Lakeridge Rattlesnakes (?!)

[Tanner]

Huh????????
I live right behind the school. I could literally step out of my driveway onto the street, throw a rock and hit the football field. Someone had to of put them there.

Weird....

[Riverkeeper]

I would have to suspect that some "reptile buff" in the area is missing a couple of rattlesnakes, since I don't think they are ever known to occur west of the cascades north of benton county. If however, they were wild, you may have bonked and buried a new subspecies previously unknown to science. It could have been called Crotalus oswegoensis Var. paddlefishius.

Any chance you could recover the specimens or are they paved over?

[GutshotApe]

Here is page 59 from Atlas of Oregon Wildlife (OSU Press 1997):



Looks like no westside rattlers north of the Santiam River.

[Tilla]

What about Crotalus Occidentalis?

[STGRule]

How about Crotalus spathula?

[Bill Monroe]

How about victimus uva neanderthalia?

Why in the world would you dispatch a creature simply trying to get out of the way?

They've lived in the south valley forever without a single threat to humans.

It may have been something a wildlife biologist might have been interested in seeing or at least hearing about..how many rattles? (age)

I'm really sorry and I'm certain you're well-intentioned, but the shoot-first attitude doesn't fit here...

Doggone it.

[Paddlefish]

Bill,

In principle, I agree with you.

(After all, I did show up with my buckets and long-handled forked stick. And in all my past dealings with streamside rattlers I've always practiced a policy of cheerful, cooperative coxistence.)

I'm not at all convinced, however, that Lake Oswego kids are attuned to the concept of rattlesnakes on their athletic fields.) :whazzup: :whazzup:

[ 08-26-2003, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: Paddlefish ]

[letsfish]

To bad they were done in.Or at least the remains are not available for a herptologist to check out.
I am aware of at least towo locations in Marion county(one west of Salem) where they were/are rattlers.It seems not all that improbable that a "hold out" location could be found north of those locations. However in an enviroment that has been previously disturbed, is surrounded by housing, and no previous sightings seems to point tosome runaways from someones collection.
But on my ramblings I have found in abundance Western Fence Lizards within 5mi of Oregon City, along with bull snakes. Something I thought were "East of the Cascades" species. A couple of years ago the channel two outdoor guy Grant McCombey(?) showed scorpions form the banks of the Clackamas. So do not think the Willamette Valley is fully of warm fuzzy creatures exclusively.

[Bill Monroe]

I apologize Paddlefish...I get very frustrated when we as a society react in disneyesque fashion...spiders get stomped, Bambi gets petted...we're all part of a system, after all...
Seems to me our bigger gripe might be an (assumed, of course) idiot who bought rattlesnakes for pets and decided they weren't so special after all, but didn't have the kahooneys to dispatch them personally. They turn things loose all the time to make themselves feel better but the end result is usually far more slow and painful.
Piranhas in the river, stray cats, etc...it's a death sentence.

BTW, there is a reptile rescue center in Canby...Reptile World or something like that.

Shouldn't have lashed out like...umm...a striking snake...sorry

[GutshotApe]

Originally posted by Bill Monroe:
They've lived in the south valley forever without a single threat to humans.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Not quite...I recall there was a woman bit by a rattler in her driveway near Crow (SW of Eugene) about 20 yrs ago. And, back in the mid-1970s, Kathy Smith of Reedsport was bit on the lower arm two years in a row while catching crawdads on July 4th from South Sister Creek in the upper Smith River drainage of western Douglas county. It could have been the same snake both times...I think it was 1975 or '76 while she was wading along with her husband, put her arm out on the bank and was hit by a rattler. Quick trip to the hospital and she recovered. Then the nest year they were back within 100 yds of the same location and it happened again...stuck her arm out and got hit by another rattler...another quick trip to town for medical attention and full recovery. I don't think they ever went back to South Sisters Creek for more crawdads...she may never have left pavement again.

[Paddlefish]

My wife phoned from my daughter's soccer practice at Lakeridge High School last evening, asking me to bring up a couple buckets -- with lids.

"Why?" I asked.

"For the rattlesnakes." :shocked:

Now she WAS using a cell phone but we had a very clear connection. "RATTLESNAKES?!!"

Yup.

A couple teenage boys showed up at the practice field, asking if anyone had a cell phone. Yes, but why? So they could call the police about the ratttlesnakes. :shocked:

Sure enough, there were a couple of rattlers, but L.O.'s Finest wouldn't do anything about them because they were "wildlife." (Well, yeah, but they don't belong HERE, especially on a school property!) So the cops left, off to their usual routine of tracking down roadkilled raccoons and missing lawn ornaments.

By the time I arrived with my buckets, the construction crew working on the Lakeridge remodel / reconstruction project directly across the street had gotten interested and a case of "shovel justice" had already been administered to the smaller snake.

The larger of the two, about four feet long and 1 1/4 inches in diameter, attempted to escape into a hole in the ground. When there were only a few inches of the tail showing, my wife thwarted its departure by grabbing the snake by the tail and jerking it from the hole. :shocked: :shocked: (I'm not sure that I would have had big enough nuggets to try that!)

Anyway, the shovel guy allowed my wife to do the shovel honors on the second snake, and both reptiles are now a permanent part of the Lakeridge paving project which was underway.

Then my wife pointed out that there were perhaps a hundred similar-looking holes dotting the grassy slope along the street where we stood. :whazzup:

Anyway, I think Lakeridge High is due for a new mascot. How 'bout the "Lakeridge Rattlers?" Doesn't that sound more athletic and menacing than "Pacers?" (And while they're at it, get rid of that wimpy-looking light "UCLA-blue" uniform. Maybe something in snakeskin would be cooler.)


And the next time one of my kids tells me that he heard a rattlesnake, I may pause before I begin my standard "there are no rattlesnakes in Northwest Oregon" speech!

[Bill Monroe]

Sorry John, but one incident (or even a few) in 150 years isn't much...my guess is rabid bats have been a bigger problem...it doesn't constitute criteria for an instant death sentence for any wild animal...as you often implied on the commission with other issues, as I recall...

This morning's story in the paper said the construction worker collected the rattles as a trophy...maybe he can hang them on the wall with his shovel...

Sheesh!

[GutshotApe]

Bill - I'm not disagreeing with you...I quit indiscriminantly killing rattlesnakes and quit shooting every coyote I encountered a long time ago. However I do understand the natural (I guess) reaction of people that causes them to kill all rattlers found in residential areas...GSA

[Artwo]

Seems to me that the local law enforcement should have been able at least have made a call to pest control or at the very least been able to give a phone number to help out in some way .

JK

[lost_sailor]

I'm generally in favor of the "live and let live" policy ... but there are plenty of places for rattlers to live that aren't next to soccer fields.

Gotta wonder how they got there! If they're expanding their range, that's very interesting.