It is not always possible for me to get the photo I want to show you while I am out on my bike — In this case I found a Pygmy Rattler — but I was only able to get the tail end of his body — with rattles though — so I thought I would show you the very safe Garden Snake (Garter Snake) in our flower garden on Drummond — But in a special way — as the front end of a Pygmy Ratter found on the road by our home in Florida. There is nothing wrong with me showing you two snakes in one if I tell you that once again I see things that are not there — Right? Look at his tiny rattlers.
Just for comparison, here are three rattlers from Diamondback’s on our ranch in Texas a few years back — you can see they are a little more impressive in size. Of course a 5 foot Diamond back is much easier to see then a 1 foot Pygmy. I have seen several Pygmies here in Florida though. They can be aggressive and they truly are very hard to see — small, and blend in with foliage – so it would be easy to be within sticking range while gardening. I am very careful when out and about. I had a friend that nearly lost her dog to a Pygmy — the dog was a Shelty that did many agility shows with Dyna – and we trained together for several years. The vet bill was quite high too.
These Pygmies only attain an average length of less than a foot. Their small size & moderately mild venom keeps them from being a serious threat to human life, but the bite is still extremely painful. One man I know was bitten severely enough by a pygmy that he was hospitalized for several days. Despite their small size, they can act as if they were 6 feet long. Locals say, if you give the snake half of an opportunity to bite you, it will happen. Don’t count on hearing the rattle, — it does not produce much noise, if any. I never heard it anyway!
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