Big Atrox?

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doccod
Posts: 26
Joined: February 5th, 2013, 9:05 am
Location: Central New Mexico

Big Atrox?

Post by doccod »

A friend of mine who used to live in Las Cruces posted this on FB. Found on the White Sands Golf Course.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... theaterGoi

I'm kind of a novice but is that not a huge gravid Atrox?
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The Real Snake Man
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Joined: June 12th, 2010, 4:08 pm
Location: Pasadena, CA or Mission, TX

Re: Big Atrox?

Post by The Real Snake Man »

Ah, the age-old trick. This looks to be maybe a four-foot rattlesnake (maybe smaller, maybe larger). Not a whopper by any means, but if you hold it up at tongs-length into the camera, with yourself in the background, it will look huge.
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Mark Brown
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 2:15 am
Location: Austin, TX

Re: Big Atrox?

Post by Mark Brown »

Forced perspective - used by fishermen for years to make their five-pound bass look like ten-pound bass.

Here's an interesting webpage put together by Dr David Steen to talk about forced perspective photos and to debunk giant rattlesnake fakes. He's a nice guy and if you forward him that photo, I'll bet he'll tell you he's seen it before, probably from different parts of the US.

http://www.livingalongsidewildlife.com/ ... snake.html
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gbin
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Re: Big Atrox?

Post by gbin »

My favorite comment thus far for that FB post:
Marie Turney Morrison Those from NM know it is not photoshopped. I remember 40 years ago as a camp counselor out of Cuba, NM, a rattlesnake was slithering up the stairs to come into our cabin door. I jumped out the window of the cabin with a hoe, the hoe placed in every cabin for rattlesnake purposes, and chopped its head off. I was only 19 at the time, scared out of my mind, having 8 year olds standing on their cots inside the cabin, scared out of their minds. What was really freakish that after it's head was gone, the snake was still slithering around for another 45 minutes.
I can just imagine how scared those kids must have been, having the adult responsible for them freak out like that just because there was some kind of snake somewhere in the vicinity of the cabin steps (which is about the most we can count on, if even that). I wonder what kind of drugs she was on at the time...

:lol:

Gerry
doccod
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Location: Central New Mexico

Re: Big Atrox?

Post by doccod »

Interesting.. Good I can use that for my fishing pictures!
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chrish
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Re: Big Atrox?

Post by chrish »

That snake looks liek it might be between 3 and 4 feet.
I've seen a lot of atrox in NM and they don't get particularly big there.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: Big Atrox?

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

chrish wrote:I've seen a lot of atrox in NM and they don't get particularly big there.
I measured a 60" atrox near Albuquerque. That was the second or third biggest rattlesnakes I've seen in the field. There are some pockets of big atrox in Arizona too. It has a lot to do with habitat and proximity to humans. Forty inches can be a big atrox in some areas.
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ChrisNM
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Location: Formerly NM, now DFW Metro
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Re: Big Atrox?

Post by ChrisNM »

A nice "rabbit killer" from the eve of my wedding; I wish I'd placed something next to the snake for reference. You know you're a herper when on the eve of your wedding your best friend/man is in town from South African and it's spent road cruising from Albuquerque to Deming, and then back up to the San Mateo Mountains for beer and camping.

Image

Image
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John Delgado
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Joined: June 29th, 2014, 11:10 am
Location: Ukiah, CA

Re: Big Atrox?

Post by John Delgado »

The Real Snake Man wrote:Ah, the age-old trick. This looks to be maybe a four-foot rattlesnake (maybe smaller, maybe larger). Not a whopper by any means, but if you hold it up at tongs-length into the camera, with yourself in the background, it will look huge.
This ↑↑↑ is exactly correct - We used to do that with fish when we was kids... my dad always used to say, "longer the arm - longer the fish"

Wanna see a BIG atrox... I don't know about, if this atrox weighed 40 pounds, or not... but, I'll say it had to be VERY-VERY heavy... look at this big boy, I'm gonna estimate modestly. He's maybe only around 65" to 70" length, but has to be at least 20" GIRTH...! :shock:

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Mark Brown
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Re: Big Atrox?

Post by Mark Brown »

It's safe to say that no rattlesnake weighs forty pounds. A good average for a large adult would be closer to ten pounds and a true whopper might go fifteen.

I get the biggest kick out of some of those faked photos where the poster claims the snake weighed 90 pounds or some nonsense like that, usually when the snake in the photo is being held out at arm's length toward the camera. That would be impossible even if the snake weighed half that much. Take a five-gallon paint bucket and fill it full of water - that's roughly forty pounds. The average person couldn't even lift if off the ground with a snake hook, let alone hold it out toward a camera. At twenty pounds, even a half-full bucket would be more than the average person could lift with an extended hook.
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nhherp
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Joined: August 10th, 2010, 11:25 am
Location: southwest US - NM

Re: Big Atrox?

Post by nhherp »

ZirconJohn wrote:
The Real Snake Man wrote:Ah, the age-old trick. This looks to be maybe a four-foot rattlesnake (maybe smaller, maybe larger). Not a whopper by any means, but if you hold it up at tongs-length into the camera, with yourself in the background, it will look huge.
This ↑↑↑ is exactly correct - We used to do that with fish when we was kids... my dad always used to say, "longer the arm - longer the fish"

Wanna see a BIG atrox... I don't know about, if this atrox weighed 40 pounds, or not... but, I'll say it had to be VERY-VERY heavy... look at this big boy, I'm gonna estimate modestly. He's maybe only around 65" to 70" length, but has to be at least 20" GIRTH...! :shock:


NOT AN ATROX. Adamanteus
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John Delgado
Posts: 168
Joined: June 29th, 2014, 11:10 am
Location: Ukiah, CA

Re: Big Atrox?

Post by John Delgado »

nhherp wrote:
ZirconJohn wrote:
The Real Snake Man wrote:Ah, the age-old trick. This looks to be maybe a four-foot rattlesnake (maybe smaller, maybe larger). Not a whopper by any means, but if you hold it up at tongs-length into the camera, with yourself in the background, it will look huge.
This ↑↑↑ is exactly correct - We used to do that with fish when we was kids... my dad always used to say, "longer the arm - longer the fish"

Wanna see a BIG atrox... I don't know about, if this atrox weighed 40 pounds, or not... but, I'll say it had to be VERY-VERY heavy... look at this big boy, I'm gonna estimate modestly. He's maybe only around 65" to 70" length, but has to be at least 20" GIRTH...! :shock:


NOT AN ATROX. Adamanteus
Oh ya... oops... my noobness is showing...! - Thank you... I hate when that happens... :mrgreen:

Must remember; Western = atrox // Eastern = Adamanteus :thumb:
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