Link with video

Texas homeowners thought there were a few snakes under their home, but a snake removal company soon recorded video of their hours-long work to remove 45 rattlesnakes from under the house.

The video was shot near Abilene, Texas, on March 13, Nathan Hawkins — owner of Big Country Snake Removal — told USA TODAY in a series of Facebook messages on Tuesday.

The company posted the nearly 18-minute long video to Facebook on Sunday, and it has been viewed more than 300,000 times there. It shows Hawkins and a partner working to remove snake after snake from a cramped space under the home.

The company's Facebook post says the owner discovered a "few" snakes while attempting to fix a TV or cable issue under the home. When Big Country Snake Removal arrived, they found a well-kept yard and a neat house.

The company warned that many homeowners "don’t think it can happen to them." But "rattlesnakes don’t care how nice your house is or what kind car you drive- they care simply about survival."

The video shows Hawkins using an extended tool to pick up the snakes. As he does, the reptiles react — sometimes using their rattles, sometimes slithering away, sometimes showing their fangs.

While the video has gained media attention, Hawkins said in a written message that the company regularly deals with similar situations: "This is nothing. We do this all the time."

The largest snake removed from the premises was 5 1/2 feet long, according to Hawkins.

I'm not an ophiologist, but I wonder what were the snakes eating?

Gonna have a major rat problem in a few weeks

The way they immediately start rattling like crazy and swinging that head around with their mouths completely open like that after being grabbed is crazy cool to see.

it also was pretty interesting and kind of surprising to me that one rattle snake freaking the fuck out doesn't send the rest of them into automatic defense mode. but even in the big group, he'd grab one and the others wouldn't really react at all.

Does Hallmark make a "Sorry I burned your house down" card?

One of the few upsides to winter and cold in Montana; NO snakes.

My son is working in the oil fields out that way, Garden City, Texas. There are a couple of their sites they have to be very careful about, particularly as it gets night time. He says it’s like a breeding area, they’re from 6 inches to 6 feet.

unh unh... nope

That is “denning” behavior, not “hanging around a food source” behavior. They like to collect in large groups during the cooler part of the year.

That's a nope from me.

Who in their right mind would build or buy a house in that area with a crawl space? The largest rattlesnake roundup in the world is 40 miles west, and even Midland (lived there 1.5 years in the 90s) which is 150 miles west has a metric shit ton of rattlers.

Back in the 90s we sold an oil & gas facility in that area. For a period of time both us and the new owners used the facility. One day, our guys enter the facility and there is one of the other companies employees standing on the roof of his truck with an empty revolver. The rocket surgeon had decided to put smoke into the abandoned buried electrical conduits and would shoot the rattlers when they came out. More came out than he had bullets and they were pissed off so he retreated to high ground (the roof of his truck).

Ok, they got the ones UNDER the house.....what about the ones in the walls and attic??????????

That many Rattlers in one place? Eating good in the neighborhood. I concur, they will have a rodent issue in short order..

Opp, Alabama has held an annual rattlesnake rodeo for many years, it started I understand after a child was bitten and died. Several years back some environmental types up north got upset about the whole thing I understand and contacted the city of Opp about this "cruel rodeo." The city offered to ship all of the captured rattlesnakes to these people I guess for "sanctuary." They never heard back from them.

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
One of the few upsides to winter and cold in Montana; NO snakes.

I agree. Winter in northern Minnesota can be long and brutal at times but I'll never have this problem and I'm just fine with that!

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
One of the few upsides to winter and cold in Montana; NO snakes.

I agree. Winter in northern Minnesota can be long and brutal at times but I'll never have this problem and I'm just fine with that!

Hey guys, just a heads-up: rattlesnakes do exist in Montana(prairie rattler) and Minnesota(timber rattler). Minnesota also has a rattler species called the massasauga. Minnesota's population of venomous snakes is apparently small, but they are there. Even Canada has rattlers.



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I think me 12 ga might do the trick.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmnut:
I think me 12 ga might do the trick.

45 of 'em in a crawl space? Bad lighting, smoke from powder, you'd have to reload a bunch of times, and a bunch of snakes freaked out by the loud noise and bright light. Sounds like a recipe for getting bit.