Tucson 1st Response Wildlife Diamondback Rattlesnake Removal, Rescue and Humane Relocation

The most common rattlesnakes you will encounter in the greater Tucson area are the Western Diamondback, the Mojave (also spelled Mohave), the sidewinder, possibly the Black Tail, and, depending on your elevations, even a few of the 13 species of rattlers in AZ.

Below are a few photographs to help you be sure you are dealing with a rattler.  Bottom line, however, it is better to be safe than sorry.  Calling 1st Response Wildlife will help confirm identification before removal. (Hovering your cursor over the pictures will reveal the identity.)

If you find a rattler on your property, please give 1st Response Wildlife a call.

Tucson 1st Response Wildlife Diamondback Rattlesnake Rescue and Humane Relocation

Diamondback Rattlesnakes are common in Tucson and the surrounding Sonoran desert. Attracted to dwellings which have an abundance of mice, lizards, and pack rats, homeowners and businesses see them on a frequent basis. Rattlesnakes, in general are not aggressive if they are left alone. However, if you bother them, they they have just eaten, are close to delivering their young, or as you begin to trim a bush, you reach your hand under a branch and surprise them, a swift reaction, on the part of the rattler usually results in a strike.  In fact, the vast majority of snake bites in Pima County come from person-to-snake contact that has resulted from the snake being surprised, rather than the rattler aggressively pursuing the human.

From time to time, I get calls from homeowners who have set out a garden and, to keep out birds, they have surrounded it with bird netting.  Recently a homeowner called with a medium sized diamondback tangled up in his bird netting-probably while it was in pursuit of a lizard or a mouse.  Left alone, the diamondback would have died because it was so tangled up that the harder it tried to push out of the tangle of nylon bird netting, the tighter the strands became.  There really was no future for the rattler in that situation.  The homeowner did not want the snake killed, so a decision was made to rescue the rattler by stabilizing it and then carefully cutting the nylon netting.  As you can see from the picture below, taken with a phone camera, left alone in the Arizona heat, this diamondback was not going to untangle itself and would probably not have made it another day.

After carefully protecting hands and scissor work from the rattler’s head and fangs, the nylon was snipped away and the diamondback was transferred to a holding container to spend a couple of nights resting.  As you can imagine, the diamondback did not really know what was going on and, it was none too happy while it was being held down as part of the process in getting the netting cut off.

Managing a rescue of this sort puts a great deal of stress on the snake.  When the netting was cut off and the diamondback was transferred to a holding container, I let it rest for two days so it could calm down.  It was inspected and appeared to be in good health, was offered water and was kept out of the heat of the desert while it had time to rest.

Two days later it was released outside the wall of the home where it was found, in the desert, within probably several hundred yards of where I suspected its den should have been.

Rescues of this sort are not easy.  In fact I had an associate help me hold the rattler while I cut away the remaining portion of the netting.  However, it is pleasing to treat a rattler with respect, have it rested and then return it to its natural habitat so it can continue to play a role in the circle of life.

Mojave Rattlesnake Removal & Relocation in Tucson, Arizona

Mojave rattlesnakes are dangerous. Most homeowners and hikers classify rattlesnakes as dangerous but, knowing just how dangerous and why one is more dangerous than another is beyond their depth of knowledge. In my business, I find it is better to treat all rattlesnakes as dangerous and, if one is encountered around your home, business, or in a place where children or pets could be threatened, it is best to stay away from them, not bother them, and consider calling me, Josh, 520-345-3814 to deal with them.

This Mojave rattlesnake, for example, was captured in a garage southwest of Tucson.  It probably came in overnight looking for a warm and dark place to spend a few days hunting for mice in a location where the homeowner too often left the garage door open.  One call to 1st Response Wildlife, resulted in my capturing and relocating it to a location where it will not bother anyone-nor will they bother it.

Mojave Rattlesnakes can easily be confused with a Western Diamond Back Rattler because their markings are similar.  There are three things I always remember about Mojave Rattlers that distinguish them from Western Diamond Backs or other Rattlers.

The first is the fact that Diamond Back Rattlers grow to be larger, while Mojave rattlesnakes rarely exceed 4’.  Secondly, I have observed that Mojave rattlesnakes, although similar in coloration to Western Diamond Backs, have markings that become whiter as you get closer to their tail and, their rattles often are whiter than the Western Diamond Back-which often has almost a tiger type stripe appearance of black-white-black-white.  The third and most significant difference the Mojave rattlesnakes have from the Western Diamond Backs and other rattlers is that they have two types of venom.  This is very significant because if a person is bit by a Mojave rattlesnake and gets to a hospital ER for treatment with Anti-venom, if the ER physician does not know they are dealing with a Mojave rattlesnake bite, they will probably only administer Anti-venom to treat a hemotoxin bite (venom that destroys your red blood cells-delivered by Western Diamond Backs and most other rattlers), rather than also administering a neurotoxin anti-venom as well. There is a good reason for this because one dose of Anti-Venom can cost as much as $80,000 or more!

Since a Mojave Rattlesnake carries both types of venom, its bite is especially dangerous and, because of this, a Mojave rattlesnake bite is considered 10 times more dangerous than bites by other rattlers.  Yet another reason to call 1st Response Wildlife to deal with any rattlesnake you may find in your yard, shed, business, or home.

My motto in handling any type of snake is, “Make no mistakes with snakes.” - Josh