Anyone have rattlesnake advice?

I have a rattlesnake living in the drainpipe next to my front door.

My neighbor said to kill it, but I've never killed anything before and it seems wrong. I guess it's dangerous to have it living so close to my front steps. Any ideas?

Also, I have an irrational snake phobia to begin with so I'm not loving this situation.

or the humane society - they might find a way to capture it without killing it
stay far from it though!!!!!

Thanks for the advice.

I just got a delivery at the house and it scared the hell out of the driver. I ran to warn him, but he parked about a foot from the snake. I'll be very happy to see him relocated.

:hi:

The animal control guy thinks that she is pregnant. So, it was good timing.

Animal control is now my favorite branch of law enforcement. He removed the snake within an hour and said he will release it this afternoon.

Good job for the officer too!

Thanks for letting us know. I love Animal Control. :hug: They have a thankless, invisible job most of the time.

If they won't handle it, they can put you in touch, I'm sure, with somebody who can.

Or a Game Warden? Call them. They will either come out and pick it up, or tell you the best way to deal with it.

can't you call someone (animal control?) to remove it and take it for release somewhere? or try to trap it? pardon my ignorance re: poisonous snakes, I have only had to deal with woodchuck relocation where I live. tough situation, I wouldn't want to make a false move there...

He could grab it behind the neck and toss it to his child.

They aren't that hard to catch. People here use forked sticks to pin down the head right behind the neck, and pick it up behind the neck. They have roundups here where people then stuff them in sacks.

Might not be good to try with a snake phobia. Not a good time to suddenly get the creeps and let go, since he's likely to be mad. But there are people who do that kind of thing routinely.

That your local animal control office will tell you to call a private company for nuisance critters.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm getting on the horn right now.

Rattle snakes are poisonous, but not usually fatal to adults. They are also not likely to bite you unless it feels threatened, so don't threaten it.

I'm not advocating leaving it there. It can be fatal to children and small animals, and can breed baby rattlers (which are more lethal, supposedly, than adult rattlers). Just that you don't panic about it. Call someone to remove it nonlethally, if you can. Or, if there are two ends to the drain pipe, block off your end. Or, find something unpleasant to the snakes, and fill the hole with it. Mothballs tend to bother most animals.

Generally speaking, rattlesnakes don't want to have anything to do with you. If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone.

On the other hand, this fellow has moved into the drainpipe next to
your front door. That's a bad spot. One day he might misinterpret some
innocent activity there by the front door as aggression. Then he will fight.

Another real problem is a dog or cat may happen by and decide to fool around with this snake. It will be the last thing they ever do.

All in all, it seems to me the best thing to do is dispatch this snake back to the Great Wheel of Karma. ;)

Local university perhaps? Local zoo might be able to give you some help. The suggestions above are better but in case those do not work out try these. Please do not kill it, it does not sound like you want to. You might want to do something to make the pipe less appealing to snakes after it is gone.

a show called "Venom ER" on the Animal Planet. Some of those California rattlesnakes can be really bad. Some people get very bad reactions from the bites and/or antivenin, with a couple of deaths a year. Get someone to get it out of there - fast, before it bites someone. That's a very dangerous place for it to be.

.

And bad for the mongoose.

nt

Tastes great.

I don't kill them UNLESS they comee in the yard. Rattlesnakes are not allowed that close to me and my family. When it is out sunning quietly chop its head off with a shovel. If you miss you will likely not get another chance. You can try to pin it with a rake or other long-handled tool. Then cut, tear or chop of the head. Bury or dispose of safely - they can remain poisonous for quite some time. the rattle makes a nice rear view mirror decoration.;) When I see gopher (bull) snakes I catch them and bring them to my yard - they supposedly are immune and will kill and eat rattlers. (no proof, that I know of, but figure if they are getting the prey there will be no need for mr rattler to hang around)

I can't even go inside pet stores where I have to walk past the snakes.

I would suggest covering the exit and waiting for animal control.

Don't kill it. Don't let them kill it. If they want to kill it, call a Herpetologist (or company that specializes in moving Rattlesnakes, etc) who will move it to a safe area.

I happen to love Rattle Snakes.

mortal enemy of the rattler.

It's sex with someone I love.

Does this help?

I'm just wondering.. many times people confuse gopher snakes for rattlesnakes. The gopher snake has defense mechanisms to help in this confusion as well.

The guy from animal control said it's one of the bigger rattlers that he's ever seen.

He said gopher snakes rattle leaves on their tail as a defense mechanism.

I read your update above. I was dreading reading a "I killed it with a shovel" thing.

Rattlesnakes are slow and often coil when threatened (if they cant run which they will try to do also) and easy prey for humans. It doesnt take a tough guy to kill a rattlesnake with a shovel.. it takes a tough guy to move them to safer area and let them live their life where they serve an important purpose.

You did a good thing today.

Glad it all worked out.

It would have been really awful to kill her. But, I'm happy to have her living further from my home.

I'm going to try to make my house less snake friendly. I'm going to put screens on all my drainage pipes and around the foundation.

My cats are scaring away the snake food supply. They are encouraging the lizards to relocate away from the house.

They dont chase people... they mind their own beeswax.

This is the reason they are such easy prey for people.


Did it rattle?

I'm asking because some herpetologists believe the instinct to rattle is being bred out of the rattlesnake due to the fact the snakes that have a propensity to rattle are getting killed off.

The animal control guy picked it up by the tail so I don't think it could rattle.

I used to be a forest firefighter and we saw snakes all the time. I think the fires brought them out. I can think of about three times that I got rattled at. But, those snakes were under a lot of stress because they were about to get cooked alive.

I also stepped on a king snake once and it made a rattling sound with its' mouth. That took at least one year off my life.

I might have said "treating it humanely" but the human way of relating to snakes is not very nice.

I never understand the motivation for releasing captured "pest" animals somewhere else. Does anybody ever give any thought to what that actually means in terms of that animal's actual surviveability? Its much more humane to just dispatch them quickly. Releasing an animal into an area it is unfamiliar with, potentially into a rival's territory is tantamount to torture. The animal was dangerous, in your space (yes perhaps that was originally ITS space but get real, you want to move?) have the huevos to kill it outright. I think its a chicken sh*t way to behave by letting it go "free".

how many live rattlesnakes have you held?

I dont believe I am chickenshit about rattlesnakes at all.. maybe a little stupid as I really like em.. and I doubt they would ever return the favor... but to consider me chickenshit is not a fair accusation.

And I disagree with you 100% on your catch and release opinion. The snake, especially if in a latter stage of pregnancy, found a nice comfy hole (likely chased out of its original home) and made a new home.

They are quite adaptable. the "rival" thing is completely untrue IMO. It is not a mammal. It will find its way.

"They are quite adaptable."
I'll give you that - they certainly aren't endangered by any stretch of the imagination.



"the "rival" thing is completely untrue IMO."
Well you cover your ass by saying IMO, but wonder if you have any documentation?





"It is not a mammal. It will find its way."
HUH? This doesn't make any sense biologically or any other way that I can think of.

I suggest "Rattlesnakes" by Klauber- it is recognized as the bible for herpetologists on Rattlesnakes... expensive but worth it.

done in the field in the last 30 years re territories, movement/migration etc

http://www.sdnhm.org/research/herpetology/rattlfaq.html

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Rattlesnakes have home ranges, but they do not defend them as a territory. Generally, a home range is the area that an animal will spend most of its time acquiring resources and seeking mates. Rattlesnakes will not stand guard over them and fight other rattlesnakes for the control of an area. A rattlesnake will use a hole, or other refuge, as a place to rest, but when the resources are reduced (the rodents are eaten up) it will move on to greener and more rodent-filled pastures (but, within its home range).

big word, ready? Predation. An organism released into a strange environment is at much greater risk of predation.

My point is/was in trying to get folks to think beyond the convenient feel-good satisfaction that release is some kind of happy ending for thier little wildlife problems. Bottom line, I am just not that sentimental about rattlesnakes to get too active about this. I enjoy watching them outside of my yard, have lots of photos etc. Follow some of the work of ecologists studying them in the local area. Have had at least two dogs killed by them, have also learned it makes very little difference if your pet gets veterinary care and costs a fortune if you try. Some dogs can handle it even to the face. I've seen the damage they can do to livestock and presumably other animals, but also that cattle survive often enough. I don't kill them out and about, only in my yard. My son was 18 months old when he was bitten by a newly hatched coontail IN MY HOUSE. It took 12 that's TWELVE, vials of antivenin to get him over it. That was 14 years ago, I would hate to know how much that would cost now.

I expect that only the smallest portion of the population has
A) the requisite skill
B) the gnads

to move a rattlesnake. I would not think that everyone who sees a rattlesnake should run up and try to move it. If its a choice between getting a kid or your dog, etc hurt and killing it, kill it. I've killed rattlesnakes myself and I dont cry when I see a dead rattlesnake; its not that big of a deal, and it certainly does not make someone more of a man to be able to do so.

By the same token the poster obviously did not even want to kill it or get near it, so I, like others reccommended calling someone who could. No only that, if it is in a drain pipe (as opposed to in a yard).. that requires extracting it from the drain pipe. I would not suggest someone with a phobia of snakes extract a rattlesnake from a pipe and kill it.

The poster did exactly the right thing. Not everyone can kill a rattlesnake.. and nor should they be expected to. Even fewer can actually safely move one... and people can't be expected to do that either.

She called Animal Control (their job) The animal control officer possessed the proper skill level and demeanor for removing and relocating the snake and did it. Thats good.

P.S. Predation is not that big of a word, so dont get to proud of yourself.

Making points like:
My child, my dogs, my cattle and everyone else has been onslaughted by gaggles of attacking rattlesnakes and as such, I kill all rattlesnakes that enter my yard
or
I'm scared of the rattlesnakes and kill them all

make some sense.

I dont release wild reptiles back to the wild because they might get killed by another wild animal/reptile.

Makes no sense. Thats how they live anyway.

But there are plenty of stupid young to middle aged men who think they do. They are the ones who usually end up at the local hospital trying to explain why they were handling a venemous reptile. Good example keeping one in captivity for your kids, by the way.

of teaching kids. And we have different methods of dealing with rattlesnakes. Yep, I could end up in the hospital one day telling them I was goofing with a rattlesnake like a dumbass and got bit.

So what, thats my risk.

My children nor my dogs nor anyone else near me have been bit.. knock on wood. We have different methods and different results. Maybe yours is better.. maybe not.

Maybe I have more snakes. Whatever. Hope you don't get bit, its painfull and expensive. Hope your kids don't get bit, its scary and that would be way more embarrassing than explaining why you did.

I have a Barn where I keep many animals and reptiles.. its not in the house or garage.

I caught it and kept it about awhile, wanted to film it eating, which I did, check it out, etc.. then it got cold and started snowing.. Couldnt let it go then.

Its stupid to keep it when I have kids, as has been pointed out by my less than pleased wife on 9 million occasions.. I guess I'll take it away this weekend. has to be done...

Seriously. I would be tempted in my younger (and stupider) days, but not with kids around - just the liability of their friends! Much less that bozo friend or brother in law that we all have!

I don't know about rattlesnakes. I guess that if we could ask the rattlesnake, it would prefer a second chance in hostile territory to immediate death.

Even if you release an animal to an area claimed by another same species animal.. it will quickly learn its lesson and move on. Usually the fight will be quick with the loser (all things being equal, the invader will usually lose) and will leave. Fights to the death happen.. but they are not the rule. Besides.. at least the animal has a chance.. against a human, animals do not fair well in most instances.

Now if our resident tough guy wants to lay on the ground and take on the rattlesnake using only his mouth.. hey thats a fair fight.. i'd pay to see that.

I guess if we could ask it would probably prefer we didn't build a house in its habitat, unless we had a rodent problem, in which case I guess it would say please send me a foolish peta member to live in this rodent infested stucco box so that I may live on the front porch with impunity. Oh and no more deliveries. And you might want to keep the kids and pets someplace less TOLERANT. That or maybe it would ask to live in a nice terrarium.

pipe!!!!

made me laugh...

Sorry, but I have a real problem with that part of people that screams: KILL IT...KILL IT...KILL IT!!!! I used to kill rattlers, too. It's what I was taught, but I've decided I don't want to be that way. Rattlesnakes have a place, too. Giving the snake a chance in a different habitat was the right thing to do. Snakes can go up to a year without eating. Having babies will take a lot out of this snake, but she'll still have a few months to find a meal before she loses too much condition.

Finding a kingsnake to dispatch the rattlesnake wouldn't have worked in this case. The rattlesnake was probably way too big to be eaten by any kingsnake species. If it was the one of the largest rattlers the animal control officer had ever seen, only a very, very large kingsnake from the getula group could have eaten it...maybe not even then. Besides, kingsnakes are opportunistic and will only go after another snake (lizard, rodent, etc.) if they're actually hungry. If they are hungry, they'll eat virtually anything they can overpower, including their own species.

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This is my Arizona Mt. kingsnake, Aragorn, and me during a bout of Homo sapiens insomnia. Aragorn is a fairly large king. It would take a much larger snake than this to dispatch a really big rattler.

My Albino Rat Snake and Arizona Glossy (babies)


theyre kinda hard to see.. I should take a better pic some time.

and my Rattler

I could never keep a venomous snake. I get bitten way too much as it is. ;) And my snakes sometimes get out. Yeah, I need a pet rattler like I need a hole in the head. :) I sometimes dream about handling rattlesnakes and in my dreams, I always get bitten.

I need to brush up on differentiating rattlenake species...is that a Northern Pacific? That's the species we have here.

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Here are some more of my snakes:


Bayou, the male Louisiana milksnake


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Bijou, the female Louisiana milksnake


She was a yearling when I got her, but so tiny! She's grown a lot since this pic. So has Bayou.

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Some more pics of my favorite: Aragorn the Arizona Mt. king:





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Arwen, Aragorn's mate:



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I also have eight baby corn snakes: three Okeetees, three albino Okeetees, a crimson and a hypo. They were shipped to California all the way from Kathy Love in Florida and got off to a shaky start, so I am leaving them alone most of the time. That's why I don't have any pictures.

Except its a desert snake and I use sand in it so he can bury himself.. but the bowl is exact color and everything and the 1/2 hollow wood... uncanny!

I didnt intend to keep it.. My son found it and I captured it to teach my kids about rattlesnakes.. then winter came and I of course didnt want to let it go.. its summer time and I should let it go.. but I like it... I'll let it go soon.. *sob*

Just be very, very careful and don't get bitten, please. :) That would really suck.

This is what I did on Easter Sunday. I found a couple of nice gopher snakes on the road. It was fun.

As I live in a Rattlesnake area, A few people who know me have called me to relocate their new found pets also.

My snake a western rattlesnake I believe (not a diamond back.. regular ole western)


Hey, whats one lil ole rattlesnake bite among friends? :)

Northern California only has Northern Pacific rattlers. In Southern California, there are Western diamondbacks, Mojaves, Southern Pacific, speckled (I think) and sidewinders. The southern species are much more dangerous than the northern species, especially the hemotoxic and neurotoxic Mojave. Like I said, I really would like to brush up on the ranges and coloration of the various rattlesnakes species.

As you no doubt know, rattlers have a very fast strike, so do be careful. I have zero training when it comes to handling venomous species, so it would be insane for me to even try it. I was watching "Venom ER" on Animal Planet last week and a middle-aged fellow actually died from a Southern Pacific rattler bite. Deaths are rare, but they still happen. It was a good lesson for me because I'm always tempted to touch wildlife. Luckily, I know my California snakes well enough to handle them safely: just don't touch the rattlers!!!

When I was trying to figure out what type it is.. my pics show the spots turning to stripes near the tail on the NP... it looks more like a western. I'm in the sierra, we have Western Rattlers here. Very close snakes in look though.

she just made a poor housing choice. :-) Hopefully she'll be happier in her new residence.

Snakes are nasty, malevolent, slithery, killers. They are nastybad. I would kill it. But that's just because I have a severe phobia w/ snakes.

Sautée in butter, garlic and scallions, season with rosemary and serve on a bed of saffron rice.
Next question?

I've had more than a few rattler run-ins from my early years in South Texas, and chances are, if you locate one snake, there's likely to be another one (or two) nearby. Be very careful.....