Saw my familiar Western Diamondback neighbor who I’ve named “Buddy” yesterday. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of snakes, this one is fairly non-aggressive, and we’re lucky to see him once or twice a year. He’ll often leave tracks that criss-cross the ranch between the house and the garden area. Yesterday, he was stealthily hidden at the bottom of our palm tree in front.

I know, I know, leaving a potentially deadly snake to roam nearby is probably foolish. I’ve dispatched more than a few, and relocated a couple, but I’ve read that they don’t do well if moved more than a few miles, or otherwise will just return to their territory. Certainly, the highly aggressive (and particularly lethal) Mohave Green rattlesnakes are not good to have around at all.

In defense of Buddy, he does eat pack rats, mice, and ground squirrels that we help propagate by giving water to all of the above and much more. This morning at our little water spot we saw three Golden Eagles (a pair with their young eaglet,) and maybe Buddy in some small way helps to keep the balance that we’ve upset by creating an oasis where none existed before.

If the time comes, we have several guys here at Stagecoach Trails that are expert at preserving snakeskin, so Buddy will live on in posterity.

After a little while, he moved off over to a Juniper further from the house and left us a nice little trail to see, so we knew that he had gone. It’s more of an event to encounter him, but as I always say, “Watch where you put your hands and your feet.”