LARGE Crotalus ruber that almost bit my buddy!

Paradox51483 · LARGE Crotalus ruber that almost bit my buddy!

So a buddy and I were taking a little hike in Aliso Viejo yesterday and were having a great time photographing wildlife. Well, we were headed back down the trail that we had just hiked up when we heard the distinct BZZ-Z-ZZZZZZZZZ of a Rattler. We knew the snake was close but had no idea how close or how large the snake was until out from under a dead paddle cactus came a lightning quick strike that ended 6" short of my buddies leg. Now, my buddy has had knee surgery twice and he has a bad hip and walks with a cane so he cannot move very quickly so the fact that it came that close and didnt make contact is a miracle.

Well, come to find out it was the largest Crotalus ruber or Red Diamond Rattlesnake I have ever seen. Measuring out to just about 5' in length and 3"-4" in girth. I knealt down with my camera and took a quick shot about 1.5' away from this monster while shaking the whole time knowing that if he struck I would definately get tagged. As I stood up he struck again and I jumped and was missed by this guy.

This snake was roughly ten feet from a backyard with little kids playing so I decided to dispose of the animal. It wouldnt move and kept coming closer to us so I struck him with my buddies cane which killed it by severing the spinal cord. Now I hate killing these things unless it is necessary and I came to the conclusion that this was a necessary time to kill this guy just for the fear of it going into the backyard where the kids were playing.

Below are two pics of this snake. The first is the picture that I took while being too close to this thing and the second is for size comparison to his cane/walking stick.

[img]edit: pic removed as requested --Steven[/img]

noexcuse4you

WOW that's a big one! I haven't seen too many red diamonds out, mostly southern pacifics.

Celeste

Man, that was a gorgeous snake! What a shame to kill it.

-- C

ftorres

Hello,
I guess that calling animal control would have help too.
what a shame.

ft

NBond1986

i think that if there was enough time to snap a picture of it alive, then there was certainly enough time to walk away from it.

i trust your judgment 100% in most cases.....but I don't know about this one.

beautiful animal.

~Abyss~

Not so sure on the decision either..but hey I'm hungry... I hope you bring it to the bbq. Smile

Steven

Would have bagged it and brought it out of the way someplace.

Paradox51483

I normally would have done just that but I didnt bring any of my snake gear with me since I knew we would be going into the park itself and I really didnt want to get caught with collection gear in a park.

Matt Kogler

I have no comment for you dude..

Matt Kogler

Just curious, since this is an old post, and this guy isnt around anymore, is there some way to remove the picture, I really hate seeing pictures like this.. Just a question...

Herpetologyfrk

Steven