What a story he could tell...

We acquired this animal about 20 odd years ago.  He is a success story from the Sweetwater rattlesnake roundup.   Possibly the only animal to survive that awful experience.  His story is unique.


We had just opened our reptile exhibit and a guy came by with a rather nice wooden box that he said he transported snakes in.  He had a diamondback that he brought back from Sweetwater, thinking he wanted to keep it himself, and then second thoughts.  He wanted to know if we were interested in the animal. Of course we said yes. 


Now this guy was not the average spectator.  He had an "official' red vest and patches galore from all the roundups he had participated in.  He was more than proud of that fact, and it was all we could do to be civil and "visit" with him until he left.


The animal was thin, as to be expected, and not all that big, probably a couple feet.  But he didn't show any outward signs of noosing, manhandling, etc which could have been present.  All we could do was set him up, and hope for the best.


Fast forward those 20 odd years and here is his picture!

 

Yes, it's a close up, but he doesn't look underfed,does he?


We've moved since then, changed our business name, etc, but we still have the snake.  He's "happy", healthy and a great display specimen.  He's well over 5 feet. He virtually never strikes when people tease (and we haven't gotten to them first) and he rattles almost on command.  

Texas Rattlesnake Festival

I wrote about this in an earlier post, but here's a nice "poster" describing the event.  There will also be vendors selling goodies, such as Neodesha cages, the BEST venomous cages!

 

So come on down!  What else do you have to do that weekend?  Might be a nice change of pace from the nasty weather that's been plaguing us this year.

 

Here's your sign!

After retiring, I decided that I needed more signage around my place, to attract business to the Serpentarium, since I was finally in a position to work with my favorite animals, full time.  This is one of the signs. 

Think it draws attention?  I also had another made, for my other passion...

 And this is how it looks, mounted on the fence.  The "open" sign goes up and comes down, dependent upon the weather, etc.  As people may know, this has NOT been a herp-friendly winter!

For the really observant, notice the t-shirt I'm wearing is the same one as Jim Harrison is wearing in a recent video on Facebook, of him milking a timber rattler.  (He had just been through hip replacement surgery.)  Obviously we run around in the very same, elite (?) circles!