I had a close encounter with what I believe to be a rattlesnake yesterday and I'm still a little freaked out every time I think about it. I was getting some macro shots of a candy barrel cactus and when I turned around it was right there, maybe 3ft from me. I have no clue if it snuck up on me (probably unlikely???) or if it was there the whole time. #reptiles#snakes#herps
@fancysandwiches We have them here in Lawrence, KS just outside the city at the lake. They avoid humans, so it must have been sunning if you didn't hear it, and it was stretched out.
You had a natural reaction. Avoid and respect them, and they won't go out of their way out of curiosity like some other snakes.
We used to run near a 6-foot one here that liked to sun within ~10 feet of the trails named Homer. We always warned people to look out for it over several years.
@webology 6ft!? Wow. This one wasn't that big. I had another encounter many years ago but that one was moving and moving away from our group, as were its babies, so it was very easy to remain calm. This one gave me a real shot of adrenaline, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.
@fancysandwiches I worry more about the babies than the adults but distance is the key and I'm glad nothing bad happened.
Ours are fairly common but you won't see them every hike/run but you will see them (or smell them) at least a few times.
We have a trail race called The Snake in honor of them. We had to reroute/station someone to warn runners because Homer decided to sun itself across the trails mid-race.
Someone jumped over him thinking a 6-foot snake was a race prop. 🤷
Homer had a den about ~12 feet off of the bottom of one of the trailheads, next to a huge hill that overlooked the lake. It was like 6 to 10 feet of smashed dead grass around that area. You could not miss it, but that area had a weird odor to it.
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