Good on you Woolfy. All these "conseervationists" on here that kill every snake they find is just crazy. Just go the other way, especially with nonvenomous kind, but all do a good job of holding down the vermin.

Beautiful snake. Glad it's too cold for them around here.

Thought snakes were cool since I was a kid. Garters and bull snakes. Grew up around/in Omaha. Never saw a poisonous one in the wild. Any time I saw a snake I made an effort to catch it. Bull snakes were so cool. They never made much effort to fight.
Who remembers the envelope trick? Envelope labelled "baby rattlers", Rubber band with a paper clip wound up in side. When you open it the paper clip spins and sounds a little like a snake rattle.
mt

Glad you let it go. They are rare in Ne. There are a few on the Ks. boarder. I feel privileged if I get to see one. Its been many years since I saw my last one near Barneston.

That is a very old,mature specimen.Snakes technically grow throughout their lives but thatslows way down when they get old.Note there is no taper to that rattle.That shows about 4 years worth of rates,where the tail dia.eter virtually did not grow in girth,at least not enough to tell.He has lost a lot of rattles which is common.If he still had is rattles since birth,that would be insanely long and would be tapered on the end,with a button.The button is about 1/8" wide and that tapering to the rattle,shows the growth of a young snake.A rattle that is the same width,it's entire length,denotes an older snake that has lost it's rattles from when it was young.

Timber rattles have made it over 25 years when left alone,even inthe wild.



The two rattles on the left have buttons,in other words,have lost no rates and you can see the taper of a young snakes rattle.The long one has lost it's button and a couple segments.It's taper still says it is only a few years old.The one on the right is an old,female timber rattler,that lived in the rocks of a slide and it is common too
lose segments.

Good info, Taxi. I thought they got quite old, if left alone. Used to have a lot of them in the flit hills rock pile farm, where I grew up. Spent all my time outdoors, and had a number of them "buzz" me! Neat critter, and sure don't go looking for a fight!

They have small litters and many don't survive so they don't do well when pressured.That is why most States protect them.That scrap pile is the snakes home for awhile.I wouldn't move it.It has shelter a d food there,us can sun when it needs to.It may venture out at night to hunt or find water.If it rains he will drink from puddles on the pile.He may range out in the Summer but probably will come back.He may have denned under that pile.I would be shocked if there were not copperheads underneath the pile.Mum's the word!

Looks to me like it would make a nice backing on a set of recurve limbs. Or longbow.

They'll be out here before long, went out once a few weeks ago to look but none were out yet.

When I hunted them in SW Pa and Western MD, hunting wouldn't be very good till a week or two,into May.It would take another couple weeks before most had shed. They are pretty dingey,right out of the den.That is what Wolfdog's rattler looks like.

cool color pattern on him a lot different looking then the ones I is out this way. With as many rattles as he has he could really make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Killing snakes is a dumb idea, passed down from generation to generation. They have their place in the eco system like everything else. Just because you don't like them is no reason to kill them. I don't like cats, but I don't go around killing them. I'm glad they are finally protected here in NY.