Wet rattles

[Nighthiker]

Subject was a 3 foot well fed male western diamondback rattlesnake. Test subject was well agitated by an adult, sober semi-retired senior citizen who worked the snake over with a tree pole saw prior to my arrival.

Snake was rescued and a physical exam revealed no obvious injury or deformity and the snake appeared to be in good spirits. Test subject rattles were hosed down with a garden hose. No movement of the rattles was noted and upon release test subject slithered off in a normal manner without difficulty.

Findings: Though the test subject was well agitated, upon wetting the rattles, subject did not or could not rattle. Results inconclusive, more field work needed.

[Andy]

Did you also wet down the adult, sober, semi-retired senior citizen! if so how did that go?
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http://community.webshots.com/album/136917818udlQWZ

[Nighthiker]

Field work still pending due to a lack of appropriate test sublects.

[Nighthiker]

Test subject # 2 was a four foot well nourished western diamondback rattlesnake, sex undetermined as the test subject was extremely upset. Test subject # 2 had been worked over with a hula hoe handle by an adult prior to my arrival.

Snake was rescued and a physical exam revealed no obvious injury though test subject # 2 rattled no stop. Test subject # 2 tail was dunked in the water of a swiming pool for 10 seconds, during the imersion it was noted the tail was still shaking.

Upon removal from the water, test subject # 2 was still shaking its tail but no audible rattle was noted.

[Davis2001R6]

Again you are a lot braver than I. Came across a scorpion today when opening up one of our concrete storage stuctures. I gave the young guy a broom and told him to go kill hit. RHIP