"Snake (I mean) Shake, Rattle and Roll!"

*WARNING: The pictures for this post are graphic. If you are a little squeamish, a snake-lover or a member of PETA I'm going to suggest that you NOT scroll down any further. For the rest of you....wanna see some weird pictures of a snake that almost killed me?

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I almost died this week.

Okay, not really, but don't you want to hear my story now?

We drove home the other night to find our dogs acting a little anxious. Not able to quite put our finger on it we just continued into the house as usual. Before stepping up onto the porch I noticed that Maggie had slipped her collar off. It isn't the first time. She is still getting used to it, so she rubs her neck against the tree next to our front door and slips it off. I started to walk over to the tree in the dark, expecting to see the usual faint glimmer of a collar.

Instead, I heard what sounded like a pack of rattle snakes.

That's right, it sounded like a PACK (which sort of confused me since a snake isn't usually known as a "pack" animal....er reptile....whatever).

I froze in my tracks, afraid to move one more step since I couldn't tell where this bone-chilling sound was coming from exactly. Besides, last week in the tack shed I almost stepped on a young rattle snake before I heard it. He waited to let me know he was there until I was almost on top of him.

I yelled to Ben and asked him to turn the car around so that I could see the entire area with the headlights. As the lights came around I saw it (only one, but it was HUGE)! As soon as I could see where the danger was, I ran into the house and grabbed the Glock.

Ben called Rich (our farming partner who lives in the other house at the Headquarters with his family). He brought a shovel and Ben's shot gun. I made sure the kids were set-up and then went back outside. Hayden knew to stay in the house.

Ben and Rich stood on opposite sides of the snake. Rich held the shovel near the snake and it started to strike. It was SO powerful that it pushed the shovel back at Rich (just a little freaky). I heard the loud thud of the head and teeth as it punched against the metal shovel. Then, it turned and chased (yes, CHASED) after Ben who didn't want to shoot the snake and spray Rich at the same time. When Ben backed off it came back for Rich. (Scary!) Rich didn't waste any time and pinned the snake down, popping the head off.

I'm so glad it saw me first in the dark and rattled...it was sitting, coiled up, right where I was going to look for Maggie's collar!

This was a Diamond Back, not a Mohave. For a review of what the difference is, Click HERE.

Even after the snake was dead, it kept coiling up and striking. Even after they skinned it, it was coiling up and chasing after Ben and Rich. It was like something out of a scary movie.

You have to cut the head off of a rattle snake and bury it. If not, the head can still hook onto something (like a foot) and release all its poisonous venom.

Ben and Rich examining the snake in awe. Rich has lived in this area his entire life and said that he has never seen a snake this big. You can't appreciate the size of this thing in this picture because the snake was still wiggling and coiling up after being decapitated. When it was stretched out, it measured 5' 7" (without the head or rattle). WHOA!

This is what a snake looks like without any skin. I didn't realize that this is an open cavity. All the muscles are on top and support the ribs. The underside is open so that when a snake eats something large, the ribs and skin can stretch wide. This is where the spine is.

The guts run down the length of the open cavity (usually covered with skin).

The huge head was about the size of a small lemon. The bottom jaw has sharp spikes so that whatever it grabs can't get away without tearing away (I'm so glad it wasn't my leg). You can tell how large a rattle snake is by counting the "buttons" of the rattle. This one had 14! FYI: that's CRAZY!

Hayden is turning into my little farm boy: He asked to hold the beating heart (which continued to beat rhythmically for over two hours after we killed it). So much for the bath that night! I cut the heart out of the membrane and we watched the ventricles pump. It was quite the science lesson.