My heart rate increased just from reading your experience.

I have no idea but I just had the same experience as iris did.
Last fall I put up 5 foot high of the 1/4 inch hardware cloth/wire. Even the lizards can't get in. Watched one today try.

From all my childhood of running through Encinitas canyons [barefoot] and riding horses, the ONLY PLACE I ever saw a rattler was in our back yard. Re: snake dead or alive ... to be sure, maybe the landscaper [MAN'S WORK donchaknow] could probe around in the hole to see if any snake there ... if not, that means he crawled off and either died or recovered. I'm guessing he's dead, but wouldn't feel comfortable wi/o a body.

BTW ... saw a note online that KING SNAKES eat rattle snakes. Can you buy one or two at a pet store?
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...SNIP.... The best protection against rattlesnakes in the yard is a "rattlesnake proof" fence. It can be expensive and requires maintenance, however. The fence should either be solid or with mesh no larger than one-quarter inch. It should be at least three feet high with the bottom buried a few inches in the ground. Slanting your snake fence outward about a 30-degree angle will help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dept. of Fish & Game - on rattle snakes

I started yesterday a.m. reminding my husband and son that on the first hot days, the snakes come out. I've been watching where I step for the last two days..lol...
Yes, love king snakes!

Too bad you killed the rattlesnake, especially as it was trying to escape and meant no harm. You'll have many more rodents now, so no complaining about rodents.

Dan

We often encounter rattlesnakes on our Boy Scout outings, almost every trip. Sometimes they are sound asleep to where most of the troop passes by before they wake up and "buzz" us. Many, many times they have been close enough to strike and have not done so. Almost invariably they act like any other lizard and want nothing to do with us and try to get away and hide as fast as they can. The smaller ones are more dangerous as you can't see them very well, or don't recognize them for what they are; when coiled up they look like a dog turd or something. In our mountains they are jet black and often look like someone dropped a sweatshirt or rope.

Just look at is as one of the many hazards of living in the foothills, but also as free rodent control. Many people who get bit were messing with the snake or thought it was dead.

I've had a King, Gopher and a Red Racer and all eventually left. The rattlers I call the fire dept and they come kill them and take away.
So I'm hoping with the new fence up that keeps them out.
I have one small strip about 20 feet because of the grapevine I couldn't put it up. There already is 1 inch chicken wire and 2 layers of it that overlap and the neighbors have half inch up on the other side.
Plenty of hawks, owls and coyotes around to take care of the other animals.
If they do cross the street they could get in thru the side gate I guess.

Baby rattlers are more dangerous because they can't control their venom.

I'm with you Patty, I just don't want them around period!
They can have the entire slope to Bakersfield or Lancaster...just stay out. lol

I have seen lizards without a tail and surviving just fine...

I have seen lizards without a tail and surviving just fine...

The topic is rattlesnakes, which are not the same as lizards.

My point is if you kill everything you are afraid of, you have to live with the consequences, which in this case is many more rodents. I used to live in rattlesnake country and never had a problem. I have several fotos from very up close. They are more afraid of you and just want to get away.

Dan

Dan, I think you missed my point or hint about the lizard.
Animals can survive tragic events or injuries so the rattler could be still alive.

Ditto, Barb. I am also native born Californian and grew up in the hills of Orange County (Fullerton). They only place we ran into rattle snakes was in our garden. I'll never forget when my dad was gardening in the bed out in front of my bedroom window. I heard him scream (odd to hear a 6'1", 190 lb. man scream). He had actually startled a large California King snake, but we were so used to finding rattlers in the yard, that was his knee-jerk reaction :-)

And Dan, I don't "kill every I'm afraid of". That's a bit of a stretch. I have had a horse ranch both in California up in Garner Valley as well as in Indiana for over 15 years. Lots or rattlers, and they'd get in our barn to stay cool - you should see a horse pitch a fit when they know a rattler is in their barn. We dispatched with those as well. Several ranchers lost good herding dogs to rattlers, so we had no compunction to dispatch with them when we found them on our ranches. Lots of wildlife that we dealt with in the appropriate manner.

Frankly, I'm actually not afraid of much at this point. But, when you almost STEP on the largest rattler I've ever seen (and I've seen some pretty mighty ones out in Joshua Tree Nat'l Monument), that will take even the toughest person back a bit.

Here's the deal - we all get to decide what stays or goes on our property. Dan, you can keep your rattlers. I, however, for the safety of my family and my dog, choose not to have rattlers on my property. Other non-venomous snakes may stay, and I welcome them. One of the really great things about living in a free country :-)

And yes, the juveniles can be very dangerous because the often don't have a rattle, yet, and they cannot control the amount of venom they inject very well, so you can get a whopping dose. Definitely enough to kill my dog. This is the 2nd, possibly 3rd rattler we've found down in this area. Not counting the 2 in my front yard. We have a lot of them out in the hills of Vista, CA. Have had several neighbors find them curled up on their pool patio, and even one homeowner found a small one curled up in her shoe in her closet. Upstairs (she thinks she probably carried her shoes with the snake in it upstairs!)

Part of the problem we're having is the Wandering Jew we have growing down in this lower area of our property, which makes a nice place for rodents to hide. Where rodents are, so are snakes. We're pulling out all the crappy Wandering Jew, which is invasive here in California, and will be replacing it with nice planters where I can plant my fruit trees.

So, we'll keep our eyes peeled, and be extremely careful down there. If the snake doesn't end up on the sticky snake board, or if we don't smell something dying, we'll have to watch for the snake and dispatch with it in the safest way possible, as I'll have an entire landscaping crew down there, re-doing that whole area. I'm not up for a lawsuit if one of the landscaping workers gets bit, so we do need to make sure we're rattlesnake-free down there.

Patty S.

While it is counterintuitive to most folks to let a retreating rattlesnake on their property retreat, that may have been the least risky action given the alternatives. While it is possible that chopping off its tail injured and eventually killed the snake, you might also have a big rattlesnake that will rattle a soundless chopped up tail rather than the loud unmistakeable buzzing alarm that it had, when it is about to be stepped on next. On the positive side, its big size is a blessing in that it will be easier to see (though it will no longer be easier to hear). And it is still more likely to retreat rather than rattle before someone steps on it, so it shouldn't be a big issue. But caution, alertness, and common-sense are good ideas just in case and always one's best weapons when we live on the homes of wildlife (as many of us do these days) anyways.

Pretty much know that, Wayne :-) I was not the "chopper of the tail", unfortunately. My landscaper did that before I could stop him, unfortunately. Which is why I asked to see if there were any snake experts that could tell me whether or not they thought the snake might survive having about 12" of their tail severed :-) I've lived around rattlers all my life - native born Californian, hiker and rock climber. So I am acutely aware that we may now have a silent and very much alive rattler, if this injury did not do it in. I have warned the landscaper and his crew to this, and that they may not have ANY warning. They are watching carefully, but our weather is very chilly right now, so I am suspecting if the rattler is still alive, he's holed up in his little hidey hole, where it is warmer. And yes, this is most definitely the price I pay for where I have chosen to live. If I had had more of a choice (that's another very long story about the state of California real estate for sale in the fall of 2009), I would not have chosen to be so far out in the hills for a variety of reasons mostly fire-related. But this is where we ended up, and I am try to live in harmony as much as possible. Just not willing to share my backyard with rattlers. Or coyotoes, rabbits, ground squirrels or gophers as much as that is possible!

Patty S.

I wouldn't let a rattlesnake stay in my backyard either, but I wouldn't kill it as your landscaper did... A few years back I was taking a walk during a lunch break in the business park where I work. I came upon a bunch of grown men having a fit about a rattlesnake that was in the parking lot. They were all running around looking for a weapon; one guy ran to his car to retrieve a golf club. Before he could get back I dug a sturdy cardboard box out of a nearby dumpster and persuaded the snake to crawl in. I then took it up over the nearby dike and released it. But, then again, I've had Gila Monsters, scorpions and a number of species of rattlesnake on my kitchen table in a photo set-up...

I would guess that the snake would not survive having a foot of it's back end removed. I'd wager you didn't investigate the tail too closely, but if the vent was removed with the tail the snake would have lost it's reproductive organs and probably some intestine also. Many lizards have a defensive adaptation allowing them to survive losing their tail without harm when attacked by birds, etc., but that's an entirely different matter...

I'm not native, don't know about rattlesnakes but grew up with copperheads. They are just as deadly but are silent. The local wisdom was that if you found one, there was always a second and there always was a second one. I am all for the fence especially if you have an Aussie, cattle dog I assume? Lucky you. I don't think it matters what happened to the snake, you know they are out there. It's like a gun, loaded or not you treat it as a loaded gun. Even with a fence up I would always be on the look out for snakes. I have a black widow in every pot. We all work with and around what we have in order to make our garden. What an experience you had!
Snakes are useful. My Mother had a big black rubber snake in the chicken house to scare away other snakes or rodents, I don't know which. Daddy killed the rubber snake. We think it probably jumped each time he hit it with the hoe. He told my sister he killed it and not to tell Mom. Mom told my sister not to say anything but she thought Daddy had killed the rubber snake because she found it in two pieces. Danger might be a personal perception. Because of your professional experience you perceived the snake as very dangerous. We are all in charge of our own safety and should act accordingly.