🚀 go-pugleaf

This weekend I wound up killing a rattlesnake that had taken up
residence in a foot high crawl space under the deck. 

When I discovered it, I first called animal control, who offered
to remove it sometime maybe if nothing more important came up.
I locked the dogs in the house, waited around til almost sunset,
and finally when they still had not shown, decided that I was
running out of light, and not feel comfortable leaving the snake
that close to the kids and animals.

I finally set up a light, attached a garden rake to a length of
pipe, and put on gloves, boots, jacket, and a pair of soccer
shin-guards. I doused the snake with cold water, which seemed to
slow it down, then pulled it out with the rake and dispatched it.

I might possibly have been able to snare it with a noose and
relocate it, but this did not strike me as a good do-it-yourself
project if you don't know what you are doing.

Any snake handlers out there ? Any good way to fence or protect
the underside of a deck ? Seems to be the hot weather that makes
them look for cooling off places.

I feel badly about having to do this, and would have left it
alone if it were further away from the house. Not sure
if there was a better solution, but would love to hear one.

Rob Kleinschmidt