I found this today 10ft from my kitchen door.

[Dan(NM)]

I came walking up from watering my garden as I got about 30 ft from the house I heard an all to familiar sound. I look towards the house and I see one of cats hunched down about 4 ft from the little fellow. I shooed the cats away and went into the to grab my phone and took a couple of pics before the wife and I corralled him and got him in a 5 gal. bucket. This guy was the lucky one, usually I take their head off, but the misses wanted me to take it outside of town and turn him loose in the desert. We normally get 2-3 each crawling out of the property next to us.
I think I counted 4 buttons, a little over 4ft long appr 2" in diameter, one of the biggest one so far. These SOB's always get the juices flowing in a hurry.

 

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[A2coins]

Diamond head Rattler. I used move and set mobile homes. King snakes Rattlers scorpians, jila monsters. Brown recluses, all kinds of crazy critters. Glad you found it before it found you LOL

 

[achetadomestica]

It's good luck if you see one of these and don't kill it.
What an awesome looking snake, the red background matches the
dirt in the second picture. The WDB rattlesnake varies allot throughout it's range.
I never heard it called a diamond head, I have heard it called a coon tail though

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Omg...we get the heebie-jeebies when a black snake or garter snake slithers out of the garden...I could only imagine how many levels of soiling my drawers upon seeing THAT! Better you than me lol...Ddf

 

[RVRoamer74]

That's a awesome rattler... usual instinct for me unfortunately is to take a shovel to him. Cool you took him and let him out. I have let many a corn eating Coon go after having caught them in a live trap by the garden. Three marshmallows out in front of the trap and three behind the trip plate. Guaranteed Coon every time. This is a good way to do it because you will not catch a neighbor's cat or your cat, possums Etc...

 

[ScubaDetector]

 

[A2coins]

Omg...we get the heebie-jeebies when a black snake or garter snake slithers out of the garden...I could only imagine how many levels of soiling my drawers upon seeing THAT! Better you than me lol...Ddf

You aint lying Scotty if we lived in that kind of area we would have to wear a diaper or some pull ups......and carry a bigger shovel lol

 

[Dan(NM)]

Normally they die at the point of contact, just couldn't do it today, great looking rattler. We have a host of wild life coming thru the property, road runners, quail, snakes, coons, skunks, rats, rabbits, it's a regular zoo around here. We have good sized pond that attracts a nice variety of birds.

That's a awesome rattler... usual instinct for me unfortunately is to take a shovel to him. Cool you took him and let him out. I have let many a corn eating Coon go after having caught them in a live trap by the garden. Three marshmallows out in front of the trap and three behind the trip plate. Guaranteed Coon every time. This is a good way to do it because you will not catch a neighbor's cat or your cat, possums Etc...

 

[smokeythecat]

Glad you didn't kill it. At least all you have to worry about is rattlers. Twice this year I have seen a mountain lion in my front lawn. In Maryland. He chased the deer out of the woods to the road, where I was. We don't have the roadrunners, but we also have a neighborhood bobcat that REALLY wants my three hens.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Glad you didn't kill it. At least all you have to worry about is rattlers. Twice this year I have seen a mountain lion in my front lawn. In Maryland. He chased the deer out of the woods to the road, where I was. We don't have the roadrunners, but we also have a neighborhood bobcat that REALLY wants my three hens.

Holy moly, I'll take a snake anyday. When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, the cougars would snatch dogs and cats during the night. I like the desert creatures better

 

[A2coins]

Bob would have to go!!!!!!!I would need a port o potty strapped on if I ran into a mountain lion lol

 

[smokeythecat]

I was turning into my drive. Several deer were standing, like right there 20 feet away and not wanting to move towards the woods. I look in that direction and see the cat slowly doing his or her cat walk thing at the woods' edge. So, being sane, I tore off through my lawn (think of Chevy Chase and Caddy Shack), like over the top here, and take the fire engine red impala on a cat chase. He left. I had no intention of injuring it, just making sure it wasn't rabid or some such thing. I circled back to the house and went inside. Reason for the car chase was to make sure the cat was heading in the correct direction - away from me.

I am quite cautious going outside these days. 22 miles from the BIG suburbs of Baltimore, 25 miles from York, PA. Not exactly in the backwoods, folks.

 

[Kurios1]

Awesome looking snake. Thanks for administering grace to it this time.

 

[Puma]

Thanks for taking the merciful route, which takes a good deal more courage than the end of a shovel.

I get the occasional mountain lion on my property and they are welcome here anytime. Never seen a rattlesnake on my property, but there are plenty in the area. Came within a few inches of stepping on one earlier this month. The owner of the property went for his barbecue tongues, picked it up and put it in a burlap sack and carried it off to release it a few hundred yards away. I'm sure it was back later the same evening. I'll take my cats any day.

Some research done in my area has found that relocated rattlesnakes do very poorly. Something like 5% survival rate. Who knows why?

 

[GA_Boy]

Had that been me, the snake would be in a frying pan with some onions.
Marvin