If Anyone Has Questions or Concerns About Rattlesnakes

Tom

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I've heard helleri is a little more reactive than oreganus. Never heard of them chasing anyone, but a year ago, I'd have said NO snake would chase a human. Then this summer, my rescue partner approached a large gopher snake to move him off a road, and he threw himself at her so hard that he landed on his back. She took a step back to let him calm down, and he just kept throwing himself at her. Eventually, she just gave up and picked him up. He bit her five or six times on the way to being released. It was such bizarre behavior. Our only theory was that the snake had been grabbed and dropped by a predator or straddled by a vehicle almost immediately before we approached him.

I've yet to encounter an aggressive wild gopher snake. I mostly just like to watch them from a distance, but on the occasion that I have to move them out of harm's way, I just go pick them up and handle them like I would any pet snake. They don't even strike at me. I think I'd be dumbfounded if I saw one doing what you saw.
 

Tom

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As far as how likely they are to bite, this summer, my partner and I jumped out of our car to move a rattlesnake and (as is commonly the case) the driver of an oncoming vehicle swerved toward us and accelerated, hoping to drive us back so he could run over the snake.

People really make me mad sometimes. I've had many encounters like that. I've found that pointing my snake stick at the driver in a threatening way usually makes them decide to stop playing chicken with a pedestrian. I've had them stop and back up at me. A couple of them even got out of the car and yelled at me. Hand on bear spray can and a little smirk makes them think better of that course of action too.

I can honestly say, I'd never do a tail grab like your partner did. I'd rather fight off the oncoming car.
 

leigti

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Bear spray would stop me. I was harassed by a guy when I was walking home from work one night. So I went down to a local gun and archery shop and the guy there gave me something that he insisted was stronger than bear spray. I also think it was illegal :) oh well. I still have it so don't mess with me.
I will never understand people that purposely run over an animal. I just don't get it.
 

Len B

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I used to keep rattlers,years ago when there were very few if any restrictions on catching, shipping, or keeping them. them in captivity. The eastern diamondback, and western diamondback were the ones I worked with the most.. The westerns were the nastiest snake I ever worked with.and stayed nervous longer than others. the eastern's were almost tame in the wild.and grow much larger than the westerns. I had fun back then,I learned a bunch and was able to teach others I kept hot snakes from all around the world, but gave it up for health reasons, My reaction times have slowed over time and eyesight isn't what it was.
 

W Shaw

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I've yet to encounter an aggressive wild gopher snake. I mostly just like to watch them from a distance, but on the occasion that I have to move them out of harm's way, I just go pick them up and handle them like I would any pet snake. They don't even strike at me. I think I'd be dumbfounded if I saw one doing what you saw.
Believe me, we were too! We rescued over 500 snakes this summer. About half were gophies and he was the only one who even tried to bite. I prefer to watch without handing too, and generally prefer to walk one off the road rather than pick him up, but we patrol some roads where there's a high mortality rate and a lot of traffic, so on those roads time matters. Looking through the log entries there were times when we had so many crossing that we were logging them 2-3 minutes apart and still ending up having to deal with 3 or four dead or injured in a single night. Those kinds of nights it's just grab and go. You get the the gophie. I'll get the rattlebaby.

I imagine you're too far south for them, but, do you have night snakes where you are? They're funny little rascals -- they never seem to really look at you.
 

W Shaw

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I used to keep rattlers,years ago when there were very few if any restrictions on catching, shipping, or keeping them. them in captivity. The eastern diamondback, and western diamondback were the ones I worked with the most.. The westerns were the nastiest snake I ever worked with.and stayed nervous longer than others. the eastern's were almost tame in the wild.and grow much larger than the westerns. I had fun back then,I learned a bunch and was able to teach others I kept hot snakes from all around the world, but gave it up for health reasons, My reaction times have slowed over time and eyesight isn't what it was.

Never had one in captivity more than a couple of days for medical care. This summer we had one who got his head run over ... multiple jaw fractures. So he needed surgery to repair the jaw and had to stay a couple of weeks, but we only had him a few days. The rest of the time he was with the rehab vet who handled his surgery. It was a bit of a miracle that he he survived. We had another with similar injuries but she didn't survive transport. There's a local rehab vet who can handle minor surgery for us, but he's not really equipped to work inside the mouth of venomous snake, or to handle post op care for one, so major surgery means a 4 hour car trip.
 
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W Shaw

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People really make me mad sometimes. I've had many encounters like that. I've found that pointing my snake stick at the driver in a threatening way usually makes them decide to stop playing chicken with a pedestrian. I've had them stop and back up at me. A couple of them even got out of the car and yelled at me. Hand on bear spray can and a little smirk makes them think better of that course of action too.

I can honestly say, I'd never do a tail grab like your partner did. I'd rather fight off the oncoming car.


Certainly doesn't do much for your faith in humanity. But sometimes there are moments. One night we had to stop a car with a couple of college age guys while we moved a big rattlesnake. We told them he was the third one in 5 minutes, and that they should watch out for them on the road. They said it had never occurred to them to watch for snakes crossing the road. We watched them leave and saw them make 2 sharp swerves, so we jumped in the car and dashed up there, afraid they'd swerved to hit snakes to get back at us for stopping them. We found 2 live, uninjured rattlesnakes that they'd swerved to avoid hitting :)
 

Tom

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Certainly doesn't do much for your faith in humanity. But sometimes there are moments. One night we had to stop a car with a couple of college age guys while we moved a big rattlesnake. We told them he was the third one in 5 minutes, and that they should watch out for them on the road. They said it had never occurred to them to watch for snakes crossing the road. We watched them leave and saw them make 2 sharp swerves, so we jumped in the car and dashed up there, afraid they'd swerved to hit snakes to get back at us for stopping them. We found 2 live, uninjured rattlesnakes that they'd swerved to avoid hitting :)

Its nice to hear the good news. I always like it when we can turn things around.

Sometimes when I hear how they "hate snakes" I'll give them the "Well would you rather be elbow deep in rodents?" speech. Or the speech about how the "good" snakes like gophers and kings will sometimes eat smaller rattlesnakes and that indiscriminate snake killing is an ecological disaster for an area… Some people don't care, but others listen and seem to "get it".
 

W Shaw

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Its nice to hear the good news. I always like it when we can turn things around.

Sometimes when I hear how they "hate snakes" I'll give them the "Well would you rather be elbow deep in rodents?" speech. Or the speech about how the "good" snakes like gophers and kings will sometimes eat smaller rattlesnakes and that indiscriminate snake killing is an ecological disaster for an area… Some people don't care, but others listen and seem to "get it".

I learned a lot about propaganda while working on some international issues, and it comes in handy to get people to change their minds or start asking questions. A lot of people won't take to preaching but you can engage their curiosity, by casually slipping it into conversations. Like when a clerk says, "How's your day going?" I may say, "Kinda crazy. I was out rescuing rattlesnakes until 2 this morning and I have to be back out again tonight, but hopefully it won't be so crazy. How about you?" And they're like, "Fine thanks... wait-- did you just say rescuing RATTLESNAKES?" And then suddenly they have all these questions and when they see me again, they're going to say ask if I've rescued any more and I'm going to say, "Just last night we rescued the most adorable baby rattlesnake and he was a lucky little guy, because a car came through about 30 seconds later. Oh yeah... I still have pictures of him on my camera." After that they're hooked. It's worked for me even with a rancher who, when I met him, would kill every rattlesnake he saw and come tell me about it just to upset me. Now he doesn't kill them and doesn't allow his kids to kill them.

if we have to stop a car, or a car stops on its own during road rescues, I also make a point of using a diminutive when I'm explaining. People don't really notice it but it works on a subconscious level. "We're just moving this little rascal off the road so he doesn't get hit." I'm evil, I know :)
 

ascott

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Sadly, human depredation continues to be a problem. One of the studies my mentor did recently shows that females in areas of human interface are reaching reproductive maturity as much as 3 years earlier than females on more remote dens. There's a lot of ignorance out there. One of the useful things about the road rescue work I do is that it provides a good opportunity for public education. People often stop out of curiosity or out of concern for people haphazardly parked and out of the car in the wee hours. Many of them are afraid of rattlesnakes, but I'll always say, "We're just moving this little guy off the road so he doesn't get hit. Would you like to see him before I release him?" They usually say yes, and I can then let them have a nice close look and they always have a lot of questions. I've often learned later that these encounters have changed people's views to the point where they not only avoid injuring them on the road, but actually move them off, or stop friends from killing them.

As for ones who don't rattle, yeah, like you said, evolution at work. Although there has always been considerable variation in individual personality. I've met some who start freaking out when I'm still 6 feet away, and some I can have a camera inches from their face for a half hour photo session and get no response beyond an occasional lazy tongue flick.

I've heard helleri is a little more reactive than oreganus. Never heard of them chasing anyone, but a year ago, I'd have said NO snake would chase a human. Then this summer, my rescue partner approached a large gopher snake to move him off a road, and he threw himself at her so hard that he landed on his back. She took a step back to let him calm down, and he just kept throwing himself at her. Eventually, she just gave up and picked him up. He bit her five or six times on the way to being released. It was such bizarre behavior. Our only theory was that the snake had been grabbed and dropped by a predator or straddled by a vehicle almost immediately before we approached him.


Gopher snakes here in the area will absolutely react this way....I had a young one pop up right between my feet in a doorway it sprung itself at me over and over again, but small and no match for the heavy boot around my foot and ankle...between laughing and moving it I am sure it was a hilarious sight for any bystander....
 

W Shaw

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Gopher snakes here in the area will absolutely react this way....I had a young one pop up right between my feet in a doorway it sprung itself at me over and over again, but small and no match for the heavy boot around my foot and ankle...between laughing and moving it I am sure it was a hilarious sight for any bystander....

I've noticed that young rattlesnakes are also more inclined to stand up and rattle. It's pretty adorable to see a fierce little neonate get in your face and say, "I'm gonna BITE you wif my baby teefies!" But I clear out anyway, because obviously the snake is being stressed and that's not a good thing, no matter how cute he looks being fierce.
 

TerrapinStation

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Just caught up on this. Very cool stuff. All I can think of is Natural Born Killer's though (the movie)...... SNAKE JUICE!!!! haha

very cool job and hobby. Michigan does not have many Massuagaua Rattler's but I have seen one in the wild. I just keep my distance from snakes and hope they do the same for me...... A mutual respect of sorts........
 

W Shaw

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Just caught up on this. Very cool stuff. All I can think of is Natural Born Killer's though (the movie)...... SNAKE JUICE!!!! haha

very cool job and hobby. Michigan does not have many Massuagaua Rattler's but I have seen one in the wild. I just keep my distance from snakes and hope they do the same for me...... A mutual respect of sorts........

They will pretty much do whatever it takes to avoid you. I'm glad you got a chance to encounter one, though. People in my area often aske me, "What should I do if I see a rattlesnake on a trail when I'm hiking?" I say, "Consider yourself fortunate to have an uncommon encounter, take a couple of photos, and move on so you don't scare him. :)
 
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