Re: OT: Potted Copperheads

At 06:53 PM 8/1/99 PDT, you wrote:
>From: "Jan Clark" <janclarx@hotmail.com>
>
>I don't know how deadly your snakes are,
>Brown snakes can kill in 10 minutes, and it can take more than that to get
>help if you are home alone.

For those of you who have heard that 7 out of the world's 10 deadliest snakes reside in Australia, I wouldn't let that deter you from going there. Several of them are sea snakes, and no threat unless you intend to do scuba diving. Also, snake venom of any sort has the primary function of incapacitating prey, and people are too big to eat. It is secondarily used for defense when big people do things like stepping on them or reaching their hands into places where the snake's space is threatened. It never does to put your hand where you cannot see, wherever you live.

As for our copperhead, Jan, it is a pit viper, less toxic than the timber rattlesnake, although the amount of venom available can make the difference. Baby copperheads have the same venom as adult, just less of it. Both copperheads and rattlesnakes are sacraments of some churches here in the East Tennessee mountains, where they also drink strychnine while handling the snakes and speaking in tongues. These churches are known for having young congregations, with few preachers seeing age 35. The most recent casualty was the Rev. John Wayne Brown (I am not making this up). It says in the Bible that if you have enough faith you will survive this test. Don't ask me where, They seem to be doing a better job of demonstrating Darwin's theory.
James Brooks
Jonesborough, TN
hirundo@tricon.net
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