Caught a Rattlesnake!!

[kaotik94]

Happy Labor Day! Me and the Wife went hiking about 10 minutes from where we live. I had snake hook in hand. Went all the way up the trail without seeing any herps. Disappointed....we started descending down the hill and at the corner of my eye caught a glimpse of a snake half way out of his hole. Grabbed my hook and pulled him out and turned out to be a rattler!!!! I don't know which species of Rattlesnake this is....any help would be appreciated!! I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and was herping on the mountains near the coast in San Mateo County. All the pics were taken about an hour ago.

[Emilio]

Super cool!!!

[OhBalls]

Looks like a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake, subspecies of a Western

very pretty

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Thats pretty cool. thanks for sharing!

[wilomn]

I think that is the Northern variety of the Western Rattler, c.v. orgeanus as opposed to the southern c.v. helleri.

Cool snake but wicked venom.

[Colin Vestrand]

nice snake! i would definitely say northern pacific too...although i'm not an expert on you western states.
and yeah, don't get bit by one of those guys...

[frankykeno]

Okay I'm not trying to be a wet blanket here. I really am looking to learn but is it a good or safe thing to pick up a venomous snake, take pictures, THEN ask what kind it is?

[RichardA]

My first guess is a N. Pacific as well.....those are plenty HOT and should not be kept by novice hot keepers.

Very nice find, bad idea if you kept it.

[Emilio]

Okay I'm not trying to be a wet blanket here. I really am looking to learn but is it a good or safe thing to pick up a venomous snake, take pictures, THEN ask what kind it is?

If I see a rattle I'm probably not messing with it.jk If I had a hook like he did and its small I'd probably pick it up just for the thrill.

[frankykeno]

But what if it does get you Emilio? If you don't know the hots that are native to the area you live in, you aren't likely to know what to tell the E.R. Aren't anti-venoms pretty much specific to the type of snake that bit you? It's only after he's had that snake in his hands he's now learning it's very venomous....seems a bit late to know that as far as safety goes. Like I said, I'm just trying to learn here.