Accidental find in Riverside
 

A friend of mine was at a shooting range in Riverside, (he is a detective) and found this little guy in the parking lot about to be destroyed by someone. He managed to scoop him up and get him out of there thankfully. He texted me about it and I told him to bring him to me the next morning at church so I could get some photo's, but I had no idea he was bringing him from Riverside unfortunately. We are about an hour from there where we live. He is clearly a newborn I would think as he cant even make noise with his tail yet, and is maybe only 10-12 inches long. This pic is right after I had given him a nice little meal, for hospitality sake :D

I will say that this little guy acts like he was captive bred, totally mellow, does not attempt to strike or show aggression in any way at all for the most part. I am not gonna test that with my hands though haha! But his attitude when I go in with the hook is quite chill, he just jumps right on and moves about with me on the hooks. We took a video of him last night when we offered a live hopper mouse (we plan to release him, didn't want to spoil him with f/t, not sure if it would but why risk it) and he acted like we were not even there, just started eating right away with us hovering over him with the lights on him. Dang if only all of my pet snakes acted this way! Sheesh! :D

After some research it looks like this is his exact ID:

Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus - Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake

http://www.californiaherps.com/snake...m.pyrrhus.html

Aw, that's a cute little one! Glad your friend was able to grant the stay of execution :)

D'awww, he's so cute with his little button tail! :D
It's interesting too, I've never actually seen that neat-looking species around before... Well thanks to you and your friend's actions, there's one more to stick around now! He's a lucky lil' guy! :p

He totally is! Yeah he almost seems grateful the way he is so relaxed and content when I interact with him.

He is seriously even more gorgeous in person! I have not ever seen one around here like this either nor was I aware of this particular type of rattler being native to the area!

Here is a vid I took on my phone of him taking a meal the other night.

It's long in the middle, skip from about 1:50 through 2:45. At around 2:49 he yawns and then goes in for the grub time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR9hrr0ec2o



*Disclaimer, this video is of a live feeding. It was not created for the pleasure of seeing an animal be killed.

Speckleds of any kind have always been one of my favorites, but I never knew we had them around here either.
So then I guess he's not the only lucky one here, it's a wonderful find! :thumbsup:

He does seem pretty happy in that video, didn't seem to care about you guys being there at all. Lil' piggy! Love that yawn too! :D

Nope, don't test him with your hands.
He didn't show much hesitation striking that mouse, lol
And it's one, two, three strikes you're mine ...

Quickly just became one of my favorites now too. And I am so glad he got saved rather than stomped by some ay-holio.

The yawn was totally awesome for sure!

Yeah he really seems like he is content as a...I dunno....as something that's very content ha! :D

Ha! Yeah there will be no taste testing of hands for this little death bringer! :eek:

:thumbsup::thumbsup: