re: Sioux Falls, SD seems like a wonderful place to live

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suicide inducing topography of Eastern South Dakota

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The downtown area and the falls park are impressive. Nice streets. Lots of parks, hospitals, etc. named Sanford. Mr. Sanford is a billionaire who donated lots of money to area causes, but unfortunately he got caught up in a youthful porn scandal. Some places are rethinking their names.

We were there in May when it was great. Asked a couple of locals what winter was like. One said, “Not gonna lie. It’s brutal.” The other added, “And that wind never stops.”

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You talking about African-Americans?

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-70 wind chill

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Cooler spring temperatures, clouds and rain this spring likely slowed South Dakota prairie rattlesnake activity. But as temperatures warm, they’re sure to make themselves seen — and heard.

“If you are almost stepping on it, you just jump in the air and do a dance. I mean, I think you could levitate,” said Black Hawk resident Shelby Nester.

He encountered his first rattlesnake of 2023 on May 10 when he joined Xtreme Dakota Bicycles on a group ride along Centennial Trail near Sturgis.

Nester said a biker spotted the rattlesnake on the side of the trail as he waited for the rest of the group to catch up. The snake did not slither off until the majority of the bikers passed.

On May 25, Mindy Daley, who lives in Piedmont, was making her way down the Flume Trail near Rockerville when her friend pushed her out of a rattlesnake’s path. The snake didn’t rattle at her until she backed away.

“I was probably an inch or two from stepping on it,” she said.

With rattlesnake season underway in South Dakota, snake experts say knowing more about the state’s only venomous snake and its habits is the best way to avoid a bite.

The prairie rattlesnake inhabits grassy, rocky or wooded areas mainly west of the Missouri River but lives across the state. It’s impossible to know exactly where people may encounter them, as adult snakes can travel up to 10 miles from their den in a hunt for prey or a mate, said Brian Smith, a Black Hills State University biology professor and snake expert.

“Snakes like to be outside and active in the same temperatures people want to be out and active in,” said Terry Phillip, snake curator at Reptile Gardens outside of Rapid City.

Prairie rattlers live across all of western South Dakota, including in both rural and urban areas, he said.

“There’s not a corner or a neighborhood or a street in Rapid City where I haven’t been called in to capture a rattlesnake,” Phillip said. “Near the hospital, on pavement downtown, at Canyon Lake Park or below M Hill. They’re found everywhere.”

Phillip said prairie rattlers will usually but not always emit a rattling sound to warn people and animals they are nearby. However, according to Smith, the snakes do always have rattles, even if they don’t always use them.

Typically, the snakes do not want to get near or bite any possible predators, including humans. But if annoyed or startled, the snakes that measure 20 to 30 inches can jut out a foot or more and bite.

As of June 6, Dana Darger, Monument Health Rapid City Hospital’s director of pharmacy, said the hospital had seen at least one rattlesnake bite patient this year.

Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre and Avera Missouri River Health Center in Gettysburg have not had any snake bite patients in a few years, according to spokeswoman Sigrid Wald Swanson.

Without formal tracking of snake bites, concrete data are hard to come by.

But in 2013, the state Department of Health performed a study showing that from 2000 through 2011, about 160 people were hospitalized due to venomous bites across the state.

Most bites took place in July, August and June. A majority occurred in counties west of and along the Missouri River, though five hospitalizations were reported in Minnehaha County, and four each in Yankton and Hughes counties during that 12-year time period.

Experts say the number of snakebites is vastly underreported because the bites receive little attention from media, and most victims recover quickly.

Across the United States, an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 snake bites are reported each year, and about five of those victims die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The prairie rattler venom consists of digestive enzymes that attack tissue in the victim, Smith said. Common symptoms include pain and swelling in the area of the bite, numbness in the lips and mouth, nausea and lethargy.

Bites from prairie rattlesnakes are rarely fatal in humans because the snakes are relatively small and do not possess the amount and potency of venom required to quickly kill a human, Smith said. The speed with which medical treatment can now be provided also helps keep fatalities low, he said.

Most hospitals in South Dakota are well-positioned to help someone who has been bitten by a prairie rattlesnake.

According to Darger, Monument Health’s five West River hospitals carry roughly 120 vials of ANAVIP, an equine-derived antivenom. About 60 of those vials reside in Monument Health Rapid City Hospital while the rest are spread among the other four facilities in Sturgis, Custer, Lead-Deadwood and Spearfish.

Avera keeps 30 vials on hand at St. Mary’s in Pierre and 10 at Avera Missouri River Health Center in Gettysburg, Wald Swanson said. Physicians remain in contact and can move patients or the antivenom to any group hospital in an emergency, Wald Swanson said.

Wald Swanson said one dose of ANAVIP consists of 10 vials administered over the first hour. Patients may receive additional doses every hour until the progression of symptoms stabilizes.

The drug costs Monument Health about $1,200 per vial, and each vial has roughly a three-year shelf life. Darger said Monument Health hospitals rarely have to dispose of outdated antivenom.

Treatment of a snakebite victim, depending on severity, often includes emergency room entry, delivery of antivenom and a hospital stay of a couple days for observation, Darger said.

With his first rattlesnake sighting of 2023 checked off, Nester plans to practice several safety precautions, like wearing boots and watching where he walks.

“I don’t alter what I do because of them. But I definitely am pretty cautious if I’m stepping off trails, especially in grass where I really can’t see what’s below me,” he said.

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