Del Rio News Herald

“In the end

We will preserve only what we love,

We will love only what we understand,

We will understand only what we have learned.”

Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum

In the same week that we had the encounter with the wild black bear in south Del Rio, I also got a call from a friend that she had found a rattlesnake on her patio.

She didn’t want to kill it, but she wasn’t sure how to deal with the snake, and could I possibly come over and help her do something about it?

Now, there’s an old saying somewhere about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread, and that certainly described me – the fool-rushing-in part.

I was very excited and couldn’t wait to get to my friend’s home and see the rattlesnake. I’ve spent a lot of time out-of-doors in Val Verde County, and in all those years, I’ve only ever seen one rattlesnake, a relatively small chap who slithered away at top speed the second I opened the truck door.

But my friend had also asked me for help in removing the snake from her patio, and I had no idea how to go about doing that. I drove home to my apartment and picked up a plastic pet carrier, with the vague idea that we would somehow herd the snake into the carrier and then we could drive it out into the boondocks and turn it loose.

Like I said, I’ve never had to deal with a poisonous snake before.

I arrived at my friend’s home, which is in a mostly rural area just north of the Del Rio city limits and she pointed out the rattler coiled on the concrete of her covered patio.

I briefly explained my plan to herd the snake into the pet carrier and we agreed to try it.

The problem, of course, was that the snake had other ideas.

As soon as I tried to urge it in the direction of the pet carrier, it drew itself into a tight coil and began the “rattling” which gives these snakes their name.

Part of my mind made a note that this was a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, one of whose distinguishing features are the alternating bands of black and white scales below the rattle.

The rest of my mind was busy trying to figure out how to get the recalcitrant snake into the carrier.

When my friend and I attempted to shoo it in the direction we wanted it to go, the snake drew back and struck at the broom.

I can tell you with some authority that I’ve never seen an animal move so fast.

I realized I would have to stay far out of the range of its strike, because I’ve never been that fast, not even on my best day.

After several futile attempts to move the snake, it moved of its own accord, though not in the direction we wanted. It slithered under a generator on a wood pallet and now we couldn’t even see it anymore.

My friend used the spray of water from her garden hose to push the rattlesnake out from under the generator, and that’s when we decided to try and use the water to push it out of her yard and back to the vacant land across the street.

Believe it or not, this actually worked, and we were both happy we didn’t have to kill the snake.

I know that not all of you will see eye-to-eye with me on this point and I know for many of you, the only good snake is a dead snake.

Rattlesnakes are dangerous, and the venom they carry can be deadly to pets and to people.

Like many of the creatures we encounter here on the edges of the desert, they are best treated with a healthy measure of respect.

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Contact the author at karen.gleason(at)delrionewsherald.com

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Serving Del Rio and Val Verde County since 1929

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