A rather interesting day

[diginit]

On my way up the hill, I was looking to my right.Not paying much attention to my path. Happened to look down and stopped immediately. 3' from a 3' timber rattesnake.Sunning itself on the trail. Cool critter huh.

 

[diginit]

Just happened to run into my partner.Who was looking at bambi.We decided to go exploring for another site instead of this one today.

 

[diginit]

Found a bottle!nothing fancy,but the right age.

 

[diginit]

just a little ways from this strange wood lined hole.Is this worth digging?all in all,a rather interesting day.

 

[IRISH]

Hey diginit, you best go dig that hole [] looks like a dunny hole to me, if it has not been dug (only way to find out is to dig) you should get something.
Good looking snake that, how aggro are they ? our tiger snakes look a bit like that and they will chase and attack anything that gets near them in the breeding season out of the season they still won't back down and you have to go around them if they are on a track.

 

[diginit]

Howdy Irish,these Pictures were taken at about 4' from the lens.Both the snake and the deer.Rattlesnakes are only agressive if they feel threatened or defending their den. Then lookout! the striking distance is 2/3 of their body length.Fairly docile otherwise.Not anything like tigersnakes.Are they a protected species also? From what I've seen on TV,you have a wide variety of poisonous snakes and spiders down there. Got pics?

 

[Harry Pristis]

Thanks for sharing your day, Diginit. You are smart to have your camera along.

There are 6 or 8 different species of rattlesnake in California. My impression is Crotalus ruber, but that snake is restricted to the San Diego corner of California and Baja California. Photographing snakes is not as easy as snapping Bambi!

Here is a snake that Irish may recognize. This one hatched out here, though, in my incubator. It is one of the minority of snake species in Australia that is non-venomous.

---------Harry Pristis

 

[diginit]

Howdy Harry,She's goreous.(no pun intended) Good thing red touches black on that beauty.The rattler lives on the san jose side of the santa cruz mnts.I have a pet bullsnake myself. a stucco guy thought it was a rattler and covered him in stucco.I kinda adopted him. He has grown from 12" to 38" real fast.Very tame actually.Strange for a bullsnake which are known to be agressive.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Howdy, Diginit . . .

Cool bullsnake! They are good captives.

Your rattlesnake was probably a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis sp.

I haven't kept any snakes for years, but I still like 'em. The one whose pic I posted is an Australian Carpet Python, Morelia spilotes variegata. This was an F2 (third generation) specimen, the best I ever produced. It is a northern rainforest form, but aberrant in its longitudinal stripes.

Snakes and antique bottles -- it doesn't get any better than that!

-----------Harry Pristis

 

[Gunsmoke47]

Rattlesnakes are only agressive if they feel threatened

Hey diginit, does accidentally steppin on one when he is asleep qualify as threatening him? Cause in 1985, he hung a fang in me. (pun intended)[] Messed me up for awhile! He was what we call a Prairie Rattler. They are usually 30 to 40 inches. Hey Harry, what's the proper term for a prairie rattler? Happy diggin, Kelley