake. A babby bull snake was crawling sidewinder style across my driveway, I just swept him into the trees so my wife would get out of the van.


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## f. carnivore (Jul 20, 2006)

I saw this one crossing the road the other day.


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## JohnnyTooBad (Mar 24, 2004)

The one and only time I've ridden in CO, I was riding Red Rocks with a friend. I was cruising down a fast smooth portion of the trail and came around a corner at speed to see a snake taking up the entire trail about 5 feet in front of me. He was about 4 feet long. I bunny hopped it, went a little further and stopped to wait for my buddy who had been about 10 seconds behind me. After about 3-5 minutes, he finally shows up and says "Did you see that rattler all coiled up and hissing in the middle of the trail??" Uh... My bad. I had never even seen a rattler before. I expected them to be much more brown, but they are very green. We saw another while climbing about 10 minutes later, stopped, and my buddy (the invincible Army Special Forces dude) gets a stick and picks it up and moved it off the trail. I'd a been happy to wait, but he had to perform for the crowd of on-lookers


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## chad1433 (Apr 5, 2004)

Just ran over a small one two days ago...on the road. I was moving so fast, I didn't even have time to react. I'm not even certain that it affected him because when I looked back, he was still stretched out on the pavement...

3rd one this season. One was cut in half by a cyclist presumably and just about dead, the other was bigger sunnin' on the trail. I let him go on. I've seen about a dozen snakes, rattlers and others but no real incidents.


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## Mr_Whiskerz (Mar 25, 2006)

I too have ridden over snakes, but haven't been bitten, at least so far. In both cases, there were crossing the trail as I was riding. I didn't see them until I rode over them. I don't know if they were rattlers or copperheads, but they blend into southern singletrack pretty well.


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## venus1 (Aug 4, 2006)

I've run over lots of them but only been bitten once. The naturalist I was riding w/ stopped to check out a snake, picked it up & was showing it to me when it slowly but firmly bit my hand. He pulled it off. No big deal. He apologized for the snake, put it down & we continued through the woods. Yeah, I've eaten rattle snake -tastes like chicken.


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

TNC said:


> Unit, is that a baby rattler or a bull snake? I have a hard time telling them apart until they get a little bigger and can see a button on the rattler's tail.


You can tell it's not a rattler due to the shape of the head.


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## bike_freak (Dec 24, 2003)

I've been close... 

Just riding along a flat firetrail minding my own business when all of a sudden I look down to see that I'm riding right past a small eastern brown snake (This is Australia).. it whipped up at me but missed me as I was moving decently fast. That was scary... 

Another time was when i was riding a section of trail called (the graveyard).. nice singletrakc that is quite shaded. It was an extremely hot day.. 

All I saw was just some big ass thing next to my left foot moving very quickly.. fattest snake I have ever seen and it was brown (I think it was a BIG eastern brown snake). My friend came along about 5minutes later and asked if I had heard a dog yelp.. I just replied 'no.. that was my reaction to seeing a massive snake'.


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## walrus (Feb 13, 2004)

In the Spring and Fall when the snakes lie on the asphalt to warm up I chase them back into the grass so they don't get run over.


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

I hate snakes...they scare me......I fell right next to one and had to kick my bike over to block it from me


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## paingold (May 15, 2004)

Jayem said:


> You can tell it's not a rattler due to the shape of the head.


Looks like an Eastern Hognose. They're harmless.


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## pinguwin (Aug 20, 2004)

Here is a link to another thread from a few months ago.


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## Guyechka (Jul 19, 2005)

I found a western diamondback by the elementary school down the block from where I used to live. He was fairly large, maybe five feet. I thought it would be "good idea" to practice bunny hopping over him. I made one pass and got scared. He coiled and started to strike. That was the day I learned that western diamondbacks are the worst rattle snake to encounter. Simply put, they are mean. I've had cordial relationships with prairie rattlers before, and they were all rather friendly. Diamondbacks are the bully of the block.

Oh, and a few weeks ago, I was riding with my dad. Coming back to the parking lot, I passed a woman who warned me that there was a rattler in the middle of the trail at a certain junction. When I got there, I dismounted and began the search. Sure enough, there was a little rattler in the middle of the trail. Then my dad came zooming along, headed straight for the little feller. I told him to stop, but he kept coming. I put up my hand and yelled, "STOP NOW!!!". He got the picture as he rolled to within a couple feet of the snake and finally saw it.


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## LoneStar (Jun 17, 2004)

On the same subject, most folks that haven't seen them don't realize just how big in diameter a western diamondback can get. I used to work for a utility company in Texas and saw a number of them up close and some of the six footers were easily 4" in diameter. They weren't your typical skinny grass snake by any means!


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## tanker532 (Aug 13, 2006)

I was bitten by a King snake, but that was only cause I stopped to mess with it. I thought I was Steve Irwin. :madman:

I'm apoligze, I had no idea Steve Irwin was going to B killed hours after I posted this. We will miss him.


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## pinguwin (Aug 20, 2004)

Guyechka said:


> thought it would be "good idea" to practice bunny hopping over him... Simply put, they are mean.


Hmm....the 'mean' one in this encounter sounds like the bunny hopper 

'Guin


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## FlatFender (Aug 28, 2006)

LoneStar said:


> On the same subject, most folks that haven't seen them don't realize just how big in diameter a western diamondback can get. I used to work for a utility company in Texas and saw a number of them up close and some of the six footers were easily 4" in diameter. They weren't your typical skinny grass snake by any means!


You are correct, I saw lots of these snakes while backpacking the Appalachian trail and some of them are HUGE! Some as big around as my upper arm. They are MEAN.

Ive ran a Massassauga over one time, he was pretty big, I stopped, and looked back, but I dont think he cared too much.


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