# Nope, It is Not Bottle Jaw . . .



## rockdoveranch (May 14, 2011)

. . . It is a snake bite.  Probably a copper head.  Looks like I will have to be more careful in the nutsledge grass when out in the overnight sheep pasture.


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## SDGsoap&dairy (May 14, 2011)

We had a doe swell up from a bee sting last year and she looked just like that.  Benedryl did the trick!


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## aggieterpkatie (May 14, 2011)

Aww poor thing.  We had a dog get bit twice by a copperhead (on 2 different occasions).  It was a greyhound, and his muzzle swelled so much he looked like he had the muzzle of a rottie.  Your lamb doesn't look too swollen, so hopefully it will recover well!


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## rockdoveranch (May 14, 2011)

The first copper head I ever killed bit my last Boxer on the muzzle 3 times.  One was a dry bite though.  I was SO mad at that snake.

Oh and by the way . . . I skinned that snake.  

AND its heart was still beating over an hour after I gutted the snake.


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## redtailgal (May 14, 2011)

.......


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## ThreeBoysChicks (May 14, 2011)

Sorry to hear about that!!!  Let us know how she does.  So if it was a copperhead, does she need any antitoxins?  Or did the snake not release venim?


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## rockdoveranch (May 14, 2011)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> I hear ya rockdover.
> 
> I had a copperhead bite my mastiff, Bella. last year. LOL, It was shot 5 times, nearly shot in half.  Then I took the shovel and beat the snot out of its dead body.
> 
> ...


Sooo funny!  Love it!

This is My MAX not long after we adopted him.  It was the copperhead that bit him that was my first snake kill!  (The copperhead that bit my husband got away.  He told me it felt like an ant bite.  Hopefully I will never know if that is true or not.)






Here is my current Boxer when he was a pup.  I saw him running around the yard with a snake in his mouth.  My first instinct was to grab the snake to get it away from him.  Thank goodness the pup tossed the snake somewhere 'cause it would have been my first snake bite.






This is Dottie the Beagle after her first snake bite.  Sad, but cute in a way.






And not to leave Mags out.  This is her first kill out here.    She had skunk breathe for 3 months!


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## ThreeBoysChicks (May 14, 2011)

rockdoveranch said:
			
		

> redtailgal said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow!  I really really don't like snakes...


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## rockdoveranch (May 14, 2011)

Adult poisonous snakes can choose how much venom they want to release, and they can choose not to inject venom at all; a dry bite.  Baby poisonous snakes cannot control their venom and release it all when they bite.  All snakes can strike and bite multiple times.  I knew my fawn Boxer was bit 3 times because 3 hard black blisters showed up on his face.  Often humans get black blood blisters when bitten and venom was injected.

Copperhead bites are not very bad unless you are allergic to the venom.  If anything you can take benadryl with or without prednisone.  I, on the other hand, will die instantly if bitten . . . from a heart attack.    There is swelling though, and in my husband's case, when he was bit, it took the swelling 6 weeks to go down.  

The only problem with dogs being bitten is that they are likely to be bitten on or around the face and there is a possibility of the swelling closing up their windpipe.  We have given dogs benadryl in the past, but normally we don't.

The little lamb chop's face should be normal by morning.  She was eating and nursing fine so I was not worried about her, otherwise I would have given her benadryl.  We had a ram lamb get bit on the mouth one year and he was unable to eat until the swelling went down.

I have done my homework on poisonous snakes.  Out here they say, for every snake you see, you have stepped over 10 more.

There is only one vet in the surrounding area that keeps rattlesnake anti-venom on hand.  It is very expensive.  The only hospital around here that has anti-venom for humans is an hour away.  I try to be very careful when it gets hot because of the snakes.  I don't walk near tree trunks and I always keep my eyes on the ground.


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## Roll farms (May 15, 2011)

It is fairly safe to say my poor husband would pee his pants / die from fear if he were to take a walk in TX.  Just this thread would probably send him over to his mama's lap.  The boy just HATES snakes.  

He is a professional groundskeeper.  He can mow the most beautiful lines, checkerboards and patterns into grass....but when I see a big zig zag spot mowed into ours, I know he saw a poor garter snake and has been after it.

I picked up an injured garter snake once and thought he would pass out.  Literally, he's that afraid of non-poisonous ones...he'd just die around one that could hurt him.


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## rockdoveranch (May 15, 2011)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> It is fairly safe to say my poor husband would pee his pants / die from fear if he were to take a walk in TX.  Just this thread would probably send him over to his mama's lap.  The boy just HATES snakes.
> 
> He is a professional groundskeeper.  He can mow the most beautiful lines, checkerboards and patterns into grass....but when I see a big zig zag spot mowed into ours, I know he saw a poor garter snake and has been after it.
> 
> I picked up an injured garter snake once and thought he would pass out.  Literally, he's that afraid of non-poisonous ones...he'd just die around one that could hurt him.


*Love it!* 

Our little white lamb chop is looking pretty good today.  Her face looks normal, but her normally plump little milk goiter is a little saggy.  Guess that is the last area to still have a little lymph fluid left.


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