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07.18.2008 - This is an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake that I caught. It's a good sized specimen. This snake lives throughout most of the state of Florida, but it's pretty rare in the Orlando area. It's rare in most developed areas, because
it's a slow snake and it stands its ground, and people have a habit of killing them off. It's true that the bite of this snake is very dangerous - many herpetologists think it's one of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world - but it won't strike unless
provoked. Nevertheless, most people don't like to have them around, so where there's people, there tends not to be Eastern Diamondbacks. This snake also, like many animals, simply needs undeveloped areas in which to live and capture prey. Even without
human persecution, this snake wouldn't thrive well in an area loaded with cars and concrete. Undeveloped scrub pine is much better.
This snake in the above photo that I took is in a classic defensive posture. It coils its body up and raises its head, cocked back and ready to spring forward and strike. The tail is raised upward and rattling. The rattle is quite loud, and easy to
recognize. It's very easy to identify this snake. It's usually a large snake, with a thick and muscular body. It has large visible scales, and is tan with diamond shaped patterns along its back. This snake has a very fat head, and a black stripe leading
back from the eye. It also of course has that rattle, which is the only sure sign of a rattlesnake. While some rattlesnakes lose their rattles, the fact is that if you don't see a rattle, but just a thin, tapered tail, it's not a rattlesnake.
If you see a snake like the above, in the position you see above, do not approach it. Unlike almost any other snake, you seriously stand a good chance of dying, from this one. Most snakes are not venomous, but even the venomous ones will likely only
cause a good deal of pain and tissue damage. But the Eastern Diamondback, especially a nice sized one like this one, will probably kill you if it gets in a venomous strike. Its strike is incredibly fast, and it can really lunge forward a good distance, up
to 2/3 of its body length, so do not get close. Almost 100% of cases of rattlensnake bite occur when people decide to mess with snakes - toy with them, photograph them, collect them, or kill them. It's no surprise that the most common circumstance of a
snakebite occurs when an ignorant person tries to kill the snake. Anyone who knows anything about this snake should respect it and leave it alone.
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