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Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

MotleyCrue

MotleyCrue

misfit
In my sisters backyard! What a gorgeous beast too! S/he was around 4 1/2 - 5 feet long and thick. Pretty sure shes been eating the rabbits around their yard. I've never encountered one in the wild and I was extremely excited for a chance to photograph it. So excited I forgot to check my exposure and everything turned out dark. Thanks to post processing though you can actually see what I got.

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See how wide and flat her head is.

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Sadly there are no venomous animal response units near us and since there are lots of little kids and animals running around, my brother in law killed it. I gave it the justice of a burial, but I am very sad they couldn't just let it go.
 
Gorgeous animal. Wasn't hurting anybody and was taking care of rodents. At the very least he should have been allowed to eat wild rodents somewhere else. Shame on your brother in law, he destroyed a thing of beauty for no good reason.....
 
I agree with everyone. It is a shame. I can understand his reasoning, but I still don't agree with what he did. The most important thing is that my nephew did not get bit. For that I am thankful.
 
They're beautiful snakes. I wish more areas had facilities and services to capture/relocate venomous snakes from inhabited areas. There was a mom at homeschool co-op last week, who has a beautiful, certified wildlife habitat yard, talking about getting a neighbor to kill a copperhead because she feared for her children. Poor snakey!
 
Wow! Great pics! The Eastern variety seem much more beautiful than their Western counterparts... where I'm from. I guess its because of the desert. Your Eastern guys seem much more colorful and "clean". :)

Sorry that it was killed... I'm the "snake guy" on our campus that captures and relocates the snakes that are found. I have heard that the relocated animals might have less chance of surviving because of relocation... but at least the animal has that chance... as opposed to being cut to pieces by a shovel.
 
Now being childless (happily) and living in Rhode Island (not so happily) I am probably talking out of my butt here. If I am, please let me know.

But it seems to me that if you live in rattlesnake terratory there is a good chance that you won't see all the snakes in an area. There could always be more. Now if you are a responsible pet owner, you know this and don't let them wander outdoors freely and unsupervised. Also, if you have toddlers and very young children, and are a responsible parent, you don't let them wander outdoors freely and unsupervised. Older children are capable of learning what is safe and what to stay away from so in this case, a parent should take the time to teach them.
There is no reason to kill ANYTHING.
 
starsevol said:
Now being childless (happily) and living in Rhode Island (not so happily) I am probably talking out of my butt here. If I am, please let me know.

But it seems to me that if you live in rattlesnake terratory there is a good chance that you won't see all the snakes in an area. There could always be more. Now if you are a responsible pet owner, you know this and don't let them wander outdoors freely and unsupervised. Also, if you have toddlers and very young children, and are a responsible parent, you don't let them wander outdoors freely and unsupervised. Older children are capable of learning what is safe and what to stay away from so in this case, a parent should take the time to teach them.
There is no reason to kill ANYTHING.
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I agree with you... No real reason to kill ANYTHING. I make an announcement each spring and fall about the snake issues here. I remind the other House-Parents and staff that they need to clean up their yards and play areas so that snakes can't "hide-out" where their children are playing. Most of the time, summers are so hot that you never see them, that's why I make the announcements in the spring and fall when the weather is just PERFECT for finding those snakes that still live on our campus... or for the snakes to accidentally find us.

We also have a barn - which means rodents - which means snakes... We hardly run into any though as - per their modus operandi - they usually can "feel" us coming before we know they're there. Those that we do run into, I capture and bring to an area where there's plenty of water and lots of prey (less than 3 miles away). I'm hoping that the snakes that I do relocate can find food and shelter there and thrive. The alternative or "pre-Fred" way to deal with them was just to kill each and every one... rattlers / kings / bulls / racers, etc.

Finally was able to convince my boss to buy me some snake tongs (Gentle Giant) so we could more effectively remove the rattlers and worry less about getting bitten.

I've gotta say, though, with respect to the OP, that there are those (like the B-i-L) that simply know no other way... I've had to deal with them here. I'm sure that the OP would have done something else if they could have.
 
That is a real pretty snake, shame that the law states you have to kill it...The poor snake..I have always wanted to see one in person :)
 
That might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I'd love for you to show me that law. Even if it were true, there's a saying about bad laws.
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griff531 said:
That is a real pretty snake, shame that the law states you have to kill it...The poor snake..I have always wanted to see one in person :)
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Pardon me, I'm going to clean that bit of crap out of my ear and hope it was just a blob of ridiculous keeping me from hearing you correctly. *cough*

That is false. Like big big false. 20ft black rat snake false.

Some states list certain types of rattlesnakes as a protected species. Florida does not, but there are a few who do. No state mandates that you kill them.

It's a damn shame this animal had to die.

Next time: You Want to Know How to Kill Snakes?
 
BloodyBaroness said:
Next time: You Want to Know How to Kill Snakes?
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Great Link!

It is a shame that people can't let creatures be.

My nephew, who found the snake, heard the rattle and froze. Smart kid, didn't move, located the snake, and then backed away. Thanks to my influence, he knew to leave it alone.

Just to make it clear. I did NOT want this snake dead. I do NOT condone killing venomous snakes for no cause, or any animal for that matter. I could offer him no alternative other then "leave it alone it it will go away". I have not handled venomous snakes before and did not think I should start now. Though I think I may take some time to learn how to safely catch and then release venomous so that I may avoid this exact situation in the future.
 
Motley, get some really long tongs, and then you can grab the snake from a distance. Put it into a big bin and take it out to the woods to release it away from the yard... Honestly if they would have left the snake alone they may have seen it for a couple of days and then not for years. That is the way it was with my 5'3" speckled king where I used to live. Snakes rather prefer to stay away from high traffic areas, so it probably would have relocated itself given time. Possibly the poor guy/gal was just passing through.
 
To play devil's advocate here, yes it was a shame to kill the snake. But if the person was not experienced enough to relocate the snake and would be taking a big risk of self injury or injury to children, then we should not condemn them for the act. Not everyone sees our beloved creatures as we do. We ask them to respect our feelings about them, so why can't we respect theirs? Also before someone brings it up, not all areas have a service that comes out and removes them for you. No I do not condone killing the snakes, but here if I am not around and one of the family is in possible danger from a venomous snake, I do not condemn them for killing one.
 
You know. All of my friends know that I do not enjoy killing snakes, but I will use what they have killed. Though most respect nature and tend to leave it alone. But they know that if they ever have to kill a rattler that I will use the pelt and meat, so they keep me on speed dial. I have yet to recieve a call to come get a dead rattler though...LOL. I won't kill them myself, but I will eat what they kill, and use the skin for something.
 
This is a very nice looking Rattler, shame it had laid to rest. I had a giant cotton-mouth hanging above my doorway once, before I was raising snakes, and I got my neighbor to come over and get it down. He took it over to a abandoned house and set it free. I was happy it wasn't killed. Now that I know more about snakes and have the equipment to handle ones at a distance, I've been talking to my Customers at Lowe's telling them (when we start talking about animals) if they ever have a rattler or any other type of snake to give me a call and I'll come get it and relocate it.

I remember one year, when I was little, a rat snake had gotten into the neighboring library. I was the only one who'd get close to it, then animal control came and "got rid of it"... I had the unlucky fortune of seeing how they did just that.

I've been working with my local animal control too, if they have snakes they're going to "get rid of" to hit me up and I'll relocate them... they said they'll take me up on it if it's not venomous... its a start at least.
 
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