WEBVTT - Ep. 12: Snake Bit - The Original Fear 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:07.240 M how many times have you been bit by a 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:11.000 poisonous snake? I really didn't keep count. I don't know 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:18.720 why I'm guessing. On this episode of the Bear Grease Podcast, 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:24.079 we've gone absolutely wild. As we discuss the original human 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.640 fear serpents and their bikes. You'll meet a man who's 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.600 been bit so many times by venomous snakes he's lost count. 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:37.559 We'll have an enlightening conversation with the nationally recognized herpetologists 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.519 about what he calls America's rattlesnake and what to do 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.040 if you get bit, And we'll hear a story you 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.760 wouldn't believe unless you heard it from the person it 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.600 happened to, a story of tragic loss and overcoming fear. 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.320 You're not gonna want to miss this one. What do 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.280 you do if you get bit by a snake? The 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.040 first thing I'll do is tell you that you should 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.360 have planned to not get a fight and and I say, 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:17.880 that doesn't can't you can't tell me that? My name 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.200 is Clay Nukelem and this is the Bear Grease Podcast 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.720 where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search for insight 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.520 and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the story of 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:34.240 Americans who lived their lives close to the land presented 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:39.320 by f HF Gear, American made, purpose built hunting and 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.840 fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:54.160 places we explore. The serpent was the shrewdest of all 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:59.760 the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day, 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.640 he asked the woman, did God really say you must 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.160 not eat of the fruit from any of the trees 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.680 in the garden. The Lord God asked the woman, what 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:15.919 have you done? The serpent deceived me? She replied, that's 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.920 why I ate it. Then the Lord God said to 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.200 the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.680 more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.120 on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.120 you live, and I will cause hostility between you and 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:37.480 the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.680 will strike your head and you will strike his heel. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.919 This is from the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:56.640 chapter three. This ancient text is fascinating. It highlights the 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:02.280 long standing relationship between mankind in a very particular wild beast, 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.720 one that has become a defining feature of the human experience. 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.320 I believe this story has significant meaning. It holds within 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.119 it the foundations of a human world view, and it's 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:20.440 ripe with unbendable biological reality. Humans flip out when they 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:31.840 see a snake, well at least most of them. Well, 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.280 you know, I didn't really get into woods heavy till 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.280 I was like seven, and so I created a little 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.680 bucket list of things that I wanted to accomplish, you know, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.600 turkey hunter, deer hunter, bow hunter, and I wanted to 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.680 get involved with a big rattlesnake, you know, one way 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.520 or the other. I just I've heard so much about him, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.920 and this is my dad, Gary Nucolm in a lifetime 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.680 of searching for the mythical black panther inside joke from 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:00.600 episode one, He's kept his eyes on the ground looking 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:05.400 for acorns and big rattlesnakes. His fascination with nature and 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:10.680 curious spirit tutored me into a lifelong fascination with snakes 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:15.200 and acorns. He was ahead of his time by proclaiming 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:21.400 a don't kill snakes policy long before it was. So 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.840 I'm out in the National Forward actually wasn't, as it 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.760 was warehousing land driving around and I was on a 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:29.840 real straight road and I looked down the road. At 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:31.960 a time I thought a quarter of a mile. It 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.680 could have been two hundred yards. But I saw a 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.200 log across the road, and I was already anticipating going 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.920 over that log. I thought, man, I wish I could 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.039 get around that thing. Well, I got up there, and 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:47.440 it was a diamond back rattlesnake that somebody had killed 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.000 and then cut the rattlers off. So this was a 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.360 snake that I wanted to get involved with one way 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.320 or the other, probably at the town. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.960 And so you know, I'd love to have had the skin. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.160 I'll be honest with you. At that time, you know, 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.880 you didn't hear much about that kind of stuff. So 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.159 I drove up on it and kind of went around 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.360 it and pulled my jeep over and open the door 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.640 and looked at this sucker, and I mean cold chills 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.640 went up my back. I could not get that snake, man, 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.960 I mean I just had so you were gonna get 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.120 out and take it? I was gonna get it. Yeah, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.920 I was gonna take it. And and since the guy 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.960 had taken the head and rattlers, you know, I thought, well, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.839 I'll just take the hide. I couldn't touch that snake. 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:34.240 But but I mean it was a big one. I 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.599 mean it was huge. You know, it's hard to tell, 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.120 but i'd say at least five feet and maybe bigger 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.520 in a whole lot, bigger than the biggest timber rattler 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.160 I've ever seen, and I've seen one or two really 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.520 big timber rattlers. In fact, one of them was as 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:50.800 big as you'll ever see. Well, you told us that 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.640 story when we were kids, and I could have told 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.600 that story word for word, just the way you told it, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.960 and so that that impacted me. That put a value 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:07.279 system marker inside of my head that there's value on 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.920 a big rattlesnake. And then how you responded to it, 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.520 you know, just like it. The visual look at that 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:16.960 snake just scared you. Well, you know, uh, it's it's 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:21.560 almost biblical the impact it has on you. You just 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.800 wonder how how I can see a bear in it? 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.920 In it? You know, I respect it, but I don't 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:32.000 scream and holler and jump back. But I see a snake, 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:36.320 and I mean my first reaction is is automatic. It's 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:43.599 a verbal outcry and a movement to the rear. Let's 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.880 talk about getting bit by snakes in the next two interviews, 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.520 we're gonna hear from some snake bite victims. I'm always 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.839 very interested in the exact detail of every snake bite 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.440 that I hear about. You'll recognize this first voice when 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.040 you hear it, and you probably won't be surprised that 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.560 this guy has been bit by a poisonous snake. I'll 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.800 give you a hint of who it is. He's wearing overalls. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.120 Brent Reefs, Why does it not surprise me that you're 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.040 the only friend I know that has been bit by 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:29.840 a snake alongside having seen two legitimate mountain lions. Tell me, 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.320 tell me about what year did you get bit by snake? 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.400 We'll say I was nineteen years old, so it'd have 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.880 been about nineteen. Where you tell me this story? Where 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.119 are you at, what happened? And what kind of snake 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.240 was it? Give me the whole spield. Me and a 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.320 buddy of mine had been and we were going to 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.080 look at a boat, an old illuminate boat that we 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:53.040 were going to buy and get rich in the Duck Guide, 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.320 Business Guide and duck Hunters. It turned out good, it 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.760 did it? Actually did? Actually you were a successful duck guy. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.480 Carry on for about twenty six years. But I digress. 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:05.600 We had gone to look at this boat, and we 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.320 were going back and we were almost to the house. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.880 Out of nowhere, this big carpet head is crawling across 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.080 the middle of the gravel road. I said, stop, man, 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.680 that is a huge copper head. Let's catch him. He stops. 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.360 We get out and I go back to the back 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.720 of the truck. We run over him, you know, not 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.200 we straddle him, I should say, and stop. So and 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.120 when the truck goes over, he calls up in the 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.360 in the road, and so I'll go up there and 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.800 I put my foot. I even remember what I had on. 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.360 I don't a pair overalls, a T shirt and a 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:39.040 pair of high top converse. Yeah. I replaced the converse 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.480 with crocs because they're easy to tie. But I would 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.800 I put my foot on this on his head, you know, 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.520 and I get his head. He's just barely sticking out 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.240 from ut of the bottle of my foot, so I 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.080 can reach down and grab him and have control of 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.200 his head, and I don't get bit. Well, you know, 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.800 there's a gravel road, and I was standing on top 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:01.840 of a rock that was beside this snake's head. So 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.200 I really was exerting no pressure on this snake's head. 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.240 So when I stuck my hand down there in my 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.280 left hand for some reason, he turned around and bit me. 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.960 And it was like, how did that happen? And I 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.320 stepped back and I told my buddy Wayne. I said, Wayne, 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.960 he just bait me. He said no, he didn't, and 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.640 I showed it to him and a little blood started 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.320 to come out. He said, oh, my god, you're gonna die. 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.880 Brent went to the hospital, received two vials of anti venom, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.560 and stayed overnight, but was no worse for the wear. 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:41.720 He just learned a good lesson. Snake bites in the 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.960 United States aren't all that common, at least if you 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:49.280 believe statistics. Around five thousand people get bit each year, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.840 and relatively few die from snake bites in this country, 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:58.040 but not so in other places. Worldwide, they're over five 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:02.600 hundred venomous snakes, and to be accurate, you should say venomous, 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:07.439 not poisonous. Estimates are hard to calculate, but it's believed 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.400 that as many as a hundred thousand people die each 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.319 year from snakes, many of them in Africa and India. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.680 They have some ridiculously deadly snakes in these places much 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:22.840 more dangerous than America's snakes. The Russell's Viper is a 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.080 bad boy that lives in India and Asia, and the 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.680 puff Adder and black Mamba are the culprits in Africa. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.160 Everybody has a different answer for what is the most 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.160 poisonous snake in the world. Some say it's the Eastern 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.680 brown snake in Australia, some say the Belcher Sea snake 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.679 living around the Indian Ocean. Others say the inland taipe 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:50.679 han in Australia. It's almost impossible to nail down. However, 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.560 the most venomous aren't the ones causing the most deaths. 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.720 It's a complex equation based on numbers of humans and 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.720 how their lives over lap with snake habitat, combined with 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:07.319 access to modern ana venoms, and therein lies the real issue. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:12.520 Access to ana venom in many places is a real problem. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:20.200 You should research this. You're about to meet a very 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.120 unique human who resides on the outskirts of human tolerance 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:29.400 of the original fear. Mr. Fred Lally is an unusually 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:33.320 vibrant and energetic man for his age. He looks fast 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.000 and wired. He's a swift and accurate judge of character. 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.640 After decades of living on the road, you'll have a 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.040 pretty good beat on you after making eye contact and 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.360 exchanging a few words. I found this out when I 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.400 pulled off the road, walked through his yard and introduced 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.800 myself to him. He was digging worms for a fishing trip. 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.920 For the last fifty years, Mr Fred has made a 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:03.120 living traveling around to America a fairs, carnivals, and festivals 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:08.240 with an exhibit called Lally's Oddities. He's got a trailer 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:13.720 full of head scratching and even disturbing biological rarities that 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.520 at one time included two headed rattlesnakes and turtles, and 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.000 eight legged pig and the skeleton of a two headed monkey. 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.440 But he specializes in venomous snakes. But first I'd like 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.199 to make a disclaimer. I'm extending some trust to you 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.400 all and a favor by letting Mr Fred tell just 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.280 a small part of his incredible life story. We talked 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.480 for a couple of hours. The casual nature in which 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:45.040 he handles getting bit by venomous snakes isn't normal, nor 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.480 is it advised to take medical advice from this section. 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.520 Later we'll swing the pendulum back the other direction. I 0:12:53.679 --> 0:13:02.440 want you to meet my friend, Mr Fred. Mr Fred, 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.720 tell me about tell me about your relationship with snakes. 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.480 It really started, I guess when I was ten years old. 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.640 My daddy died and I was a lot freer than 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.080 to do what I wanted. That means even venomous snakes. Well, 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:19.640 the pigmy right where wasn't numerous? Copperheads were fairly numerous 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.920 back and this is in the early forties. Well, actually 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.480 this was after my dad. How old are you, Mr Fred? 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.960 Eight years old? And you where did you grow up 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:35.400 in Louisiana as specifically around Puncha Toola, Hammond, which is 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.400 about fifty miles north of New Orleans. So you started 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.480 catching snakes and you just liked snakes, just liked them. 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:46.040 And now you got bit when you were young though, yeah, 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.720 I think it was thirteen. Tell me what happened. Well, 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.440 it was a pigmy righter. I shot a squirrel and 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.400 I was butchering it down, force feeding the little pigment ratler. 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.000 I didn't have anything that was that he would eat, 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.920 but I do that a lot some achs. You wouldn't 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:02.400 have to force speed him a couple of times and 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.400 they realized what you put in their mouth is food, 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.920 they'd just go and eat it. Now, the pigmy rattlesnakes 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:13.160 like a lot of rattlesnakes. They're an ornerary type. Their broncos. 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.640 The pigmy rattlers are yeah, now, the pigmy right. I 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.600 never had any attempt, even as a youngster, to try 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.720 and calm them down to where you could just freehandle them. 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.520 And I read an article in a True magazine. The 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.800 True magazine was nineteen forty seven, and it was about 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:38.080 Grace Olive Wiley, the California snake Lady. Oh my god, 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.320 that woman didn't matter what it was, and she called 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:46.160 it teams. I'd use her techniques after I read that. 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.880 I was probably eleven or twelve when you read that, 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.920 when this pigmy rattler bitch, he bit you on the hand, yeah, 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.960 I turned my head to get the second leg, the leg, yeah, 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:00.880 and he had already sw at the first one. I 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.560 put it in his mouth and partially shoved it into 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.920 his throat. Then I'm back off, and I'm holding him 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.040 a lot. You're holding him by the neck with one 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.320 hand and feeding him a squirrel with your other hand, 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.400 and uh, as I turned my head, and like I said, 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.200 I loosened my grip on him a lot. Well the 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:24.240 thing was gone now, first bite, and we didn't Is 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.640 that what happened to your hand? Oh lord, No, no, no, 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:32.440 it wasn't hardly anything. The first bite would prove to 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.800 be the beginning of a lifetime of handling snakes. You 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.800 heard him mention that that finger is gone. Well he's 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.480 missing a ring finger in a fair chunk of his 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.680 right hand. But the pigmy rattlesnake didn't have anything to 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.600 do with that. Later he'll tell us what happened. Back 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:54.280 to Fred, although I had anaplectic shock from that ceremon 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.200 I wasn't Did they take you to the hospital? That 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.480 would have been in the forties, did you Did you 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.800 know I made a mistake? I did say the authorities. 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:05.520 It was definitely fifty three when I was bitten by 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:10.800 the snakes and they gave you some anivenum without testing. 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.000 The doctor just panicked and he didn't test to see 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.280 if I was allergic to it. It's made from a 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.240 horse serum, you know that bit and all, and there's 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:24.280 quite people are allergic to it. And I was highly allergic. 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.360 I mean he gave me the shot. Within thirty seconds, 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.760 I passed out. My poor mother saying there obviously thinks 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:38.880 the rattle snakes doesn't kill me, you know, normally snakes. God, 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.840 so well, you'll probably delete all this. I got bitten 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:47.760 enough between the cotton mouths, just one copper head bite 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.560 and different kind of rattle snakes, quite a few of them, 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.760 and a few other exotics. It's not nearly as bad 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:01.240 as even doctors, your general doctor. They think it's perhaps 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.680 life threatening. When I say perhaps more than likely, it's 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.320 almost because they they don't know how to treat them. Mostly, 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:12.000 you're gonna tell me a snake that they panic. M hm, Well, yeah, 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.280 how many times have you been bit by a poisonous snake? 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.840 I really didn't keep counting, really, I mean, like like 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:26.639 more than five. Oh, definitely, I tried to somewhat count up. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.840 I don't know. I'm guessing twenty, give or take one 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.840 or two of that, right, twenty poisonous snakes. Okay, so 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:37.520 you you started collecting and handling snakes when you're young, 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.440 and you've done that your whole life pretty much, So 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.080 tell me about the first time you got Have you 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.200 been bit by a timber rattler, cane break, timber rattle, 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:50.240 same thing. Yes, tell me about what happened there? How 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.720 hard somebody new to help me. And as I was 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.760 traveling setting up a shopping sounds at that particular time. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.440 This is in the early seventies and the cane break 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.640 oh down in the Panhandle of Florida. Going along, You're 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.320 in state ten, hitting towns about every miles, going into 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.200 different shopping center, setting up. I got bit. I'm trying 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.920 to think which hand it was. Then I got bit 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.000 on my left hand, which is unusual, and it nailed 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.199 me pretty good. It started swelling pretty good, got up 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.040 to about here swell and started going back down and 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.680 then it started retreating. Well, I mean, I'll continue work, 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.160 and it doesn't seem to bother me that much, really, 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:30.880 you know what I mean. I've had quite a few 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.240 bites by that time, some of them bad. It started 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.680 going back down, and you didn't go to the hospital. Oh, 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:42.760 absolutely not h You just kept working. Yeah, I mean, 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:49.040 you know, I don't want something put out that this 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.040 is not bad, and I don't want to put this 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.720 out that you become immune to it. But your body 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.959 does build up and a body where you ever bitten, 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.760 like just out in the It wasn't always when you 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.440 were messing around with your pet snakes. No, because Alton 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.600 the wild is my favorite thing is going out even 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.600 catch them and turn loose. That's my golf, you know 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.159 what I mean. It's just gonna be starting off somewhat 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.320 of a fun day and I'm gonna go down to 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.520 New Orleans to see this animal dealer. On the way there, 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.480 he asked me if I pick he wanted some cotton mouse, 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.240 And that was kind of the off season when but 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.840 I'm going through a swamp of thirty something miles to 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.760 go to New Orleans. And there's an old highway right 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.640 next to the newer highway and that old bridges they 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.720 hang out there, and I usually anytime I go there, 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.720 the six of this bridge, but six of the next bridge, 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:43.760 and it might be a seven or eight mile stretcher 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.960 where it's real headed. Every every bridge, it just slews 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.359 it going to the road. So I can take you 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:52.800 cotton mouse. Probably that trip down it might take me 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.480 two hours. But I had on good shoes and there 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.000 was one spot he didn't want any water snakes. By 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.560 saw this water snake. It slides into the water. And 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.280 I'm going across this old log this land there in 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:11.280 the mud and slop very little water about that deep. 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.000 And I'm up on that walking slow, and I saw 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:15.520 I'm going to the the water. I knew where he stopped. 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.399 He stopped right there. So I walk pretty much that area, 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.320 and I saw his back sticking up out of the 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.639 I caught him. Didn't pay any attention is to He 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:28.320 was just getting thorn away, biting out of me. I 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.240 get by the water snakes ever really vicious about biting, biting, biting, 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:34.679 And I look down, I see that broadhead of that 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.440 cotton mouth, and it's done bit me three times on 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:41.840 you thought you were picking up a banded water snake 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.480 picked up a cotton mouth, Yeah, I saw it right there. 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.520 So I just slung it. I mean, yeah, I just 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.320 I used to. I just slung it. I kept it. 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.600 You weren't worried about that water snake biting you, Oh no, 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.240 just you just figured he'd hit you a couple of times. Yeah, 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:00.520 I was getting ready of slinging. So so what did 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:02.560 you do? You got bet three times in the arm, 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.520 by in the hand, in the hand. Yeah, it was 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.040 in between these two things on your right hand. So anyway, 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.600 well it's on the way, maybe go to the hospital 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.640 and maybe have something done, because I'm still young at 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.600 this point, and I mean it was maybe a bad bite, 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.080 really bad, So I'm thinking about going to the hospital. 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:26.720 I'll go to the emergence room and sit there a while, 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:30.400 if you know, I'll be at least yeah, I start 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.159 feeling you. I wish I had time for you to 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.719 hear the whole story, but it went like this. He 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.320 goes to the e R and asked to just sit 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:42.000 in the waiting room to see if it gets bad. 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.399 The doctors said, no way, we're giving you the an event. 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.040 Mr Fred denies the treatment for financial reasons, but also 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:53.760 because of his allergic nous to an event him. He 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.720 then takes a taxi to another hospital, where they allow 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:01.200 him to wait it out in the are They offered 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.160 to take him in an ambulance, but no, sir, not 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.920 Mr Fred. The taxi was a more affordable way to travel. 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:13.080 He never received an a venom and later just went home. 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.440 Mr Fred, what does it feel like to get bit 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.040 by a snake? Can you describe that to me? There's 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.720 a similarity of the same thing to all of them. 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:31.040 The actual physical aspect of their things going into your 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.159 skin and all. It's it's all negligible, not much to 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:37.440 it at all. It deals more like sometimes you catch 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.760 yourself on a brawer. Even you feel a little bit, 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:41.600 but it's not no big deal, you know what I mean, 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.439 nothing big at all, and or wasp. When it stings, 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:48.920 you have instantaneous hot, searing pain sometimes, especially the big 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.399 old red wah. Well, they put a wall upon you. 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.760 Only one time that I experienced something like that. I 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:58.280 got bit on this thumb here. It's messed up a 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.880 little bit thinking. They doesn't grow straight, it bends over 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.200 and I've got different sensations to this day. That's messed 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.120 up from nerve damage. It put a thing in onto 0:23:07.160 --> 0:23:09.640 there and gave me a pretty good wall. Oh it hurt. 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:12.920 So typically, what does it feel like on a normal 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:15.840 snake bite? Like you you feel the impact, but then 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.399 it kind of just moves up your arm tensions swelling. 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:26.879 The swelling starts producing a lot of uncomfortable pain, deep 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:31.200 aches or setting in. I know, it's kind of gradual. 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:33.640 It kind of just starts creeping up your yeah, yeah, 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:38.119 a lot of swelling, yeah, and then discoloration some have 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:41.040 more discoloration than the others. I'm not sure what causes that. 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:44.720 Why don't why don't you tell me specifically what happened 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.920 to your hand? Now? Which what kind of snake did 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.720 that bite? A big Western diamond back a little of 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:54.760 five maybe, and they had to cut off on your fingers. Yeah, 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:56.520 and I told him going to cut this finger off 0:23:56.600 --> 0:24:00.119 too at the time. See this finger was ruined one 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:04.280 from another bite. Can can you tell me all the 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:06.359 different types of snakes you've been bit by? I mean, 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:09.920 let's just walk through them. Well, like I said, cotton mouth, 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:14.200 copper head, rattle snake, even the coral snake. It was 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:17.040 a drawd bite. I don't think I got one bitter 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:22.359 down on Karma. And then the Pope's tree vipers from 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:25.880 Asia they called two step Charlie. During the Vietnam War, 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:28.560 that was a very popular thing. They were talking about 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:30.879 two steps Charlie. They've seen guys and get bit and 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:33.600 money to fall over dead. It's about like a copper 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:36.960 head bite. And so that's I think that's five snakes, 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:44.000