[corkybstewart]

Rattlers are very passive.  A few years ago I was standing on a cliff with some clients watching deer drink from the stream below us.  Ronnie was standing about a foot from me, and I was looking at a strange patter on the rocks between our feet-it was a spiral with a triangle in the middle.  After literally a couple of minutes I realized what it was and shoved Ronnie away.  Even then it didn't move and nobody else could see it.   It wasn't until I tapped it with a stick that it came unhinged.  We left it alone but it was fun walking through 1/4 mile of brush to get back to the rig.  Every twig that snapped was a rattlesnake to these guys, it was pretty funny.

Unfortunately tourists who come to the desert parks out here are under the terrible misconception that they don't have to worry about rattlesnakes because they'll rattle if you get close.  My experience is that they usually only rattle after you've stepped on them and by then it's too late.  They can be a real problem at drilling rigs,  I guess it's the vibration that attracts them.  I had one strike at my boot from underneath a skid mounted mud pit one night.  Every time I walked by he struck my boot but because he was underneath the pit he couldn't hit above my ankle and my work boots protected me.  It wasn't until the sun came up that we found him and I realized what I had been feeling  for the past 3 or 4 hours.  Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling in your bowels.

[SpanishCastleAle]

here in FL we've got bunches of snakes. including all kinds of non-native species that people have let go and have 'gone native' here. I'm sure you've all seen web pics of the exploding python that ate the alligator. more of the craziness that is FL. at least they're all edible.

+1.  There is a big Burmese Python problem in the Everglades from pet releases.  They're really screwing with the ecosystem there and are apparently very hard to find.
TIME article on it.

[morticaixavier]

I've dropped into grain bins in the morning and been surprised (at least the first time) by rattlers in western NE.  Even then they didn't strike.  I stood still while the rest of the building team raised the bin a few inches and the snakes all left.  Live and let live, I guess.  Except for rabbits in my flower beds.  Rabbits in my yard are dead rabbits if I can make it happen.

Paul

sounds like you need MORE rattle snakes to take care of the fuzzy bunnies!

do you eat them after you make them dead?

[jaybeerman]

except I haven't yet figured out what fireants are good for.

Yep, I hate pissants too. 

This whole thread reminds me of the book "rant" by chuck palasomethingorother

[cheba420]

We live in AZ and there are plenty of rattlers here. I've done a lot of hiking in the 16 years I've been in the desert and have only come across a rattler twice in that time. Both were babies and both were in the spring time. The first one just went off into the desert. The second one had to be beheaded because it was on our property and we have dogs.

As I drive around the last week or two, I've seen a few dead, flat ones in the street. I would agree that it is indeed that time of year!

[majorvices]

Totally understand removing or killing them if you have dogs or children. That said, most of the fear of them is totally overblown. The one you kill that you see doesn't do anything for the half dozen you step right next to or over that you or your dogs or kids don't see,  Seriously, they are extremely passive creatures, but I do understand the hysteria and fear. Just don' t respect it much.

Rattlesnake story.

Couple years ago a neighbor built a house up the road only a short walk from me and he called me one day scared out of his wits. "There's a snake under my lawn mower!"

"What kind of snake" I ask.

"A black snake."

I'm chuckling to myself because I think this big guys is scared of a black racer, how funny is that?

Anyway, I mosey on down there and as I come around the corner of his house I can hear the rattle raging as his two dogs are barking under the mower. Black snake, eh? I took a peak under the lawn mower and there was a huge .... a HUGE rattle snake under there.

It had to be removed, especially since the guy's wife would never come out of the house again (which, on hind sight and further acquaintance of her I realize now would have actually been a good thing.)

So he gives me the key to the riding lawn mover and I .... I climbed on top of that lawn mower with that snake rattling like hell under neath me. That was unnerving, I can assure you. It took me several minutes to figure out how to actually start the lawn mower up. The neighbor would shout directions to me from across the yard - he wasn't getting anywhere near those things.

I admit to being fairly rattled myself (pun intended) because the rattle of the snake was amplified by the blade cage and I was sitting directly over the top of the thing. In memory all I could here was that rattle and his directions were faint and confusing. But I finally turned the motor on and put the thing in gear.

Probably you are wondering why I didn't just turn the blade on and kill the thing then and there. Well, I should probably explain that the neighbor was nervously handling a shotgun and I could just picture that snake coming out in pieces and him shooting indiscriminately and me getting in the way. So instead, I just put the mower in gear and backed off the things, becoming more scared of my neighbor's gun than the snake as I did so.

And to my surprise there was not just one rattle snake but two - no wonder the thing looked so damn big and rattled so loud!

Anyway, the things just took off, slithering for cover, never molesting anyone. They didn't have a chance though. It only took two shots and they were done for. They did get eaten though. So I never felt too bad about it.

[MrNate]

Rattlesnake is best deep fried, served with an American Pale Ale and cole slaw.

True dat.

I think my grandmother had it right where rattlers and mocs are concerned. If they were on her property, the .410 came out.

[tygo]

Rattlesnake is best deep fried, served with an American Pale Ale and cole slaw.

True dat.

I think my grandmother had it right where rattlers and mocs are concerned. If they were on her property, the .410 came out.

My granny used a .22.  But she was mostly after ground hogs.

[1vertical]

The one time I consumed Fried Diamondback (big un Texas style)
I recall it was not that bad on the palate.  However the Black Dreams
bordering on Nightmares and visions of death and dying were not
pleasant....Why that happened I don't know, but I wondered if it
affected other folks in the same fashion??

[punatic]

Sounds like you were channeling Tim Burton.  Perhaps you were washing it down with beer that was made with brew water treated with Burton Salts?  

[morticaixavier]

Sounds like you were channeling Tim Burton.  Perhaps you were washing it down with beer that was made with brew water treated with Burton Salts?  

Ahh, the name is illustrated! I am currently screaming, holding my nose and running out of the room