Rattlesnake article last issue AO

[oilngas]

Ackley; You are correct! Moccasins near water seemed to this "Northern Employee doing vacation relief and learning" to be the most aggressive.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Speaking of Garter snakes... Reminds me of a funny story from my in-laws:

There were three boys and one girl in the family. Having a market garden to supplement the family income, the kids were often hard at work planting, weeding, cultivating and harvesting.

At one point, the boys found the biggest Garter snake that they had ever seen. You know, the "Granddaddy of All Garter Snakes" kind. For some reason they thought it would be a good idea to place it down the row where their sister was hoeing.

It didn't take long until they heard screams coming from her row. When they looked her way, she was furiously hacking away at the snake, chopping the poor thing to bits.

The hoe didn't fare well either, and the poor girl got in trouble for breaking their dad's new hoe.

Years later (she's in her 70's now), she was relaying the story to us, explaining that somehow she had come across this snake in the garden. We all started laughing, and then filled her in on the part that she didn't know - that her brothers had set it there.

She paused, then laughed. "Oh, those boys!" she chuckled.

I can't believe that they hadn't told her in all those years.

[Arachnodisiac]

Originally Posted by Dmay

Guess I shoulda clarified a knee-jerk reaction. Never killed a rattler because we don't have any within hundreds of miles. And actually saw one up close hunting down south years ago, and it wasn't too bad.
But damn garters creep me and I can't stand them. People claim they eat mice and I disbelieve that. They eat frogs, and I like frogs.

They do eat some amphibians, but they also are avid rodent eaters too - especially the babies in the nest. That’s one of the reasons snakes are so great at rodent control, because they’re able to get down rodent holes and clear out rodents before they make it to reproductive age.

Through my company Snakes on a Plain, I run training courses for biologists and industrial workers. I think I’ll sponsor someone every year from AO to attend. I’ve never had an attendee that didn’t feel more comfortable about snakes after the course.

One woman I worked with last year had such a bad phobia, she couldn’t even say or write the word “snake” so she called them all “Carl” - by the end of the summer she was hiking for rattlesnakes for me and she had taken back her life. Her hobby before her phobia had gotten so bad was trail riding by bike, and she had t been able to for two years.

A couple of points about our rattlesnakes specifically:

1. They don’t reach reproductive age as females until an average age of six. Males four.
2. The females will only breed every second, third or even fourth year in Canada and having eight would be a large clutch. The survival rate of those eight is very low. This incredibly slow reproductive rate at the northern limit of their range is one of the reasons they’re protected here. (And they do seem to be declining according to anecdotal evidence, but also den surveys I was contracted to perform this year.)
3. They live to be 20 years old, they learn as they age and they make lifelong friendships with other snakes, reuniting each fall and choosing to bask with specific individuals year after year. It makes sense an animal with communal quarters for seven months of the year would have a rich social life, but science never looked for it until a few people persevered and demonstrated it through evidence in published papers.
4. It’s pretty damn amazing that we have polar bears AND rattlesnakes in Canada. It’s part of what makes the west so wild, and we indeed have a very cool, very precious Wild West.

For those interested in learning more, follow the Snakes on a Plain Facebook page. I run contests and it’s free exposure therapy!!

Also, I’m interested in knowing where the sighting was while pronghorn hunting!

I always wanted to get into archery, but archery season overlaps with snake season so rifle it remains!

I’ll try and post some pics from this year. Some highlights were finding a bushmaster in Peru, eastern diamondbacks in Florida, having a pronghorn follow me for about an hour while I followed a tagged rattlesnake, and finding a cool dead head that died in velvet while conducting some remote den surveys.

Always great to hear from everyone. I miss this place!

[yoteblaster]

There is a spot in southern Alberta where I can always find a rattlesnake or two. This summer I took my youngest son and a friend out there to show them their first rattlesnake ever. 15 minutes in and we find one sunning itself on the road. I carefully moved it off the road and took a short video. They thought it was pretty cool.

[WayneChristie]

HWY 524 from Hays to Redcliff usually has a few sunning on the pavement. unfortunately a lot of people either dont see them in time or swerve to hit them on purpose. Seasons over now from the looks of it so if you want to see one it wont be this year. Its snake snuggling time

[cacty]

I grew up in an area here where the rattlers were like gophers all over the roads.

It was not uncommon to see 15 dead ones on the way to the treestand in the Fall.

Beautiful creatures and an anomaly here in Canada.

Protect them at (nearly) all costs.

[Bigrib]

Had some encounters with rattlesnakes in Alberta and BC an interesting animal. I found a young one very nicely colored probably a few days old in a gulch and managed to put it into my shoe then put my sock into the shoe so it couldn't get out, then at the top of the gulch waited for my friend to catch up - he didn't believe me that I had put a rattlesnake in my shoe until i had him carefully pull the sock out and wait for the little fella to be on its way.

I know a guy who got bit by a rattlesnake on the hand , which turned black but eventually healed ( if you read this MT let me know )

Bullsnakes are much more interesting some will put on an elaborate defensive display , one unhappy bullsnake coiled , shook it's tail , hissed /blew air at me and struck out I hope it lived a long happy life, it had a lot of mojo .

Years back came across a recently road killed bullsnake in Southern BC in March there was snow in patches and quite cool. It was almost about 4 1/2 ft long a shame as it probably was a good age.