Blessed Little Creatures

The Mockingbird outside my window, the lizard creeping down the tree, the dog sleeping in my arms—every blessed little creature that I see inspires me and brings me joy. I've seen bold, beautiful male cardinals pluck tiny seeds from a dish and feed them to their children, and baby raccoons, smaller than house cats, wrestle, play, then kiss their mother on the nose. I watch, listen, photograph and marvel at these precious gifts from God, then I write about them here.

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Rattlesnake!

Rattlesnake photo by Darla Sue Dollman taken in Alice, Texas 2022.

We had an interesting visitor at the new house in South Texas. We have a long gravel drive leading to our house and this beauty was slithering up the driveway mid-morning, which seemed a bit odd for a snake. Snakes generally move around when it is cooler. Not when it's cold, but when it's cooler, like early morning or dusk. They are generally crepuscular, appearing at twilight. This can be a confusing topic because I also read that rattlesnakes are thermoregulators, which means they are able to change their own body temperature to suit their surroundings. This one, however, was quite active when the temperature here in Texas was already 91 degrees.

The rattlesnake's rattle. Photo taken by Darla Sue Dollman taken in Alice, Texas in 2022.

Do you recognize this snake? Can you identify this rattler? It's definitely a rattlesnake, as you can see in the picture. I'm still trying to come up with a definitive identification, but I suspect it is a Western Diamondback. All rattlesnakes are in the viper family, a type of venomous snake found almost worldwide, except in places like Hawaii and Australia, but they have their own venomous critters to deal with I suppose. If you can identify this snake please comment!

Rattlesnake photo taken by Darla Sue Dollman in Alice, Texas 2022.

This particular critter was moving a bit slow. It may have just finished a meal. There does appear to be a slight bulge in its mid-section and it occurred to me that I may have interrupted the snake while it was digesting a recent meal. Rattlesnakes are predators that hunt birds and small mammals and we have plenty of both on this property. The snake looks large enough to swallow a small rabbit, too.

Photo by Darla Sue Dollman. Alice, Texas 2022.

As you can see, this snake has a triangular-shaped head, which is typical of venomous snakes.

Photo by Darla Sue Dollman. Alice, Texas 2022.

It is also a pit viper. I could tell by its eyes. Pit vipers have a "pit organ" between their eyes and nostrils to help them strike accurately at their target. They also have two movable fangs.

Photo taken by Darla Sue Dollman in Alice, Texas 2022.

The snake took one look at my husband then made a mad dash--or, mad slither--for a few chopped branches near where my husband was working at the time. Once beneath the branches he curled up and posed for the picture above. Of course that wasn't going to continue. Although it seems like the perfect place for a snake to hang out, we would be unable to safely work on the property with a huge rattlesnake by the front porch. It would be fascinating to watch at dusk as it moved around looking for food, but still, a bit too dangerous.

Photo by Darla Sue Dollman. Alice, Texas 2022.

The snake finally decided to move out of the wood pile and my husband, who has done this many times before where he was raised in the California mountains, managed to lasso the snake and gently, gently, slowly and carefully, guide it to the back of his truck. I suspect the snake has done this before because he was surprisingly cooperative. (To be honest, I'm not sure if the snake was a male or female. Sexing a snake is a complicated process).

Photo by Darla Sue Dollman. Alice, Texas 2022.

We drove out to a less-crowded area of our large property, stopped the truck, and my husband gently removed the lasso. The snake slowly slid down the side of the truck and onto the ground.