Well, a friend ran over a Timber Rattler with his hay cutter at the far end of a pasture (near a creek bottom) outside Ennis, TX. He sent me a text/picture which I have zero ability to transfer to this site. If you google them up, look for the lighter versions with the black parenthesis type markings. It was a big thick snake. I wish he would give me one side of the skin for a belt or hatband. They are protected, but it was an accident.
One reason I was interested was that when I was young enough to play with little toy soldiers at a friends house, a Timber Rattler came weaving through our little fortifications. I remember my friend dragged me backwards out of danger, then ran to get a hoe. I chopped it's head off, put everything in a bucket filled with rubbing alcohol and took it to school, where it just about caused a ruckus. Adults there identified it. It, too, was a thick, big headed snake. Strangely, I could not remember what the markings looked like, this having happened over sixty years ago, but it wasn't a light colored beauty like the one in Ennis. Mine was killed 100 miles east of there. Dad was off working a pipeline, and mother couldn't help me skin it successfully, so I just kept the rattles in my tackle box. I did think to bury it near the clothes line so that I could dig up the bones later. Rattler vertebra have a distinct radical shape. Never thought about it much until I saw a man selling earrings made from snake vertebra.
Those two were the only Timber Rattlers I ever saw. When I first saw the picture sent to my phone, it "almost" put me in mind of a puff adder, but the markings were much bolder after I thought about it.
One reason I was interested was that when I was young enough to play with little toy soldiers at a friends house, a Timber Rattler came weaving through our little fortifications. I remember my friend dragged me backwards out of danger, then ran to get a hoe. I chopped it's head off, put everything in a bucket filled with rubbing alcohol and took it to school, where it just about caused a ruckus. Adults there identified it. It, too, was a thick, big headed snake. Strangely, I could not remember what the markings looked like, this having happened over sixty years ago, but it wasn't a light colored beauty like the one in Ennis. Mine was killed 100 miles east of there. Dad was off working a pipeline, and mother couldn't help me skin it successfully, so I just kept the rattles in my tackle box. I did think to bury it near the clothes line so that I could dig up the bones later. Rattler vertebra have a distinct radical shape. Never thought about it much until I saw a man selling earrings made from snake vertebra.
Those two were the only Timber Rattlers I ever saw. When I first saw the picture sent to my phone, it "almost" put me in mind of a puff adder, but the markings were much bolder after I thought about it.
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