Wednesday, April 10, 2013

First Rattlesnake of the Season

Today was unseasonably warm here in Walnut Creek.  As I walked Chloe in the foothills of Mount Diablo around 6 p.m. this evening, the temperatures were in the mid 80's. 
 Two days ago it had been in the low 50's.
An hour into our hike, we came across this adolescent rattlesnake half on and half off the path we were walking.
 
  It was stretched out sunning itself as we walked by.  About 30 inches long and four rattles at the tip of it's tail.
Chloe had run by missing the outstretched snake by about a foot. She hadn't noticed the rattler and neither had the rattler noticed us.

 It was not until I had passed the snake and turned to take these pictures with my phone that it coiled into the classic rattlesnake posture and rattled its tail in warning.  By now Chloe was a few dozen yards up the trail, and I kept her away.
Good-looking snake that had done all it could to not be noticed until I bothered it.  Once I took this last shot, we carried on with our afternoon five-mile hike.  Not our first rattlesnake, and I am sure this one wasn't our last.  Rattlesnake avoidance classes are worth the price. 
http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/07/rattlesnake-adversion-training.html

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Time to take the pups to rattlesnake avoidance class! It will be interesting to see if Riley remembers her lesson from last year. :)

Rod Michaelson said...

Bailey didn't remember the refresher course but Chloe remembered as we showed up and entered the enclosure.

TexasRed suggested go to another place to do it this time which makes sense.

Glad to hear from you. It's been awhile. The garden is looking better this year. Thank your mom for me.
Rod