First rattlesnake of the season:



I count 11 segments on the rattle, so maybe 4-5 YO. (I've seen this same snake in the same spot for about 4 years no, go figure)

must mean it's time to move the girls out into the flight chamber:



and Lily out into the mew:

You boys can have the snakes.

That'd make a fine hatband UT.

To each his own but I would have seen that snake once.


RS

How could you miss it every time?

The snake would have been in the skillet the first time I saw it

It would have been viewed alive by me only once, then viewed many times with fondness and admiration as a new hatband!

Prairie Rattler? Western Diamondback?

I know it's a minority opinion, but I kinda like having them around as long as they're not in the yard. The hillside behind our house is ideal habitat and there are a half-dozen spots where one can reliably see the same snake(s) year after year.

Besides, they're really good at rodent control !

this is a Western or Great Basin rattler. They're much less potent that the Western Diamondback in terms of venom.

The only patient I ever had die from a bite was a direct arterial (tongue) injection

So is a blacksnake!