God they're beautiful....

Pagan, are you on crack?! ;-)

Kevin

I agree with PC- that is a beautiful snake! One sees so clearly the diamond pattern.

If I can recall correctly and I am pretty sure I can- they are poisonous the minute they hatch out of the egg. They also bite easily, as they need to eat as much as possible to grow and make it through the winter. However- the herp people may weigh in and correct me! *grin*

Hope you took it out into the desert and let it go....

Susie

Hmmm... my cat played with it for some time before I discovered its presence and she was not bitten, in fact, the snake never lunged or struck the whole time I observed it, nor while I carefully placed it in a bucket. (Deva protection?) The rattle was going constantly, but the snake never hissed or tried to bite anything. That's what made me wonder about its lethality.

DH took it out into the front of our acreage and turned it loose where it is now happily communing with others of its kind. I would never harm or kill such a beautiful creature... though I cannot speak for Peaches.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peaches the Snake Charmer

As Steve Irwin says "What a little beauty that snake charmer is"! (The crocodile guy- use Australian accent between the "'s) *grin*

I didn't think you would hurt it (at least I was hoping) but some people do get hoe happy when fearful. Glad to know it is playing with others.

Susie

okay, Kevin, what are you saying?

I was so shocked I nearly dropped my pipe.....

i don't have much experience with rattlers, but i agree with susie: they are venemous when they hatch.

the reasons that one didnt' bite your cat? maybe it was too cold to bother? also, for a growing snake, i would think that biting and injecting venom unnecessarily would be an energy expenditure better avoided.

i'm looking forward to poking around in the desert in arizona, but i'll have to relearn that not every snake i come across can be picked up!

-ming

...nor can your sense of the weather be relied on, Ming! Too cold? My friend, the temps at night are still in the 80's or more - if Di is in a cool spot, it may be 79 at 4:30 in morning...

And, yes - no picking up snakes. Or anything crawling around on the ground around here.

No, I don't think he was cold, but maybe he was too hot... it was around 100 degrees here that day.

PC is correct, don't pick anything up and be careful where you step... there are things here that want to reach out and touch you.

dang, 80 at night?!?

i think i may keel over and die the day i get there.

-ming

When are you moving here, Ming? In another month it won't be so hot. And you will get used to it... we have "dry" heat here.

:)

And there ain't nothing like sitting out in the late afternoon sun with your feet up - in February!

Di,

Yes baby rattlers are dangerous. In fact I have read that they can be more dangerous than adults because they do not yet know how to control the volume of venom they inject and apparently can inject more than an adult would. Your cat is very lucky. Kodak is down so I could't see the pictures.

We do exactly the same thing - relocation - when we find rattlers. I think we have relocated about 6 in 18 years although we usually put them in the big wash across the street from us rather than leave them on our acreage. DH uses a snake noose and a 5 gallon covered bucket for the job.

Ming, really, it's quite cool here at night if you are not down in the city where all the pavement holds the heat. So depending on where you settle, you may or may not have it so hot. The temperature is high but the heat index (comfort factor/"feels like temp") is actually lower than most places that are green, humid and has temps into the 90s.

The shows that I watch on the nature channel say that the babies are as lethal as the adults.

Yeah, just to put some kind of official stamp on this, from the CDC (Center for Disease Control, the big guys) "The venom of a small or immature snake can be even more concentrated than that of larger ones; therefore, all snakes should be left alone. Fewer than half of all snakebite wounds actually contain venom, however, medical attention should be immediately sought any time a bite wound breaks the skin."

Thought that point about less than half contain venom was interesting, although I, for one, wouldn not want to test out that theory....

Very interesting! Thanks PC!

Hi I am new here, I have posted maybe 1 or 2 times. I also have had a rattlesnake in my garden. I hate those things I am so scared of those I am sometines to scared to go out into the garden. We have had 1 rattler and 3 king snakes in the 10 years I have lived here but that one rattler was enough to really scare me. He was right outside the back door when I walked out he was behind a flower pot. I realize the Kings are harmless. I don't know how you were brave enough to put that snake in the bucket. We just had a man in my area die a few weeks ago from a rattlesnake bite.
I guess I am the only one who finds them ugly, and since I have kids I want them as far away from my house as possible. I hate to say, we had to kill the one that we had it was pretty big. We are not snake wranglers and these snakes are not something one wants to fool around with, When I heard that man here died I was shocked.
I am glad your cat is ok. I have a few cats that are the neighbors that roam my yard which I am glad for, hoping they will scare away the snakes so I do not have to hurt them, because I will not handle a live snake and relocate it, I am just not that experienced, and no one will come here and do it for me. I did not even want to look at your picture but I did, ewwwww I got the chills.
Be careful,
Carrie

Thanks Carrie. I understand your fear entirely. I do alot of landscaping on our property and I'm constantly aware of every place I step (which is usually in flipflops) and never poke around in plants without checking to see if anything lurks there.

What I've come to decide about living with rattlesnakes is that they probably won't jump out of a bush to bite you and will probably warn you ahead of time that they know you are there by hissing and rattling. At least that was my other experience when I walked right by a large rattler coiled up next to the path through my garden. I didn't even notice him until I was about 3 ft. beyond where he was laying and I wouldn't have noticed him at all except he was very annoyed and hissed and rattled as he slipped away into a cactus.

I think the best way to avoid being bitten is to watch where you step. A stepped on rattlesnake will likely strike to defend itself.

Be careful,
Di

The baby is indeed dangerous. I keep a mixed gang of siamese and Arizona Paint cats. The siamese and also burmese cats have been bred for centuries to keep the cobras under control.