Posted on 09/30/2009 11:08:20 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Giant Rattlesnake Slithers Its Way Into St. Augustine Townhouse Community
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- The trappers who caught and killed a giant rattlesnake in St. Johns County said the snake was 7 feet 3 inches long.
Experts said it's one of the biggest rattlesnakes they've ever seen.
The rattlesnake slithered its way into Tuscany Village, a St. Augustine townhouse community, over the weekend.
Someone spotted the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, now being called Rattzilla, near homes off State Road 16 and Interstate 95 and called police.
Police then called Brandon Booth, a professional trapper. Booth said that when he pulled up, he realized how big and dangerous the rattler was.
"When I got there, I looked at it and said, 'That's bigger than 6 feet,'" Booth said. "I didn't have time to really think. I just jumped out of the truck with my gig and got him. He wasn't going to get away."
Booth said he had no choice but to kill the venomous snake because there were lots of people around and a venomous snake that big could easily kill someone.
He said he usually won't kill a snake unless it's venomous.
"I wasn't going to let him get away, so I just went ahead and did what I had to do," Booth said. "There's a lot of kids in that neighborhood and even adults, so I figured it was the best thing to do. I'm not a snake wrestler."
Right now, the snake is sitting in Booth's freezer until he decides what to do with it. The snake was frozen after it was killed and shrunk considerably in size because the muscles were no longer relaxed.
That’s a huge snake in AZ too! Normally don’t get that big in the southwest. I’ve killed a lot of them at my house but they’re usually between 3 1/2 to 4 feet.
I ran up against one just like this, I was remodeling an old farm house, he kinda went at me, (I didn’t know what it was, it was pitch black), I went to the bathroom, came back, saw him doubled up, got a nearby shovel to do him in.
We were both too sleepy to take each other out. But that’s what size he was.
I’ve always wondered about these claims of “biggest”. When I was camping in NE Pennsylvania we saw a rattler that was way bigger than the 7’2” “record” . It was big enough that we figured it was eating the beavers — it looked like it had eaten a kid. We saw a lot of timberr rattlers up there, and it was “open season” when we kids found one, but I’ll always remember the reaction of the dads to this one — they wouldn’t let us within 30 ft of this one, and the top of that hill was off limits after that — through the next year!
I remember imagining an 8’x4’ sheet of plywood, and this thing was longer by at least a foot.
I would have prefered to see this one go to the gator farm alive.
Yeah, you ever been to the Rattler Hunt in Noxen? We actually are more known for our pitvipers (mainly Copperheads) than rattlers. They’re absolutely vicious. I took one out with a .357 mag last Summer and some assclown called the cops. When the cops saw the snake, and the fact that my two nephews were playing nearby where the snake was (and logically where others would be) they let me off the hook.
I see you are awake, did you see that Indonesian pic I pinged you to?
Sure did, that is something else!
For those who missed it.
I missed it!
That is an awesome pic!
What is the story?
RIP.
THIS IS A SNAKE!
ate a sheep and got stuck in the electric fence...
bite me...
I hate when that happens...
You can legally use a firearm in PA for that purpose ,esp . in Noxen. You can shoot in your backyard with a capture box . What was the legal problem ?
Between 20 foot pythons and 7 foot rettlers I’m never going to get my wife to set foot near Florida.
;-{)
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