Rattler Scare

I guess it is time to sit the children down and talk to them yet again about what to do when you see a snake outside.

Hubby gave the children a chore to do this afternoon while he slept (works graveyard tonight). They had to weed the garden in preparation of the next planting. I'm inside feeding hatchlings when my daughter comes in saying "Hey Mom! You want to catch a snake? It's in the garden all curled up and not running away!" Me: "What does it look like?" Jennifer: "It's dark brown with spots and has a poofy head!" as she makes the motion of a large jaw at the back of the head. Me, knowing that my son, who is 11, is still outside with it: "It's a rattlesnake! Leave it alone! Don't touch it or even go near it! Where's your brother?" as I run out the door. I already have my camera, but nothing else, and as I turn the corner of the house, both children are in the garden bending over and pointing towards the ground close to their feet. I yell: "Step back away from it!! Let me in so I can see what it is!" And as I look down, sure enough, a lovely pygmy rattlesnake no moving a muscle, doing it's best to keep hidden as best it could.

I tell my children to go inside and get my snake hook and a snake container from the garage, and hurry. I start taking photos. They basically all look alike as the snake didn't move and I wasn't about to go messing around, changing my position or the snake's. The children finally get back, naturally, it's a shoebox-size container, and then they start asking me again what it is. I reiterate it is a pygmy rattle snake and that it is venomous and they are NEVER to get too close to ANY snake they see outside.

I do some fancy maneuvering with my snake hook and the container and get the snake in it and the lid on. Next words out of Jennifer's mouth are: "Can we keep it?" My immediate response is: "H_LL NO!" I have the snake in my garage/snake room, and plan on relocating it down the road...unless someone fairly local with the proper permits to keep hots would like it. It is much darker than the ones I usually see around here. The first photo is without the flash, the second on is. No alterations other than being cropped. And if someone wants it, they need to take possession of it very very soon. OH, Jennifer has already named it....Jimmy.

Congrats on a safe capture! Glad to hear everyone is OK also. So glad I don't have those problems.

That's a cool Pygmy!!!! Glad everyone is OK. Personally, I love living where the occasional snake pops up!!!! Raised three kids in Texas and it does require vigilance/education but ut's worth it!!!! One snake found, one snake, saved!!! Now if we could just get away from the Scorpions, Wasps, and Black Widows. You'd be amazed how they can get this child's 250 lbs. moving!!!!

Pat G-C

Hey Susan!!!! By the shell, I still miss the Dragon Avatar!!!!!
Pat G-C

Wow- adorable!!! I've never seen one in the wild. I don't hang out at Walmart's Garden Center enough, I guess! Poofy head, lol!!

Nice capture/relocate and I'm glad the kids are safe, Susan! At least they knew not to touch it. Nice capture/relocate.

Just the other day, I was walking the dogs at about 4:00 am... at 5:30 am the sun had come up and right where I had walked the dogs not 90 minutes earlier was a large 3 foot DOR rattlesnake. YIKES! Wonder how close we were to that guy just a bit earlier...

Thanks for sharing the pics!

glad everyone's ok! Pygmy rattlesnakes do look cool,but not in the garden lol I know that's a scary situation-- Last year when my daughter was 6,my husband & I were sitting on the porch & she was playing by our garden,she told us 'there's a snake!' at first we figured it was just some ribbon snake(we get alot of those) anyway,we went to look & it was a baby Western Cottonmouth,still had it's yellowish/green tail,curled up on some leaves in the garden. we went to get things to capture it & of course it took off while we were gone for that minute. We have learned though that in May around 5pm is a popular time for them to come out. We live south of Houston,outside the city & a canal runs along our property & we have a large natural pond along the back of our property,so snakes of all kinds come with the territory---so we keep a poster of our local venomous snakes pinned up on the wall & our kids know not to touch no matter what kind of snake,just come get us.

Beautiful little guy! "Jimmy" htat's cute
I hope you find a suitable home for him soon, one way or another.

It's just a bit upsetting when you think you've taught them well, yet they can't identify a rattle snake when they see one. A-#1 identifying trait...triangle head, and it didn't click, even though they saw it and described it. At least they knew not to call it poisonous! They were both using the term "venomous".

Its a good thing they saw it!! They are so cryptic! Ive seen two before while working down there, plus a couple more DOR. Amazing little critters with a big attitude. He is very dark compared to the ones I have seen, gorgeous!

well,they did do good not to touch it & come get you though Pygmy Rattlers aren't one of the venomous snakes commonly shown on animal shows,even adults probably have issues identifying them. we got a venomous snake poster from our local snake expert...maybe someone close to ya'll has posters that show the venomous snakes in your area.

Yeah, a while back a friend of mine's kid got popped by a pygmy thinking it was a hognose snake. And he knew snakes fairly well. Was riding down a road on his bicycle, saw the snake, got off the bike to pick it up, and wound up in the emergency room.

Here's an interesting video I saw a while back about a snake bite in the garden. If you live in an area with venomous snakes, you really do need to be careful...

Last week my husband and our two boys went on a hike. Our seven year old was up ahead on the trail when he called, "Snake!" It was only a garter in blue, but I was thrilled to know that the kid was paying attention and watching where he stepped.

Susan said:

It's just a bit upsetting when you think you've taught them well, yet they can't identify a rattle snake when they see one. A-#1 identifying trait...triangle head, and it didn't click, even though they saw it and described it. At least they knew not to call it poisonous! They were both using the term "venomous".

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And didn't notice the rattle...

ShenziSixaxis said:

And didn't notice the rattle...

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Pygmy's don't have a rattle like other rattle snakes.


Susan it sounds like you've done a great job teaching them. They didn't touch it, one watched it, one came and got the expert to decide what to do with it. If they would of left it alone and not told you about it, the danger would of still been there only you would of not known where the danger was hiding. Neat snake, I've seen them in the wild before but not quite that dark.

I swear I'm seeing a rattle on that thing. Tiny, and the end of the tail before it is bright. *shrug*

Yes, it has a rattle...3 little knobs at the end of that light tail. He wasn't using it at all when we first found him, but he sure was rattling it yesterday morning when I went to release him! But to be honest, baby corn snakes make more noise when they rattle than this thing did! He was released just on the other side of the main highway less than 1/2 mile "as the crow flies" away from home. It's an undeveloped large chunk of star-owned land and hopefully he has enough sense to not try to cross 4 lanes of busy highway.