A reptile expert explained the steps he and his wife completed to safely remove a rattlesnake that was discovered trapped in a plastic bottle.
Professional snake catcher and Rattlesnake Solutions employee Tim Agnello recalled the event this week with the Miami Herald.
A child first spotted the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake at their Arizona home.
Described as a ‘dangerous situation for all involved’ on a Facebook post, Tim escaped unharmed after removing the reptile from the bottle.
Agnello used several tools while removing the snake: Oil, scissors, a snake tube, and a second pair of hands.
The child in North Phoenix found the snake in the family garden after hearing rattling in early October.
The family then contacted Rattlesnake Solutions at around 10:00 pm, and Agnello rushed over to help.
‘It was a 2-foot western diamondback, and it was stuck half in and half out of this bottle that was part of the irrigation system,’ Agnello told McClatchy News.
‘The bottle had to be secured to something for the snake to push its way into it. We’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff on calls, but this was a good one,’ Agnello said.
The feisty rattlesnake was itching to get out of the bottle, and Agnello revealed the creature would’ve died of starvation if it hadn’t been rescued.
Agnello later enlisted his wife, Wendy, to help him with the rescue so that the Western Diamondback wouldn’t bite.
The expert then used scissors and a snake tube to break the bottle.
‘We had two sets of hands and Wendy got oil and lubed up the snake. We tried to pull it out of the bottle, but it was too stuck,’ Agnello explained.
The pair realized the bottle needed to be cut off, so they placed the rattlesnake’s head in a snake tube to keep it from biting them.
Agnello then started snipping the bottle with scissors and made ‘tiny cuts’ to make sure the reptile wouldn’t be injured.
The married couple managed to get the rattlesnake out in five minutes.
The creature was exhausted, but seemingly uninjured.
Agnello transported the rattlesnake back to its ‘home range,’ released into what Rattlesnake Solutions wrote was a ‘selected microhabitat.’
‘While I was there, I saw another rattlesnake coiled up not 5 feet away, so I knew I was in a good spot,’ he told the Miami Herald.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes frequent the Phoenix area, and they are the largest rattlesnakes in Arizona.
The slithery reptiles can live for over 20 years and usually grow to be four to six feet long.
It usually takes several years for the rattlesnakes to be that long, and they are only around 10 to 12 inches long when born.
A common method of identifying a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is by looking at the banding on its tale, according to Rattlesnake Solutions.
These reptiles can be extremely dangerous and unafraid to strike when feeling threatened.
Because of this, experts, including those at Rattlesnake Solutions, advise individuals not to approach a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.