Rattlesnakes scare me

 This drought is getting bad. I was standing under a tree soaking
it down with a full stream of water from the water hose when I
noticed a little rattlesnake about ten inches long making a run
for the water. He was moving fast. I killed him with a stick and
cut his head off. After watering I picked him up by the tail and
it was moving all around. I dropped it and it was moving forward
just like it still had a head and was going somewhere.

It was big enough that it had some little buttons on it's tail.
Last year, mid April I killed a pregnant female rattlesnake.
This is only the third rattlesnake I've seen and killed in 26
years at this house.

I hope we get some rain soon. The water well is pumping almost
non-stop. Fires are breaking out everywhere. Coyotes are drinking
out of the stock tank. I surprised a skunk at the marsh last week
and it surprised me. It was stomping around in there like it was
having a good time.

I hope no one complains because I killed that rattlesnake. When
they hang around the house, they're gonna die.

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 Sounds like a pygmy rattler, bad news around the house, they tend to have
the most aggressive behavior of the family.

 On 05/01/2011 01:19 PM, D. Staples wrote:

Last year when I killed that other rattlesnake some people
were crying about how my yard was now going to overrun by
mice....I'd rather have mice.

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 On 4/30/2011 7:21 PM, Mysterious Traveler wrote:

No rattlesnakes or poisonous snakes around here but I would kill them too.

I removed a garter snake, about a foot and a half long, and a black
snake, over 4 feet, from my yard this week.  Took them about half a
block away across the road.  My wife is afraid of snakes and would have
had a fit had she seen them.

 On 05/01/2011 01:51 PM, Frank wrote:

About a month ago, my neighbor told me something bit both his horses
that have been grazing in my pasture. One of the horses died. The vet
didn't know if it was a snake or a spider. The wound on each was in
the chest area.

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