For you old oil haulers: What about Rattlesnakes?

Snake chaps and a loaded 45?
Most Rattlers will let you know when you're too close.

But I've never been south of Norther Iowa, so I don't know much about anything truly Poisonous.

 

I used to drive up to the tanks and be looking around for any movement on the ground before even getting out of the truck. I didn't work nights, so not sure about their night behaviour. But I would kill and decapitate any rattlesnake that I came across. Always cut the head off, otherwise it's not a done deal. My shovel had a sharpened edge just for that purpose.

 

Only saw one in my short time out there. It was a small one, and it was dead. Roadrunner ate it lol -

 

I just googled it only two people a year die from snakebites in Texas average! I live in West Texas and I’ve seen plenty of snakes , pecos was the worst when I worked in the oil field .
They’re really not that aggressive unless you try to piss one off, but most of the time they just try to avoid you as much as you try to avoid them !

 

Oh and by the way east of the panhandle where all the hogs are they say snakes quit rattling because the hogs eat them !

 

And just because you cut the head off does not mean it’s a done deal Jeremy sutcliff in Corpus Christi chop the head off the snake 10 minutes later went to pick it up and it bit him and it almost killed him!

 

Well that's a smart thing to do... just go pick it up

 

I thought everybody who's ever read ole yeller knew that and he was burying the head.

 

In 11 years I've never seen a live one on location, but always be aware of your surroundings. They are cold-blooded, so when it's cool outside they will likely be near sources of warmth (heater treaters, warm flowlines, the base of a tank that's in production, flares).

I do strongly suggest that you watch for venomous spiders and insects such as wasps & yellowjackets. They really seem to like the undersides of catwalks & ladder handrails (don't ever climb without gloves on), the roof over the electrical panels, and of course the mailbox where you put your run ticket.