My First Encounter With A Rattlesnake

My First Encounter With A Rattlesnake - 4/4/21

By: Moshe Klein

My wife and I bought our dream vacation home out in Arizona 5 years ago this month (April). We have enjoyed every minute out in Arizona, certainly the winters and even the blazing hot summers with temps reaching 119 degrees several times since we have been out here.

We heard stories about snakes and scorpions from locals that we met in Arizona. The worst stories were from friends back in Chicago who have never been out to Arizona but who watch lots of old western movies.

Until today, I have never encountered any snakes.

Today was the last day of Passover. We get up early to have coffee and to go for long health walks to the nearby park, golf course or desert area where Poppy (our 3 year old Beagle) and I have been walking almost daily outside our HOA. It's truly a desert wilderness. The forecasted high today was 100 degrees so we decided to go out to the desert area early before it gets too hot.

Poppy and I saw lots of rabbits today, to her delight. She chased road-runners with long tails and looked with amusement at all of the small lizards that dared to cross her path. We were half way back along the desert path when I saw something moving only 4-5 feet in front of us.

It was a large rattlesnake crossing the road. My guess is that it was just under 4 ft long, but very thick and healthy looking. I kept my wits and grabbed Poppy's harness handle to hold her still. I was very happy that she made no agressive moves towards the snake. I got down on my knees slowly preparing to scoop up Poppy and make a run back down the desert path away from the snake. The snake looked at us for about 5 very long minutes, with it's tongue going in and out. I was scared but not in a panic. Finally, the snake continued across the road, making room for Poppy and I to slowly head back home. The snake and I never took our eyes off of each other.

Snakes are most active when temperatures heat up in the desert. So, Poppy and I will just reroute our early morning walks to the relative safety of the bunny rabbit park and the bike path for the rest of the summer.