SNAKES.... !

[Jeff aka BOLT]

Thought I would track my snakes for posterity.  We just happen to live in Mojave Green country.  

We've had a variety of snakes...  Gopher snakes, Coach Whips aka Red Racers, King Snakes... but the only rattlers we get are the nasty and dangerous Mojave Greens.
July 5 2012
No 1 - Mojave Green appeared on the north end of the fence line near a gate.  Heart jumped out of my chest as I stepped off an atv to close the gate.
Aug 2012
No 2 - Mojave Green was freshly fed and hiding up against the house behind the hill billy fridge i have on the patio. Dog smelled him immediately upon exiting the house and went to investigate. Fortunately they listen when I say NO and left the area so I could put 2 in his head. .22 snake shot.Aug 2012
No 3 - Mojave Green appeared at sundown crossing the driveway when all 4 pups were out playing. (we just adopted two new 3 month old hounds) I was of course gun-less, bare foot and in a panic to dispatch this thing before the dogs discovered it. Had they heard me outside they would have come running toward disaster. So I ran as fast as fat can to grab the 12 gauge and never saw his head again after the gun went off. Mar 2013
No 4 - Mojave Green and a Baby King - Our dog Roxie found a Green near our back fence and barked at it till I came running from the back end of the property.  I could tell from her steady and serious bark something was up.  She kept her distance, never took her eyes off the snake and barked till I came.  None of the dogs have ever had formal training..  but they all are very snake wary instinctively and will not approach.  They have all stepped near gopher snakes...  but seem to be able to smell a rattlesnake at a distance even days after it has been gone. I'm told it's the venom they smell.May 2013
No 5 - Mojave Green - I'm estimating the date on this one.  Was a small guy curled up near one of the yard planters when I was watering.  Made me jump a bit.  As I recreate this list I realize I seem to never forget any of them.Sep 4 2013
No 6 - Mojave Green - This guy was sleeping under the BBQ when I rolled it away from him to get it out of the wind for dinner cooking.  I was bare foot and unprepared for a snake.  I've never done that again !
Apr 25 2014
No 7 - Mojave Green just cruising the drive way in the cool afternoon.
Spring 2014
Coachwhip aka Red Racer was a mean and nasty bastard.  Fast and they multi strike. Even though non venomous I hated this encounter as I tried to just move him off the property.  It was a battle of wills for about 20 minutes.
Aug 10 2014
No 8 - Mojave Green - Yolanda was taking the dogs out for last call...  MG tucked in the corner by the back door.  She's screaming her head off...  but I was on the far end of the house and no amount of yelling was gonna get through our highly insulated desert walls.  Luckily, I was headed for a tasty cool sugar free popsicle and heard the panic yelling.
 
Pop Pop with the .22...  the wifie and doggies were safe. Aug 13 2014
No. 9 - Mojave Green - 2 feet - 11 years old - I was telling my Dad about never getting complacent and assuming I won't see rattlers back to back.  Tonight I was proved correct.  Out watering the trees an hour ago and saw a ground squirrel...  POP-POP... he's done.  Start to move the hose to the next tree...dragged it right over a Mojave Green that was stretched out along side the hose.
 
NEVER SAW HIM till I pissed him off.   No problem...  I have my trusty .22 ...  POP-CLICK-CLICK...  Ha Ha...  forgot to reload after the last snake and I just wasted two on the squirrel.
 
It's all good.  First shot did him in.
Sep 10 2014
No 10 - Mojave Green - 18 inch - 9 years old - Last call for dogs about 10pm last night.  Decided to take a walk around the yard thinking about snake season starting.  Soon as I left the driveway toward the area the dogs like to drop loads I see a small Mojave Green coiled up.  Tiny one.  He has some damage near his tail that was probably from getting rolled over by a car at some point.
 
As always I have a good light with me...  and my trusty .22 cal 9 shot.  Pop pop.  Then we grab a shovel. Put his head in Bob's Post and toss the body over the fence for the ravens breakfast.  Uneventful really.
Sep 2014
No 11 - Mojave Green - Only a couple weeks later in almost exactly the same place as No 10 out in the front yard.May 2015
No 12 - Mojave Green - Out on the shipping dock...  cruising across my fork lift blades when I walked up.  Had to go back to the house to get the gun and shovel... took a while to find him again.  I was gonna freak if I had lost him in the hundreds of crates I have out there. Found him eventually.  Pop pop and done.Aug 31 2015
No 13 - Mojave Green - Corner of the patio by the back door.  He alerted when I was headed outside when I was still 10 feet away from the door in the house. Two days later dogs won't even cross the patio cause they know a snake was there.

[mitchb]

awesome pictures!

[Jeff aka BOLT]

May 27 2017
No 14 - Well we were overdue.  Haven't had a Mojave Green since Aug of 2015.  Not a single rattle snake in all of 2016.
This guy found his way onto the patio in the corner by the backdoor like a few others.  It is a good spot for us to spy him on the way out.  As long as we look first there is no risk.  Yolanda of course found him and was a bit upset...  but I dispatched him as always and we talked it out.  He did his part...  rattled and backed off and sat there patiently waiting for his head shot.  He was a good snake... he went out of his way to keeping us safe.

[Jeff aka BOLT]

Aug 29 2020
No 15 - Haven't had a Mojave Green since May 27 2017.  We were very overdue.  This one was tan & brown on top...  lime green belly of course.  Didn't think to grab a photo. 

Yolanda found him on the way in the house from work. Just before dark and before she put the dogs out. With his sandy tan  color you couldn't have seen him 20 mins later.  And he had full access to crawl under the generator room where he was hanging out.  Could have been here for a while. All and all it worked out very well.