Thirsty Rattlesnake

[GQ.]

My mom and her husband were over for a bit this week. I took the opportunity to take them out for a walk. My mom's husband spotted this guy just off the side of the trail. You can probably see how skinny and dehydrated he is by this photo. He really looked like he had been dead for a few days.

We kept walking, but all the while we were thinking about the old beat up snake. We eventually found a litterbug's water bottle and fashioned a cup from the bottom. I walked back to where the snake had been and found him crawling right down the trail. I presented the water to him on a stick. I held perfectly still thinking he would take off into the brush. He made a couple tongue flicks and stuck his face right in!

I let him drink his fill whilst we snapped a few pictures of him. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed being there!

 

[Crotalus]

Great shots Gilbert! Too bad you didnt have a dead mouse in your pocket aswell

/Lelle

 

[Cooper]

That is cool.


Good job man.

 

[Brian F.]

Very cool pics! Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Brandon]

Dont know CA snakes to well what species is it?

Sincerely,

Brandon

 

[GQ.]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Lelle,

I was thinking the same thing. Heheh. I had a similar thing happen to me when I lived in New Mexico. This was probably close to five years ago or more. In that case it was a much smaller rattlesnake, Sistrurus catenatus edwardsi, the desert massasauga. I found it while out road cruising one night. I put my water bottle down to the emaciated massasauga and it crawled right in and started drinking the little bit of water I had left. I road cruised for bit while waiting for her to finish. A little pocket mouse, Perognathus sp. , hopped across the road a few minutes into my cruise. I jumped out of the truck, caught it, and tried to toss it in to the bottle with the little massasauga. The mouse missed the opening and started running around my truck! Heheh. I finally caught it and plopped it into the water bottle. The snake ate it almost immediately! After the snake finished I let it crawl out of the bottle where I found it. Cool stuff!

Brandon,

That is a southern pacific rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus helleri. Thanks for asking. I neglected to add that to my post.

 

[Crotalus]

GQ, that massasauga incident was a Kodak moment for sure!

/Lelle