In the Pitt, there are several hundred active Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes here |
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The Man in the Pit always has a watcher ready to go in |
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Snake Tote Board Talley |
Milking the Venom from the snake, they do that to each snake before it is butchered |
Several Men help Milk the Snakes for their Venom, the venom is used in medical research and other areas |
The Business End of a Rattlesnake |
Snake Venom is used to make Anti-Venom and for other research purposes |
Snakes Waiting to be Milked |
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This is the Mesuring, Weighing, Ring Count and Sexing area-the stats are kept for research and other purposes |
You are always careful when handling Rattlesnakes |
Measuring the Snakes, the hunters tend to bring in the larger snakes since the smaller ones don't weight much |
Weighing the snake |
Kids have a plexiglas window so they can watch |
Getting the snake pinned down so you can grasp them behind the head |
Counting the colored rings, not the number of rattles to try to age the snake |
Whataburger, a Texas Hamburger Chain, giving out gifts after spinning the wheel |
This Snakes Head is still Venomous-in fact some venom is visible on that pen and if that gets into a cut the person would be bit |
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Cecil Villa has been whacking snakes for over 40 years at the roundup |
Cecil and his Machette, he figures over 200,000 chops |
The Snake Prep Table, the heads have been removed |
Even though the bodies have no heads they move around and try to strike |
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The tape is put over the snakes anus so that the body doesn't defecate on the skinner |
Slitting the body to remove the organs |
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Female found with eggs |
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Rattlesnake eggs, the eggs stay inside the females and hatch internally so the snakes give live birth |
Not sure but heard that each of these capsules would develop into two snakes |
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Skins are prepared |
Rolling up the skins to be sold to the buyers |
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Some of the Largest Examples |
This snake stayed in this strike pose for several minutes-thank goodness he was behind plexiglass |
Vendor |
Marine Recruiter |
Announcer |
Looking at the chopping block, the black container had snake heads in it |
Taking a break at the butchering station |
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This Gentleman gave a lecture about the snakes and other types about every 15 minutes |
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He also talked about non-venomous snakes found in Texas |
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Rattle-Turtles |
Milking snakes again |
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Execution of the snakes |
These shots were of several different snakes |
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Notice the Venom on the chopping block, even after being milked the snakes still have venom |
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This girl is a serious snake skinner |
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Non-Venomous Snake that tends to eat rats and mice |
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Beauty Contest Winner |
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NEVER DO THIS AT HOME- YES THAT IS A LIVE RATTLESNAKE COILED IN HIS HAND |
Miss SnakeCharmer 2009 |
Another Texas Girl Skinning Rattlesnakes |
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Though, beheaded, gutted and skinned the body still moves around |
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Fried Rattlesnake and Fries, notice the small bones on the upper right corner of the box |
Selling Rattlesnake Meat |
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Yeah just sling that cleaned meat over your shoulder girl |
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Runnersup in the Beauty Contest |
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Rattle still shaking though head long gone |
Even let this guy from Missouri try his hand at killing a few snakes |
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Notice how the meat is still twisting as if alive |
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Yes, that is a live rattlesnake around her |
Bus used for in the field Rattlesnake Tours, parked because of bad weather this day |