Is it not from Little Orphan Annie?
Cowboys loved a colorful phrase! This was a fun way of describing being alive. If you were still above the snakes, you were above the ground.
All snakes where alive at that time
There is no such phrase as "eat you".
A 'dead man walking' is a person freely walking and moving (i.e. alive) but certainly very soon-to-be killed.
There is no such phrase. There is a word rampage. It is of Scottish origin, perhaps from RAMP, to rear up.
"on the rocks"
There are three widely reported suggestions as to the origin of this phrase: BBC sports commentaries, board games like snakes and ladders and playground games like hopscotch.
"Reptilia" is the origin of it, which is a latin word.
The Spanish for "I have put" is he puesto, could this be the origin?
Millions of years
vulchers,badgers,snakes.
Amen - 1986 Snakes Alive 2-12 was released on: USA: 2 January 1988