Andrew Vik
Tampa, FL., USA
[log in to unmask]

Hello all:

Last week, I spotted a three foot long Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
in my backyard from the balcony. There is a large (approx.. 100 acres)
piece of undeveloped scrub land between  my apartments complex and the
bay. He proceeded to slither beneath a sea grape bush (under which I had
recently searched for landsnails) and pile himself into a coil. I went
down and took a picture of him, and showed the lady who lives below us.
She was not too concerned, and said that she sees them occasionally and
they always return to the scrub on their own. She has a "live and let
live" attitude like myself. But the most common reaction from other
people to whom I showed the photo was "why didn't you kill it ?" . Was I
wrong to let the snake go on it's way unharmed? I have been snail
hunting on that scrub land many times before I moved here, and never saw
any poison snakes. I think it's kind of like sting rays. If you don't
step right on top of one,  you don't get stung.

Let me ask this question of Tom Eichhort and any other herp experts:
What anti-snake precautions should we take when searching for land
snails?

Andrew