You WON'T BELIEVE what I just found in my FRONT YARD!!!

Oh my goodness. That's scary.

I'LL SAY!

Scary!

Yah... You could SAY THAT, Jennifer!

Thats scary. I couldn't imagine a rattlesnake being right in my front yard. Be careful!

OMG - girl get a snake hunter before that thing decides to get aggravated with you. I would be sacred to go outside.

Yikes! Hopefully he doesn't come back!

No, Ang... Really? Ya THINK I SHOULD??? ROFL!!!

A "snake hunter", Rose? Is that like the "Crocodile Hunter"? You KNOW what happened to HIM! (You're not KIDDIN' I'm scared to go outside... CHEEZE!)

"Yikes" INDEED, Steph! Something tells me that he's not gotten too far, though... Call it "intuition"... **shiver**

nasty business, be sure that everyone watches where they step. I used to live where there were a lot of them.

beautiful snake I'm not sure I'd want him for a neighbor well not that close anyway

Well, Wanda... The landlord finds about 3 or 4 of them every year around here... When it starts getting dry, they come down from the hills looking for water... Last year, they killed one down at the landlord's shop that had TEN RATTLES on it!!

Ya darn tootin' I'm watching where I step... You can COUNT on THAT!

He is probably hanging around those nice cosy bricks. Lots of hidey holes and quick getaway spots. Cool when he gets overheated and looks like he can get to a warm spot pretty fast too.

Yah... That's MORE THAN close enough for ME, Vivian...

I was AMAZED how fast he got away, Wanda! It didn't take him TWO MINUTES to get completely OUT OF SIGHT!!!

if you do happen to catch and kill it i am not sure about western rattlers, but the ones here taste so good! i have only been to one rattle bbq but it was great, unforgettable!

I already be packed and in a nice hotel very high up. No way, not me.

Very scary! I would have pissed myself if I walked out to that! I get chills from jus tthe pic itself! I hate snakes!

I hate snakes, I can honestly say they scare the $h!t out of me.

Whoa! Get the shovel!!!

Well, Jeana... I actually ALSO have had rattlesnake to eat one time... My uncle Bill (full-blooded Native American) served it and wouldn't tell me what it was until after I ate a piece... I coulda KILLED HIM! It was an "unforgettable experience", alright...

Katie... Hey... If I had the money, I might be sorely tempted to leave as well right about now...

I'm with you, Trista... Even the PHOTO is scary enough for ME!

Well, Juan, I don't "hate" them BU-UUUT, I really don't want to meet up with this one as I'm watering all the plants tonight...

There were TWO shovels here, Chuck... We just couldn't FIND IT!!! YIKES!

I'm sure I don't know, E.M.... I've never had "the need" before but I don't see how a "wrangler's" gonna find it any better than we could...

Hey, you've got a good mug shot of him. Guess you could start your own '10 most wanted list' on a bulletin board somewhere. That cement blocked area looks cozy and cool, just perfect for a nesting spot for the 'little' guy. ---- C'ya.........wouldn't want to be ya'!!

I hope it doesnt come back!

he sure is pretty. perhaps you can find a clarinet player to charm him into submission? and if you have to kill it, might i suggest turning it into a nice pair of boots?

They are very fast. Your screams made it run.

Maybe putting out a big container of water will lure him out into the open and then you can snare him. It would be nice if you could trap it and release it into the wild. I wouldn't be able to sleep for fear it found a way into the house.

Thanks so much for posting this to
my group

Oh my. One day when we were living in Lake Elsinore California, Will and his little friend Jacob were riding on their little bikes with training wheels and we noticed they were going around in circles screamin' and laughin' and just having a hoot of a time. Come to find out there was a whole batch of baby rattlers slithering around them. They must of just hatched!

See ya, Tanya! ...lol...

ME, TOO, Susan!

Gee, CC, I'm the only woodwind player I know... hmmm....

I pretty much figured that out, JRB... I had no idea before how fast they could be... **shudder**

I'll think I'll let YOU do that, Nana... ROFL! That's what I keep thinking, as well... **shiver**

I've heard the baby ones are worse than the adults because they don't know when to STOP injecting venom, ee... Around here, it's mostly baby ones that kill people... Fortunately, the Western Rattler is (according to what I read about them) quite shy and slow to anger which is why many of them are killed...

yikes!

Jean, that's so creepy! You did get a great picture of it though. Elizabeth's story is what I always have my nightmares about. I didn't know it could really happen!

Snakes are my absolute fear...even have nightmares about them...this creeps me out completely.

you got a great picture of that thing!

My face just turned white as a sheet.

omg, i sure hope you can sleep tonite... eeeewwww...
i'm praying for you...

Indeed, Janet!

Oh, yeah, Jennifer... Lots of nightmares come true, I would suppose... :^(

Me, too, Sue!

Thanks, Susan... I ... guess... lol...

Thanks, CF... Good advice, fer sher... I'm not really so much afraid as I was surprised that it was that close to the house... The Western rattler IS shy ... and has that reputation... The neighbor and my landlord and I did use sticks and went all around the house prodding under things and stuff... The thing is that the Western Rattler is so slow to anger (or so I have read in several different places) that they really don't rattle very much to give you warning... Most of the people who are bitten here are bitten because they step on them accidently just for that reason... There are an abundance of kangaroo rats and field mice all over these hills (my cat regularly brings them in at rate of about 3 per week or so...)

The only reason I kind of freaked about it WAS because of my cat... He has been bitten before by a less than one year old one and almost died... I am hoping ferverently that he learned his lesson, though, and won't go after any more of them...

Sorry about that, Mary... Mine TOO...

That's all I'm worried about, Tinch... I know how to keep out of their way -- hopefully Plunkett does, too, now... **knocking on wood**

Oh, believe me, Necee, I never have any problem sleeping whatsoever -- it's staying awake I have the problem with... lol...

You know I would have been trying to get it to pose for me so I could get a good macro LOL

Snakes don't bother me, but one his size probably would have intimidated me a bit. Kitties are pretty smart once something has harmed them they keep their distance. At least you won't have too much of a rodent problem if he sticks around heh

Yikes! I saw one at work, while on my walking break.

Yah... It was pretty darned BIG, alright, Heather! Yeesh!

Yes, CF... Let's HOPE... :^s

Hmmmm.... Sue.... and you work WHERE? At "Snake World"??? ROFL!

Such a handsome fellow! No rattlers here really. It's the Copperheads you have to look out for in PA. There are Garter snakes just about everywhere though lol. Even in neighborhoods where there is a lot of concrete, you can usually find a garter snake lurking in the alleys looking for young mice and such. Very powerful Creature Teachers, Snakes!

..
U

I don't mind the garter snakes at all! Or gopher snakes (in fact, I LOVE gopher snakes!! being a gardner, for obvious reasons... lol...) or king snakes (we have plenty of those, too)... but I rather draw the line at rattlesnakes... They are the only poisonous snakes we have in CA...

Wow, Jean, what an awesome picture of him. I agree with everyone else, those blocks could provide some good shelter and nesting area. I think I'd have the block filled with dirt and flowers or something, at least it would help a little. He sure is beautiful even though he's dangerous.

He's beautiful!

That is just too scary to think about! Yikes!

Thanks, Toni... This one was WAY too BIG to disappear into the blocks, though, PLUS they are laid so that the "tunnel" of the holes in the middle of each of them goes vertical (straight up and down...) You can look down each one of the stacks and see all the way to the ground... More likely is that the snakes come from the landlord's junk farm which occupies about 3/4 of an acre of approx. 30 junked cars and trucks and forklifts, etc. which is about 50 ft. up the driveway (and, actually, just about every single OTHER square foot of this property...) There are cars, trucks, parts of cars, parts of trucks, old heavy equipment, tanks, old train cars, trailers, sheet metal stacks, lumber, old row boats, pipe, cable spools and hundreds of other items all around us on all 4 sides! PLENTY of places for rattlers to hide! He's a "packrat" who never throws anything away -- in FACT, he cruises Craig's List, the Sunday "Freebies" and the Penny Saver DAILY and then goes out and finds MORE JUNK to bring back here!

I guess so, Moggy... I'd be willing to part with him, if you're interested... CHEAP!

Yah, Sarah... That's what I said: "YIKES"!!!

Yikes for sure!!

I would recommend purchasing some antivenom!

ugg, i bet its hiding in those blocks id be making sure they were filled up with something

You got some good photos of him...just becareful...he doesn't want to hurt you...

I would not rest easy until the snake was found. We had one crawl in our basement one evening through a ground level window. We knew it because our dog was having a fit. My husband had a time locating him in the basement. As it turned out, ours was only a garden snake. Hope you post when the snake is located.

Yep, Dena...

Kimber, do you have any idea how much ANTIVENIN costs? $2,000 per application and you need several applications if bitten...

It's NOT in the "blocks" everyone!! As I said, you see all the way down into each one and he was far TOO big to fit anyway!

Ya know, Jax, I KNOW that you're right about that but, somehow, it's really hard to remember that when you're standing about 4 feet away from it...

Funny you should mention that, Lynn... Yesterday, late in the afternnoon, I heard this bird just outside the window having a FIT... It just kept on chirping and fussing REALLY LOUDLY for about 5 minutes... I went outside and walked over to where it was in a small tree, looked down and there was a baby rattlesnake right there... I grabbed the shovel and... well... sorry all you animal lovers but it's in "rattler heaven" now... It'd be impossible to find all of the rattlers around here, Lynn... There's probably hundreds in these hills... I just hope this big guy has "moved on", so to speak...

So what happened with the rattler?
I'm a little spooked because one of the snakes I saw around here last year - looked a bit like him, but by the time I got the camera he was gone.
We have a lot of black snakes - which are good to keep the vermin at bay and I have learned not to be afraid of them - just keeping my distance.

The snake hunters? Well, Jean when I lived in Texas they had snake hunters who rounded up sack fulls of them rattlers every year. The record was over one hundred by one person and fathers taught it to their sons.
They used the venom at some lab somewhere and many threw the rattlers in with their famous chili cook offs as the 'secret' ingredient.
It was sort of an annual round up and they would report it on the news as to how many they got that year.

Well, he never showed back up (thank GAWD), Rose... I've heard about the "round-up" in Texas... I know there are people around here that round them up but it would take 200 of them to round up all the ones that are in these hills, I'm afraid...

And thanks for the heads-up... I'm going to avoid any "Texas chili" I'm offered in the future, I think...