I live right in the middle of them, as I live in a swamp. they are often huge, esp. the females, but they don’t seek trouble and steer away from activity. The raccoons, when they have kits, will spot a diamondback slithering along and start walking alongside the snake to “steer” it away from their dens. That’s often the easiest way to spot a diamondback in the grass- watch the behavior of animals that know it’s there.
Turkeys do the same to all big snakes when they have poults to be sure that when they roost for the night, they have escorted the snake from their roosting areas.
The rattlers and water moccasins, rat snakes, red bellies, racers, cornsnakes and indigos, around here are pretty valuable because of all the citrus rats and other pests in Florida, which, needless to say, are not a problem for me.
They seem to prefer heavier cover than what is available around the house because snakes in general want to avoid being spotted by our resident pair of red shouldered hawks, who can and will kill quite large snakes. I’ve seen them grab and kill snakes they caught sunning on logs and fly up into a tree to eat them, often snakes 4 or 5 feet long.
Thank you for your answer. It is a shame people don’t respect these animals as they are excellent at ridding areas of vermin. And, because they don’t chase us, they are guiltless of the damage they cause because we are stupid.
Actually, they are very beautiful. I haven’t seen a snake that wasn’t beautiful. Their coloring is magnificent.