Snakes...

We've been here on the ranch for a few years now and have been lucky enough to have only had to deal with one rattlesnake and that was 2 years ago! Our experience with rattlers is limited mostly to the kind found in Northern California so we were surprised when Robert found a green rattler near the edge of our lawn and road. Yes, green. As in... GREEN, no brown what-so-ever!! R actually stepped over it on the way to the barn and again on the way back to the house. He didn't notice it, it didn't rattle, until it moved to lunge at his leg!

Since that time we have done some research and spoken to the old timers around here. We have learned that there are two types of rattlesnakes out here in Eastern Colorado. The first is your typical diamond back rattler with the brown and tan coloring. Nasty and mean but generally more scared of us than we are of them. The second kind is a hybrid. CSU has been doing research on this rattler... That my friends is never a good thing.... It appears that the green version of our rattlers are more aggressive and much more poisonous. They will actually chase you and strike without warning.

R found our first snake this year by our mailbox. The grass was taller than we normally let it get and we had been meaning to mow for weeks but were a bit behind in getting things done. He came home and saw it when he pulled over to get the mail. As he chambered a round into his pistol, it slithered into our culvert. Let me tell you about the chaos and silliness that followed. First we got the leaf blower thinking that the cool air would entice it close enough to the edge of the culvert that we could shoot safely. That did not work. Not at all. Then R built a small fire and used the leaf blower to blow the smoke in the culvert. It worked a little bit. A little bit. The snake move to the edge of the culvert but was still about 16 inches in. I climbed into the ditch, about 4 feet back, just to be safe and peered in. Up to that point, R hadn't been able to tell if it was the normal brown snake or its nastier green hybrid cousin. I was able to confirm that it was green, and a bit angry. We had been hanging around the culvert with two trucks, gasoline, a leaf blower and 2 guns for about an hour. Something needed to change!!

We went to get a shepherds hook, unfortunately it was only 4 feet long. So I climbed into the ditch again, armed with the hook and a pistol. R stood on the bank with the shotgun ans assured me that he would shoot it before it bit me. As a side bar - laying down in a ditch eye to eye with an angry green rattler really puts life in perspective. I realized how much I love and trust R, even more than I thought I did. I also realized that even with all of the draw backs of living where we do and how we do (snakes, wind, freezing cold winters, exceptionally hot summers, never ending chores and the lack of anyone willing to place their child in our home) I love my life and wouldn't change a thing! I also realized that I really don't like snakes!! Back to the story - I slid the hook along the top of the culvert to hook the far side of the snake and on my count (since I was the one that had to be ready to move out of the way of the snake and gun), I pulled the snake out. May I just say that they don't look as big curled up in a culvert as they do on the end of a hook...

This one was more brown and green but you can still see some
of the color change of the part hybrid snakes.

To show his size. About 3.5 feet, 7 rattles & a button.

Our neighbor had one a few weeks later near his mailbox. I was driving his car and for once in my life, left my gun in the truck. I had to pin it with the tire, walk to the house for my gun, back the car up and shoot him before he bit me or took off.

This one is a bit more green than the other.

So I figure that 3 snakes in 4 years is not bad, and one wasn't even ours. Yet another reason I always carry a gun. I also think that the rattlers in our area must not like our postal delivery person....