While watching a large Monarch larva crawl away from the milkweeds, paying attention to where it might be heading to start pupating, I was very fortunate to discover a juvenile rattlesnake hiding behind a clay flower pot on the grass. (For those counting, this makes five since I’ve lived here.) Had I not been watching the caterpillar, I never would have found the snake. Quickly gathered a bunch of snake-catching utensils and a couple of containers and surprisingly easily coaxed it into one of the containers. Drove it down with my mom to the far end of the street and walked it far down into the canyon to release it. Took some pictures of the whole adventure. Never once during this entire episode did it rattle or even seem upset.
Discovered
Coiled and caught
For scale
Undercarriage
Released
New home
