🚀 go-pugleaf

Concerning Rattlesnakes....  I have found that our guinea hens and
peacocks are excellent at alerting me to their prescence...  On a couple
of occasions I heard a loud commotion from the birds and upon
investigating saw them surrounding big snakes....  We have two varieties
of rattlesnakes in North Florida....  Diamondbacks and Canebrakes,,,  both
of which get very large...  Two or three times a year I encounter them on
or near my property...   Out of respect for them I try to catch
and relocate them to unpopulated woodland areas...   I use a 6 foot piece
of pipe with a piece of 1 inch strap looped out of one end and pulled
tight from the other end... (I feel that this does less damage to the
snake's neck than would rope or wire)...  The snakes are sometimes so
heavy and put up such a struggle that I sometimes have to swing them into
the back of my pickup truck... (with a topper on it).  Otherwize  I coax
them into a big garbage barrel with a lid on it...  (I would never use a 5
gallon bucket as someone suggested)...  I have a terrible aversion to
snakes and even the thought of touching one gives me the creeps... so I
don't want to get too close...  Nonetheless I doin't want them on the
property (I have had dogs killed by them and now have small curious
children to worry about)...   If I can catch them with my great fear of
them then any one can...  If they are not in their agitated, coiled up and
rattling mode the lood can be gently and easily slipped over their head..
Be prepared for a struggle though as they start thrashing and twisting
around the pipe...  They also sometimes defecate and/or release a
sickeningly sweet smelling substance...  I also am always carefull to keep
myself that pipe length away from their head...  Needless to say it is a
hair raising experience but one that I think is justified because I have
noticed that they really seem like inteligent creatures who's main
objective is to escape from me and the threat I represent to them...