Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Came upon this fellow recently. I want to say he was longer than 7 foot but just am glad to know they are still out there.

Dan

Nice!!! Love EDB'S!

>>... I want to say he was longer than 7 foot but just am glad to know they are still out there.

What an exciting thing to see. I wish you'd had time to throw a baseball cap or wristwatch or shoe or anything into the picture, to provide a sense of scale for such a whopper. Let that be a reminder to the rest of us, if we're ever so lucky... (any chance you got such a picture, maybe less quality but with an identifiable object in it?)

I just got this but have you all seen this 15 foot Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake - the largest ever caught on record, in fact. This snake was found Near the St. Augustine outlet, in a new KB homes subdivision just south of Jacksonville FL.

The head of this snake alone is larger than the hand of a normal sized man.
The knife being used to draw out the fangs for the bottom picture has a blade around 4 inches long.

This snake is estimated to have weighed over 170 pounds. (How much do you weigh?)

Notice the girth of this snake as compared to the cop’s leg in the first picture.

You need to check your sources for this information. If I remember correctly, that snake was actually just over 7 ft in length. World record edb was just over 8 ft and weighed around 36 lb(world record for venomous snake weight). There are many pictures of diamondbacks online with overexaggerated sizes. The trick is to get someone to stand a good distance from the snake and take the picture so that it looks taller than the actual person.

Justin

That snake was actually only about 4 to 4 1/2 feet long. Not even five. All of the rest was pure exageration and camera angle. The snake was killed then frozen. The local news anchor held the snake in his hands on camera and asked the trapper/killer why the snake was not 7'3" like he claimed. His answer was, "Snakes shrink when you freeze them."

That particular situation involved a four-foot-long rattlesnake that turned into an, exactly "seven foot, three inch" rattlesnake, that grew into a 15 foot rattlesnake. Like I always say, "If it's a rattlesnake, and if it's on the internet, it's a fake."

BTW, not to call anyone a liar, but the 7' eastern diamondback in this post *looks to me* like a 4 1/2' to 5 foot snake. It's a simple case of finding a snake and having forgotten a tape measure. Below: Six feet nine inches. Twenty-four pounds. Measured and weighed.

Cheers,

Terry Vandeventer

Yeah Terry, I agree whole-heartedly about all the nonsense about snake size exaggeration..LMAO!

I remember that silly bunch of pics with the cops in it from a long time ago. Like you said, the snake was approx. 5 feet at BEST!. It's VERY easy to see the false perception with the distances of size references in those photos. Not to even mention the snake would have folded the dude's flimsy aluminum catch-pole in half, and not just slightly bent it if it was even anything CLOSE to 7-8 feet..HAHAA!!

That's a REALLY nice one you are holding there too man. No trick photography either!..

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Oh, it was surely over seven. No tape required.

Dan

I remember Wayne hills GIANT E D B's The biggest w\as just over 7" when I last saw it. I don't know how big it was when it died. It was huge. I know it was over 7' because he put it on the floor of his snake room witch had 12" V. C. tiles it crawled right along the wall in a straight line it was easy to count the tiles. 7 not including the rattle witch had over 20 segments.

Thanks for the clarification on that. Cameras can definitely overplay a snakes' size. thats one nice EDB shown in your pictures! Wild caught or captive bred?

Justin

Captive raised. Has never rattled, struck, or refused food is its seven years of life. Big baby.

Cheers,

TV

For an explanation see my blog entry here on forced perspective

http://www.kingsnake.com/blog/index.php?serendipity[action]=search&serendipity[searchTerm]=forced&serendipity[searchButton]=>
-----
We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
1.3 African House Snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
1 corn snake
4.3 Florida Kings
2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
1 Argentine boa
1 Texas Rat Snake
1 checkered garter snake

I believe the true record is 100 inches...

There are a couple of interesting aspects you can gather from that photo.

1. Why is the pitchfork thing being extended by another aluminum pole in the photo? Hmmm...maybe seeing the person holding the pitchfork gave too much real perspective?
What about the guy with the snake hook in the background. Why isn't he holding it up with that?

2. Here's a project to try - get a couple of 3-4 foot aluminum rods like those seen in the photo. Slide one inside the other. Now tie three 50lb bags of concrete together and pick up the bags like the person in the photo is holding up the "170lb" snake. Try picking up even a single 50lb bag that way. Hmmmm....doesn't seem possible now does it? Even holding up 30lbs that way is very difficult, 170lbs is absurd.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas