TIMES-UNION (Jacksonville, Florida) 03 October 09 Massive snake is not largest on record

Brandon Booth didn't think a whole lot about the 7-foot-3-inch rattlesnake he came across near his house.

A resident at Tuscany Village Townhomes in St. Augustine Shores called Booth, who owns St. Augustine-based A-1 Trapper Man, last Sunday to come get the snake from near the entrance to the development.

"Actually, I've killed them bigger than that before," he said. "It's rare, (but) it's not like hitting the lottery or anything. If you look hard enough, you'll find them."

St. Johns County deputies were also called to the scene, and they photographed the snake, an eastern diamondback rattler.

Their photos were published in The St. Augustine Record on Wednesday and made it appear longer than the 7 feet 3 inches that Booth measured it at.

The largest eastern diamondback recorded is 8 feet long.

But Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said, "Seven foot, 3 is still a formidable rattlesnake."

Actually, rattlesnakes that size used to be commonplace, Hill said.

But in an era of strip malls and urban sprawl, they are much less likely to live long enough to get that big - either because they're killed, like the snake was Sunday, or the prey they depend on was driven away by humans.

"It's another victim of development because a lot of people just don't like snakes," Hill said. "They sure don't want a rattlesnake around their house."

While he's a trapper and deals with snakes all the time, he's not a snake person.

"I was always brought up that the only good poisonous snake is a dead poisonous snake," he said.

Booth took the snake to Jacksonville on Wednesday and gave it to a man who runs a muffler shop and also makes things from snake skin.

He could have made $700 on it - $100 for each foot.

Instead, he traded it for future car repairs, well worth the hairy situation of actually removing and gigging the snake.

But there's a price he doesn't want to pay.

"I've been struck at a whole bunch of times," he said. "I've never been bitten - knock on wood, I won't be."
Massive snake is not largest on record

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