[Flycatcher]

Yes, rattlesnakes are predictably unpredictable, if that makes any sense. For the most part, they do prefer to retire from any sort of conflict, but if they feel cornered, as you pointed out, they will assume a threatening posture.

You and I are both lucky we haven't been bitten (yet). I've handled -- in the wild -- nearly 100 rattlensakes (six different species) and I look back now at my sometimes reckless behavior.

I never physically handle them now. I must be smarter. ;)

But in a wild setting, I never kill them either. I'm an old-school Conservationist with a capital C, which makes me the philosophical enemy of the socialist Environmentalist with a capital E.

[The KG9 Kid]

Aside from the baby rattler in my backyard that got killed because our little Siamese cat was too curious near it, I won’t kill a snake either. I think about Hantavirus.