>>I would have found the nearest suitable habitat, the place the animal most likely came from and I would have released it their.
The only problem is that this particular population of snakes is surrounded on all sides by housing developments and, most recenty, a super Wal-Mart. Provided they stay within their isolated natural habitat, and that a sufficient food supply exists (which I'm sure it does), they'd be fine. However, this isn't the first time I've been called to pick snakes out of people's houses in that particular area, and the fact that this very house killed two similar-sized rattlers two weeks prior at their house is not very reassuring as to the survivability of specimens which wander into the housing areas where people value their children's lives over those of the snakes (it's a feel-good move to simply preach "leave the snakes be," but another thing altogether to think about going into your garage, or in one case, kitchen, risking stepping on a snake and possibly getting bitten/hospitalized).
I wouldn't have told the people I released the snake nearby if it bothered them,
I told them I might relocate it outside of town (I live on the edge; take that literally or figuratively), or that I might eat it. Turns out I did neither!
I would have told them I destroyed it, relocated or whatever they wanted to hear since I know how some people tend to be about this kind of thing.
I don't lie to people. Our rescue service is free money-wise, but I always squeeze in a bit of natural history and the importance of snakes in the ecosystem. The truth is that around here, atrox are plentiful to the point of being nuisance animals. If you freely admit that to people, it's almost approval of taking the shovel to every snake they see (which happens more often than our society getting calls for live capture).
For me killing it would never have been an option in the first place. I suppose the reason I though your story would have been better if the snake was released is because I prefer the thought of the snake in the wild, doing what rattlesnakes are supposed to do.
That is arguably the best solution, but it's difficult to consider some of the fragmented urban populations of these snakes "the wild" in the classical sense.
Using the snake for education purposes is better than your alternative (killing it) but not as good as taking it off the porch and putting it back where it most likely came from IMHO.
That is your opinion, and mine is that the snake most likely came from the field behind their house, as did the other two from a couple of weeks ago. If I simply put them back, the cops would be called back to report that our society "didn't do its job of removing the potentially dangerous snake" and whenever I and the local sheriffs have shown up simultaneously in the past, the lawmen have pistols drawn, ready to shoot. However, maybe the snake, once put back a hundred yards into the field, would not return to the house. That can't be determined, but I will err on the side of human benefit in the cases I handle (no one calls for nuisance snakes on the ranches, but these "city folk" don't take kindly to snakes underfoot in their homes).
>>As for my thoughts on the survival rate of relocated rattlesnakes, everything I'v heard/read would suggest that it is quite low (something like a 95% death rate within the first year). Of course my rattlesnakes hibernate for 5 months of the year so not being able to use the same hibernaculum annually is the main cause of death in relocated individuals. I wouldn't relocate any rattlsnake around here unless it is a neonate that hasn't seen a winter yet.
I can't necessarily say for sure that the rattlers around here hibernate in the sense that your "way northern" ones do (doesn't get NEARLY as cold!). The arguments against relocation I've seen tend towards the "unfamiliar territory" line of thought, that the snake won't be able to locate food outside its home range, and it wanders aimlessly until its ultimate demise (by starvation, predation, or vehicle!).
I always say the snake will do more for wildlife being released, even if it winds up eaten or as roadkill (which is also eaten, thanks to the astronomical number of vultures around here), or even eaten by ME, than going to waste in a trash can, cut into a hundred pieces.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet
. It must be nice living where they are still numerous, I wish they were numerous here. Hopefully good management practices will keep your population healthy indefinately, however I have lost alot of faith in peoples management practices through my experiences. Cops pulling out guns at a snake seems a bit drastic but I suppose its a different culture down there. Sometimes you don't realize what you have until its gone (or almost gone).
