Tossing the snakes away from the den opening to where we can work with them and to prevent their escaping down into the den. Note: they are tossed onto a slope and grass where they are not hurt. (Even a "hard" flat fall for animals of this scale of body mass, unlike larger and heavier beings such as ourselves, does not normally hurt them. For example, I once watched a large tree snake of several feet length "get up" and move away normally and apparently unhurt after it had made a free fall of 60-100 feet from the branches of a large rainforest tree onto the rocks and hard ground of a path at the eagle foundation where I was working in the Philippines.) (Photo by Dan Moen.)
Gathering the collected snakes into a bucket, from which we can work with them one by one and then release them back at their den. (Photo by Dan Moen.)
In the bucket. Note the variety of patterns and shades of color. Even their eye color varies from snake to snake. (Photo by Erik Schmidt.)
The large, nasty, male that almost bit me. It straightened completely out, came off the ground, and struck much further than normal for this species, extending itself beyond the snake hook I was using to try and pin it to the ground. I saw it coming and reflexively jerked my arm out of the way, but it still nicked me enough on the index finger to break the skin and draw a small drop of blood. I was pretty sure there was no venom given the slight nick (I am calling it only a half a bite), but I used the Sawer extractor that I carry in my back pack anyway, just to be safe and to demonstrate how they are used. There was no problem (i.e., no pain or reaction) and we continued onward and forward, including processing of this snake. I had not encountered a prairie rattlesnake like this one in nearly 30 years of working with them. It was proof that they always have another trick up their sleeve (well, figuratively speaking of course!). After this one, I changed my technique and held them with the tongs and close to the head for pinning. (Photo by Natalie Gackle.)
This one was not a happy camper and bit into the soft end of the snake hook that I use for pinning their heads to the ground before taking ahold of them. (Photo by Dan Moen.)
Proper holding of the snake: thumb and index finger firmly behind the quadrate bones of the snake's head and out of reach of twisting mouth and fangs, the middle finger backing up the grip around the neck but leaving the snake's trachea unrestricted for breathing, and the ring and little fingers firmly holding further back on the snake's neck to prevent it from suddenly pulling back into the hand or twisting and hurting its neck. (Photo by Matt Smith.)
Looking straight into the business end. (Photo by Dan Moen.)
Proper and safe way to hold a rattlesnake?! Yes ... it is not being bare handled with its head and neck free as it might appear! Rather, it is safely pushed into a clear plastic tube (look closely and you can see the tube). In fact, there is even a proper way to hold snakes in the tube so they can't pull in or out of it: two fingers holding the tube and three gripping the body of the snake where it enters the tube, so the snake is held from moving forward or backward. (Photo by Mark Davis.)
Here's another shot of a snake in the tube, showing the tube better than in the above picture. (Photo by Matt Smith.)
Looking down the barrel! (Photo by Dan Moen.)
Observing and recording data. (Photo by James Schmitt.)
More observing and recording. (Photo by Natalie Gackle.)
Clipping the ventral scales for individual identification in case it's recaptured in the future. (Photo by James Schmitt.)
Demonstration of "milking" a rattlesnake snake for its venom. If this was being done for actually saving and using the venom, it would be done under cleaner conditions, normally in a laboratory, and using special membranes and containers. In this case, however, which was just for demonstration, I just used an empty plastic sandwich bag for it to bite through and an empty bottle we found along the way as the container to catch the venom. (Photo by Matt Smith.)
Close-up of the venom milking demonstration. (Photo by Dan Moen.)
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James W Grier
Last Updated: 11/24/01
Published by North Dakota State University