Riley is a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake that I found on Halloween of 97 when Kris was pregnant with Ren. He was a baby & I caught him with my gray Fedora & coaxed him into a Mickey's widemouth beerbottle. He's been growing ever since & yesterday I selected the most Chihuahuan location around to release him. He's about the same length as Ren. Why did I keep North America's deadliest serpent in an aquarium on my desk for five years?... Well, we've all been growing up around here & all I can say in defense of myself is at least I don't have a pet rattlesnake anymore. I never got around to smoking much of his venom but I did make a few recordings of the amazing & magical buzzing rattle. Isn't everyone proud of me for letting go of such a dangerous & foolish part of myself. But I miss it already. As I was leaving him yesterday I had a surge of sympathy for the whole kingdom of cold blooded creatures. It must not be easy being cold all the time & being chased around by furry hot-blooded killers. Perhaps it's time to meditate on our inner reptile.
Good deed. Now I won't have to send you back to the archive.
you never know, he may find his way back to you. here's hoping he won't.
On Animal Planet on cable I learned that king snakes regularly kick diamondback ass in the wild. No poison, just squeezing, and they're getting more and more resistant to rattler venom. Hope your ex-pet doesn't meet one.
The Eastern King Snake is notorious for eating east coast rattlers but the only relative of the king snake we have is the mostly helpless Milk Snake. As far as building resistance to venom it may happen within one King Snake's lifetime but it is not a species- wide trend. A big Diamonback's greatest threat comes from cats, foxes, coyotes, skunks & badgers not to mention the everpresent death from above scenario. Snakes are basically helpless making the rattlesnake's rattle all the more mysterious. Riley actually came just a few miles from your beloved Texas. I found him in a volcanic crater called Killbourne hole, 20 miles from El Paso, in the shadow of Mt. Riley.
I finally got around to putting up pics of Riley's liberation trip here. They're also accesible via the Images page.
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- frank 9-06-2002 6:06 pm
Good deed. Now I won't have to send you back to the archive.
- alex 9-06-2002 7:06 pm [add a comment]
you never know, he may find his way back to you. here's hoping he won't.
- lkb (guest) 9-07-2002 12:43 am [add a comment]
On Animal Planet on cable I learned that king snakes regularly kick diamondback ass in the wild. No poison, just squeezing, and they're getting more and more resistant to rattler venom. Hope your ex-pet doesn't meet one.
- tom moody 9-07-2002 8:09 am [add a comment]
The Eastern King Snake is notorious for eating east coast rattlers but the only relative of the king snake we have is the mostly helpless Milk Snake. As far as building resistance to venom it may happen within one King Snake's lifetime but it is not a species- wide trend. A big Diamonback's greatest threat comes from cats, foxes, coyotes, skunks & badgers not to mention the everpresent death from above scenario. Snakes are basically helpless making the rattlesnake's rattle all the more mysterious. Riley actually came just a few miles from your beloved Texas. I found him in a volcanic crater called Killbourne hole, 20 miles from El Paso, in the shadow of Mt. Riley.
- frank 9-07-2002 6:44 pm [add a comment]
I finally got around to putting up pics of Riley's liberation trip here. They're also accesible via the Images page.
- Tom G 11-22-2002 1:13 am [add a comment]