Morris Rattlesnake Roundup

Snakes, snakes, snakes, softball, food, vendors. That pretty much sums up the rattlesnake roundup. I almost was eaten by a rather large snake at the beginning of the day. Fortunately it was made out of wood and easily released my arm. Every year people vie to bring in the largest timber rattler in the area. This year for the first time the contest was limited to male snakes over 42 inches long. Rattlesnakes are protected in this area, but I will have to say it isn't hard to find one especially in July and August crossing the road to get to a cool creek bed.

The snakes are all micro chipped, weighed and measured. There has been many snakes caught in previous years recaptured. The
snake catchers must return the snakes to the area they have been caught from and much care is taken to keep the snakes healthy during their short capture. Lee has threatened every year she will enter the contest...maybe next year. You can see her hands touching the snake in the second picture near the rattle. The handlers take the snake around the crowd with a plastic tube over their heads to keep them from striking anyone. Young and old look, touch and feel the snakes up close. Of course there are many who stay far back from any contact with the snakes.

While we were there two snakes were brought in a yellow and a black timber rattler. The yellow measured around 50" and was very impressive. It takes four guys to hold the snake straight enough to measure.

Then the black came out and measured 53" and weighed 5 lbs. The judges commented that this was a trophy sized snake by any standards. The black snake seemed particularly fat as well as long. He also was quite shiny having just shed before his capture. The snake experts explained that the snakes are born with a bud for the rattler every time they shed they get another link added to their rattle. They can shed many times a year if they are growing fast. This makes it more difficult to tell their age by the rattle links. Also if the bud is broken the length of the rattle will stop growing.

You will notice they have a double fence between the crowd and the snake in case one gets a little frisky. They said the snakes prefer a temperature between 65 and 75 so they must have been happy today with on and off showers the temperatures stayed within those ranges. My only wish was this snake handler had wore a shirt that didn't match the color of the snake so closely as it was difficult at times to tell what was snake and what was shirt.

I don't know the longest snake yet as the contest won't be over until Sunday, but I wouldn't be surprised if the 53" black rattler we saw takes it. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.