View Full Version : Cobra in airplane cockpit prompts emergency landing
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cobra-in-airplane-cockpit-south-africa/index.html
Ho........ly SHIT!!!!!!
I freaked once when I spotted and ended up waging battle with a orb spider for about 10 minutes once while relocating a Cessna 206 for maintenance.
I can’t imagine this
Inkslinger
04-07-23, 17:44
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230407/aebe899e787b226447596f9294e8baf6.jpg
BoringGuy45
04-07-23, 17:53
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230407/aebe899e787b226447596f9294e8baf6.jpg
That didn’t take long :D
Seriously though, Cape Cobras are some of the worst ones out there; extremely venomous and very aggressive.
A) I'd never fly in that friggin' plane again.
B) I'd need new underwear.
C) If they caught the bastard I'd want it DEAD, none of this Ophidiophile (yeah I had to look it up) bullshit. They are the most vile creature to exist IMHO and make my skin crawl.....no pun intended. Just ask Adam.
I'm deathly afraid of snakes.
FromMyColdDeadHand
04-07-23, 18:42
In the article, they say that they never removed it. The snake wranglers said it was gone by the time they got there.... uhm, sure.
https://www.drupal.org/files/styles/grid-3-2x/public/project-images/nuke-from-orbit.jpg?itok=w0H91rqz
FromMyColdDeadHand
04-07-23, 18:45
A) I'd never fly in that friggin' plane again.
B) I'd need new underwear.
C) If they caught the bastard I'd want it DEAD, none of this Ophidiophile (yeah I had to look it up) bullshit. They are the most vile creature to exist IMHO and make my skin crawl.....no pun intended. Just ask Adam.
I'm deathly afraid of snakes.
I am too- but it wasn't the snake that screwed over Adam.... just sayin'.
I;d put a mongoose in there, and I wouldn't care if it ate all the seats.
I'd want a hat band or some other memento made from the skin. "Where'd ya get that hat band?"
So in Florida as a kid we used to catch snakes because the local pet store would give us $20 for each one and then resell them for $60.
On a good day I could find 5 to 6. Of course in south Florida you had to be able to tell the difference between a water bandit and a water moccasin (both were terribly common) and you better know the rhyme "red touch yellow, kill a fellow - red touch black, venom in lack" if you come across scarlet king snakes (which actually rated $30 because they were colorful) vs coral snakes (which were exceptionally venomous and a relative of the cobra).
Well one day I flipped over a piece of plywood (about 4 ft by 4 ft) in a field, which is usually a damn good place to find snakes, and there were about 10 brightly colored ones, I began to ID color patterns...."ok red on yellow...that's bad....another red on yellow...that's bad....ok they are ALL red on yellow so just start walking backwards."
That was my only really bad "snake hunt" day but could have been worse.
I also watched some tard one day yell out WATER BANDIT and go swimming into a canal after a 4-5 foot snake. Got it on shore, did a fang check and sure as shit he was holding a water moccasin. I was about 12 years old and he was in high school and I still remember thinking "geeze what a dumbass."
I saw a few moccasin's from time to time and was usually able to ID them as "probably" from 10 feet and just gave them their distance and kept walking. They will usually stay in their spot rather than come after you EXCEPT on the water. If you are in a slow boat or canoe they will swim out to screw with you, they can be damn aggressive on the water.
So in Florida as a kid we used to catch snakes because the local pet store would give us $20 for each one and then resell them for $60.
On a good day I could find 5 to 6. Of course in south Florida you had to be able to tell the difference between a water bandit and a water moccasin (both were terribly common) and you better know the rhyme "red touch yellow, kill a fellow - red touch black, venom in lack" if you come across scarlet king snakes (which actually rated $30 because they were colorful) vs coral snakes (which were exceptionally venomous and a relative of the cobra).
Isn't it harder for coral snakes to bite you than a snake with big-azz fangs? I've heard that before. Of course if they do you're screwed.
I recall reading a long time ago that the coral snake had the most lethal venom of any North American snake, but the annual fatalities were much lower because of the difficulty in how they bit, like web of the hand or between the toes.
Don't want to sidetrack, but can't resist.....
A couple months ago my wife and I were in the checkout line at our local Publix. The young kid (maybe 18+) who was bagging was chatting it up with the lady in front of us. He was telling her about his pet Iguana, made the thing sound better than a dog. Well it had apparently died the day before, and he was pondering "I hope he knew I loved him" or something to that effect. My wife, knowing me, gave me a "Don't even think about it" look. I said "What, I didn't say anything! Does the kid know it was a flippin' reptile and as such was like a mini-dinosaur and not a cuddly dog?" She was like "Be quiet and don't be mean, the kid obviously liked it."
BoringGuy45
04-07-23, 21:17
Isn't it harder for coral snakes to bite you than a snake with big-azz fangs? I've heard that before. Of course if they do you're screwed.
I recall reading a long time ago that the coral snake had the most lethal venom of any North American snake, but the annual fatalities were much lower because of the difficulty in how they bit, like web of the hand or between the toes.
"
Elapid snakes (cobras, mambas, coral snakes, taipans, etc.) have neurotoxic venom and thus, as a general rule, have a deadlier bite than vipers, which usually have hemotoxic venom. The neurotoxins are usually more damaging to larger creatures, such as humans, as it will paralyze the respiratory muscles and cause brain damage very quickly, causing death before treatment can be given. Most viper bites will cause extreme pain, swelling, and often permanent damage to the bite area if untreated, but clotting will often override the anti clotting hemotoxins before a person goes into shock. Death is usually from anaphylactic reactions. Thus, even big vipers with potent venom have low mortality rates with humans compared to highly venomous elapids.
The coral snake, being an elapid, is extremely venomous, but its fangs are tiny and it often doesn’t even deliver venomous bites. It’s still potentially one of the worst snakes in America to be bitten by, but the Mojave Rattlesnake is probably the deadliest snake in the country. Unlike most vipers, it has neurotoxic venom like the coral snake, and its bite mortality rate is up there with some cobra species, and the fangs to deliver it. Some timber rattlesnake species are also neurotoxic.
But, at the end of the day, the saying goes, the most venomous snake is the one that just bit you.
Isn't it harder for coral snakes to bite you than a snake with big-azz fangs? I've heard that before. Of course if they do you're screwed.
I recall reading a long time ago that the coral snake had the most lethal venom of any North American snake, but the annual fatalities were much lower because of the difficulty in how they bit, like web of the hand or between the toes.
They cannot unlock their jaw to strike a flat surface like a shin. So in some respects, they are safer than most snakes. The big trick is, see them - leave them alone.
Don't want to sidetrack, but can't resist.....
A couple months ago my wife and I were in the checkout line at our local Publix. The young kid (maybe 18+) who was bagging was chatting it up with the lady in front of us. He was telling her about his pet Iguana, made the thing sound better than a dog. Well it had apparently died the day before, and he was pondering "I hope he knew I loved him" or something to that effect. My wife, knowing me, gave me a "Don't even think about it" look. I said "What, I didn't say anything! Does the kid know it was a flippin' reptile and as such was like a mini-dinosaur and not a cuddly dog?" She was like "Be quiet and don't be mean, the kid obviously liked it."
People have pet tarantula's and all kinds of stupid shit. Growing up we had a guy in the neighborhood who thought he was Bill Host, he purchased and imported rare venomous snakes from places like India. He had one room in his house that was just things that looked like giant stainless steel beer coolers where he housed his snakes.
He always invited people to watch him milk snake venom, which is how he made some of his money, but even at 12 I knew he was never gonna have a girlfriend.
HO-LEE-CHIT.
Good thing I wasn’t piloting that plane. I’m afraid my ass would have been as far back in the plane as I could get.
Snakes and spiders are my kryptonite.
He always invited people to watch him milk snake venom, which is how he made some of his money, but even at 12 I knew he was never gonna have a girlfriend.
Was he missing fingers?
Lucky to have people people brave/crazy enough to do it, but I don't recall seeing anyone doing it for very long who had all 10.
Haast included.
https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/01/bill-haast-snakeman-bitten-100-times-lived-100/
Averageman
04-08-23, 13:22
I was fishing in Southern Indiana in July.
Stopped and got some more beer and a sandwich on shore. As My Buddy went to the rear of the Boat to start the motor, I pushed the boat off from shore.
I had one foot in the boat and was swinging the other over the side when a Water Moccasin that was every bit of Four Feet long came out from under the bench seat of the boat.
So there I am, hopping on one leg as the water gets deeper and yelling SNAKE and debating the ins and outs of things.
Me, my Buddy and the snake all decided to get in to the water at the same time. That MF'er chased me to shore.
I don't like Snakes.
Was he missing fingers?
Lucky to have people people brave/crazy enough to do it, but I don't recall seeing anyone doing it for very long who had all 10.
Haast included.
https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/01/bill-haast-snakeman-bitten-100-times-lived-100/
Figures it would be a cottonmouth that cost him a digit. The guy I knew had all his fingers but last I saw him was probably in 1981. Unlike Haast, I doubt he will live to be 100.
Figures it would be a cottonmouth that cost him a digit. The guy I knew had all his fingers but last I saw him was probably in 1981. Unlike Haast, I doubt he will live to be 100.
IIRC you posted one time about a cottonmouth that left the bank to come after you in a canoe.....in other words it's a very aggressive snake. Floating by peacefully in HIS waterway apparently didn't cut it.
Like I said, I despise snakes. Kill 'em with fire and extreme prejudice.
I will always remember the first time I saw a cobra in the wild, it was in the path ahead of me and it did it's cobra thing and it was just so beautiful. I was watching it and the indig., were going crazy saying it would spit poison in my eyes and bling me so I lowered my sun glasses and kept watching.
But the first time I saw a black mamba, I turned and ran like my life depended on it and I never wanted so bad to put a couple of people between me and danger.
IIRC you posted one time about a cottonmouth that left the bank to come after you in a canoe.....in other words it's a very aggressive snake. Floating by peacefully in HIS waterway apparently didn't cut it.
Like I said, I despise snakes. Kill 'em with fire and extreme prejudice.
Yes, cottonmouths are the aholes of the snake world.
Some I really don't mind. Yellow and red rat snakes were welcome on my property in South Florida and I encouraged a few to take residence under my shed. That is because tropical rats are a bigger nuisance. I didn't like seeing water bandits because where they are, cotton mouths will also be found but you only saw them after a lot of rain or if you lived near canals or other waterways.
The rest I'd just as soon not deal with unless they really were working on the local insect population in my yard. Lots and lots of non native species are now indigenous to South Florida, especially in the glades. Pythons are now one of the top predators and eventually it traces back to dipshits who bought a python when they were in high school because they thought it made them cool and their mom made them get rid of it. Most just let them go in the yard and next thing you know we have a population.
I will always remember the first time I saw a cobra in the wild, it was in the path ahead of me and it did it's cobra thing and it was just so beautiful. I was watching it and the indig., were going crazy saying it would spit poison in my eyes and bling me so I lowered my sun glasses and kept watching.
But the first time I saw a black mamba, I turned and ran like my life depended on it and I never wanted so bad to put a couple of people between me and danger.
When Haast had the Miami Serpentarium up and running I went a few times. I always found some species fascination and they had a huge King Cobra that was something like 16 feet.
Seems certain Cobra species have also been reported in the wild in the glades, along with green mambas. If they reproduce like the pythons did Florida will be like India in a generation or two.
When Haast had the Miami Serpentarium up and running I went a few times. I always found some species fascination and they had a huge King Cobra that was something like 16 feet.
Seems certain Cobra species have also been reported in the wild in the glades, along with green mambas. If they reproduce like the pythons did Florida will be like India in a generation or two.
And that is due to one reason only: idiot fargging bastages who let them loose. Obviously neither is native to here. Wonder if an occasional good cold front (like January of 2022) would kill off a lot of them.
Averageman
04-09-23, 09:35
They have Cobra's and various other venomus snakes in the Philippines. As much time as I have spent in the jungle there, I have yet to see one.
When Haast had the Miami Serpentarium up and running I went a few times. I always found some species fascination and they had a huge King Cobra that was something like 16 feet.
Seems certain Cobra species have also been reported in the wild in the glades, along with green mambas. If they reproduce like the pythons did Florida will be like India in a generation or two.
Florida and cobras made me think of this guy.
https://youtu.be/gf-q2Y6CH2A
Florida and cobras made me think of this guy.
https://youtu.be/gf-q2Y6CH2A
That guy is a moron extraordinaire.
I would have crashed the plane after I shit my pants.
I've seen a couple in Thailand, Fer De Lance in South America, a couple venomous snakes in Africa.
Here we have a metric crap-ton of copperheads; in spite of no copperhead fatalities in North Carolina, ever, ER physicians are insistent upon the $20 something thousand dollar treatment which is usually worse than the bite.
Theoretically we have coral snakes down near the coast, but I've never seen one. Again, I don't think there are any recorded fatalities on the South East Coast. Shy, non-aggressive.
We have some of the biggest rattlesnakes in the United States, the Eastern Diamondback. Those things are huge, and can be very aggressive. Also water moccasins, they also grow big and aggressive.
Theoretically we have coral snakes down near the coast, but I've never seen one. Again, I don't think there are any recorded fatalities on the South East Coast. Shy, non-aggressive.
We have some of the biggest rattlesnakes in the United States, the Eastern Diamondback. Those things are huge, and can be very aggressive. Also water moccasins, they also grow big and aggressive.
Copperheads and Timber rattlers in central KY. Cottonmouths are supposed to be in western KY only, but fairly sure we have seen some here.
My Dad picked up a book with info/statistics about KY put out by some .gov agency like WPA, NRA, CCC in the 1930's that claimed coral snakes could be found in Southern KY which I have never seen claimed anywhere else and assume it was an error.
Averageman
04-09-23, 13:50
We have quite a few Copperheads here in Texas.
In the Winter they almost hybernate and you can pick them up like a stick.
That guy is a moron extraordinaire.
That is an understatement to the power of 1000
I would have crashed the plane after I shit my pants.
I've seen a couple in Thailand, Fer De Lance in South America, a couple venomous snakes in Africa.
Here we have a metric crap-ton of copperheads; in spite of no copperhead fatalities in North Carolina, ever, ER physicians are insistent upon the $20 something thousand dollar treatment which is usually worse than the bite.
Theoretically we have coral snakes down near the coast, but I've never seen one. Again, I don't think there are any recorded fatalities on the South East Coast. Shy, non-aggressive.
We have some of the biggest rattlesnakes in the United States, the Eastern Diamondback. Those things are huge, and can be very aggressive. Also water moccasins, they also grow big and aggressive.
And the Bushmaster too. They had both in Panama, boas too (although the boa isn't venomous). Helluva place for the U.S. Army to send an 18yo Infantry private who is deathly afraid of snakes! You never just plopped down in the jungle, you always poked around a bit with your M16 barrel and then sat on your steel pot if possible!
One time we were pulling aggressor detail at JOTC (we were stationed down there so pulled that duty a number of times). You staged an ambush once a day, then in the evening you "walked into" an ambush set up for you by the unit on rotation down there. Rinse and repeat for a week as the different companies cycled through the course. One late afternoon we were post-"ambush" and waiting on a deuce-and-a-half to give us a ride back to the little camp we had set up (on aggressor detail you made your bivouac area out in the boonies and lived there for the week, you didn't go back to the barracks they had there). There were these gravel roads that criss-crossed the training area and we were standing by the edge of one waiting on the truck. One of our guys, Gould, went to sit down on a stump by the roadside. Someone yelled "Stop!" We all turned to see what was happening and Gould GTF away from that stump. The top of the stump had a little depression in it and a baby Fer De Lance was coiled up inside it! He would've sat right on it. About five of us took our blank adaptors off of our M16's and surrounded that stump. All five barrels were maybe 10" away from it and that little bastard was hissing. "One, two, three!" BANG. Those open-barreled blanks vaporized that fvcker.
That is an understatement to the power of 1000
There is ALWAYS someone who has to fvck with the wildlife, can't leave well enough alone. In Panama we'd set up a mortar position and this modern caveman named Barnes (he even had a unibrow) would disappear. A few minutes later you'd here rustling in the Kunai Grass (same as Elephant Grass in Asia) and a big-azz iguana would come shooting out at full speed. More rustling and Barnes popped out chasing it. We'd just shake our heads. Always wondered what happened to him.
So this one time Barnes had found a snake, a small one and was playing with it, holding it up in front of his face staring at it with those Cretan, pre-historic eyes of his. One of our squad leaders looked at it and said "Barnes, you fvcking idiot that's a Fer De Lance! Get rid of it now!" Another time he brought a baby Boa back to the barracks and kept it in his room. At lunch one day he and his roommates couldn't find it. They got pissed at him because they really didn't want it in there and now it was missing in their room! In Panama we had those old tropical-style barracks with an open-air center area where the latrines and steps were and air-conditioned rooms on either end of the building. Because the rooms were cool it had crawled up a lamp and coiled around the light bulb to keep warm. Needless to say it was gone after that.
I grew up in KY, so when we walked to the mall across fields, we would stumble in a nest of snakes, everyone would yell SNAKES. So we all knelled down to grab them and catch them to drop off in the mall. They looked very cool gliding across the slick floors in Turfland mall.
One day I came home with a Gardner snake, letting it crawl all over me and playing with it. My dad said let me see your snake,..... "its a moccasin son", lets take it down to the creek and let it go. Got lucky that day as a young boy.
PB
And that is due to one reason only: idiot fargging bastages who let them loose. Obviously neither is native to here. Wonder if an occasional good cold front (like January of 2022) would kill off a lot of them.
Probably not, the Glades is really good habitat. If they get established, they are native.
I remember back in the 80s a bunch of dipshit college kids were letting piranha loose in the Iowa river. Thankfully they didn't find it a good habitat.
That guy is a moron extraordinaire.
Yeah, and when he put that monocle away, he was not paying close attention and should probably have been using a bigger tray at the time.
Yeah, and when he put that monocle away, he was not paying close attention and should probably have been using a bigger tray at the time.
When I first saw that (think it was on a when things go wrong type show) I found it odd an "expert" not only didn't have antivenin on hand considering what he had, but didn't know who did stock it.
When I first saw that (think it was on a when things go wrong type show) I found it odd an "expert" not only didn't have antivenin on hand considering what he had, but didn't know who did stock it.
He's a long way from an expert. He's a person who knew enough to know better, but still f'ed it all up anyway. Of course things like exotic snakes just attract the retards like nothing else.
He's a long way from an expert. He's a person who knew enough to know better, but still f'ed it all up anyway. Of course things like exotic snakes just attract the retards like nothing else.
Truer words have never been spoken.
About once a year some local owner will be bitten and go to the ED. The only antivenin any hospital in NC stocks is Cro-Fab, which is usually far worse than any bite (and very expensive). For all else we have to call a zoo/museum that has that particular snake, which has to have its antivenin on hand. They ain't cheap, either.
These events never make the news, but occasionally a pet whatever will get loose, and it makes the news. The last was a zebra cobra in 2021.
I have a fiend with a pet rattlesnake, I think he is nuts.
I ask him all the time, do you walk it, pet it, does it sleep in your bed?
I just don't get the snakes-as-pets crowd. Had a roommate (fellow jarhead) that had a python years ago. Didn't get it then. Feed it, it sleeps for a day, slithers around a very little bit in the cage for the next day or two, feed again. Could have been made out of rubber for all it really mattered. I wouldn't have noticed the difference.
Got an inlaw in KY that will take snakes whenever he gets the chance. Not like he really hunts them but if he runs across a rattlesnake or the like he will catch them. He sells them (dead) to somebody or another. Says he gets like $20 for a good snake. Don't get that either, but I guess a Jackson means more to him than it does to me.
Averageman
04-10-23, 17:38
Many Moons ago when I was a useless College Student, I went to this young Ladies home.
She collected snakes, not only did she collect them, but she took the covers off of the heating ducts so they could freely crawl wherever through the house.
Yes, she was a freak.
Truer words have never been spoken.
About once a year some local owner will be bitten and go to the ED. The only antivenin any hospital in NC stocks is Cro-Fab, which is usually far worse than any bite (and very expensive). For all else we have to call a zoo/museum that has that particular snake, which has to have its antivenin on hand. They ain't cheap, either.
These events never make the news, but occasionally a pet whatever will get loose, and it makes the news. The last was a zebra cobra in 2021.
That's a new one for me, the whole family of spitting venom snakes are ones I'd like to avoid no matter what.
I just don't get the snakes-as-pets crowd. Had a roommate (fellow jarhead) that had a python years ago. Didn't get it then. Feed it, it sleeps for a day, slithers around a very little bit in the cage for the next day or two, feed again. Could have been made out of rubber for all it really mattered. I wouldn't have noticed the difference.
Not all of them, obviously some have a genuine scientific interest, but a whole lot of them are nearly identical to people who are fascinated by fire. Several of them have that "thing" that makes them believe that if they own snakes / start fires, that makes them somehow more important. Again lots of weirdos.
I'm comfortable around a lot of snakes, will leave a handful of species alive on my property if seen, will never take one in the house and the venomous ones need to be dispatched upon detection. I'd never leave one alive in a residential area where a kid or dog could trip across it.
When I was like 12 I had a yellow rat snake in the garage in a cage. It was the best one I ever caught, about 5 feet. But after a month of showing it off to other idiots like me and paying to feed it, I eventually sold it to the pet shop.
Biggest thing I ever got out of it was understanding how to use a snake stick and all the things you need to do to NOT get bit by a snake, assuming you see it first. That and some pocket money as a kid. $100 wasn't a bad payday for a couple hours in a cow pasture back in 1979.
The_War_Wagon
04-10-23, 23:28
No one's posted it yet?!?!
I won't embed - NSFW applies!
https://youtu.be/amYzBQMT4VI
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