Saturday, August 22, 2009

Yikes!!

Greetings from Arizona!


Hubby moved the lawn mower this morning and found this baby Coon Tail rattle snake sound asleep underneath!






We grabbed a bucket and carefully lifted him in. He has one button and we are guessing he is about one year old.





They feed on small mammals like squirrels, rabbits, mice and birds. I would like to keep him around long enough to eat all the mice that have invaded the side yard! But...the venom is extremely dangerous and I HATE snakes--all snakes. When I see one I scream, run, and then shiver for hours after in disgust! They give birth to four to 23 live babies in the summer through fall, and that thought terrifies me, so we decided to release him far, far, away in the desert!

So--maybe that's why my squirrel visitor has not been back of late!

3 comments:

Claude said...

Wow... that is quite a surpirse! I know that you're scared of them, and I congradulate you on not killing him. They're really a very necesary part of the eco-system.

He has beautiful markings, too.

kesslerdee said...

Wow! A friend of a friend came across a den of rattlers in Sabino Canyon this spring- there were hundreds of them in the pictures he took- really really really creepy!

Julie said...

Oh crap! That would have given me a heart attack, for sure!!!!!!!!!!!