As some of you know, I am in West Texas having attended the 2007 Texas Star Party. I have now travelled north from TSP to Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus. Larry Smith the director at Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus had mentioned they had a lot of rattlesnakes around the place. I said, "if you see one while I am there let me know because I would like to see it and get a picture of it, with my telephoto lens". My intention was to photograph the snake at a safe distance.
Last night I arrived at Comanche Springs about an hour before sundown to observe with the 15" refractor. Larry said to me as I got out of the car, "there is a snake under the blackberry bush which you can get a picture of". He said, "it's not a rattlesnake but a 'bull snake', but will make for a good photograph." He said, "they are not poisonous and we like them around the place because they keep the rattlesnakes away".
Larry and I then walked over to the "blackberry bush" where I proceeded to take the attached photograph of the little "bull snake".
Just prior to taking the shot Larry Smith asked me if I wanted him to move it out from under the bush. I said, "no I can get a great shot from here." Keep in mind that my camera was about 1 foot from the snake when I took the photograph with the 18 - 55mm zoom lens, I had borrowed from Andrew Catsaitis (Rocket Boy). When the shutter went off, the snake which was facing away from me, struck at me (or the camera) and missed by a couple of centimetres. The snake repositioned itself after striking and missing and settled in a slightly different position. When it settled I could clearly see the end of its tail, which I could not see, before taking the shot. I said to Larry, "Larry it's got a rattle on its tail". He took a closer look and said, "oops, I am gonna need to wear my glasses when I am out here in future". The snake then took fright at us and dissappeared under the fence.
Now I gotta tell ya'll it wasn't until about 5 minutes later that the reality and significance of what had just happened hit home. Had the snake been facing me when I took the photograph it must surely have got me, from such close range. Young rattlesnakes of this size, about 3 feet long, are the most venomous. Medical treatment is about 2 hours drive away.
I haven't stopped changing my undies since last night
Never ever ever again will I ever do anything so stupid, as what I did last night and I just think myself extremely lucky not to be in hospital very very ill at this time, or possibly dead.
Now I doubt you're ever gonna see another close up like this, of a WESTERN RATTLER, but everyone please learn something from my stupidity.
Edit: When one of the local Texans (Dink Wilson) identified the snake he called it a "Western Rattler". Not knowing much about them, I automatically assumed this to mean "Western Diamond Back Rattler". Dink later explained that this snake is not a diamond back and is one of several species that come under the family of western rattlers. He said it is what's known as a "prairie rattler" and looks almost identical to a bull or gopher snake. He said they are not common in this area and he could understand how Larry thought it was a Bull snake. He admitted that when he first saw my photograph he also thought it was a Bull Snake. When I told him it had a "rattle" he knew it was a Western Rattler or "Prairie rattler". There are several sub-species of these depending on location but they are all very similar, including Desert Massasauga and Hopi rattlesnake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C...is_nuntius.jpg
Here is a link to some photographs of a Bull or Gopher Snake
http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washin...er-snakes.aspx
It's very easy to see how Larry mistook the identity and how Lucky he was, that he didn't try to pick it up and move it for me to photograph.
CS-John B
