A call came in for a large rattlesnake alongside the house. The homeowner used a rake to gently coax the snake into a trash can, and gave us a call. Josh arrived shortly afterward, and transferred the snake into a bucket to be relocated. He found a nice deep cave in suitable habitat within its estimated home range.
Sometimes we aren’t able to get a photo of a snake before we have to capture it, so we get a bucket shot. Here are a few recent relocation situations from the Phoenix area. These include a speckled rattlesnake, blacktailed rattlesnake, and a few Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes.
Jeff heard there was a rattlesnake spotted at the park near his home and went to see if he could find it. He did – a young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake coiled right against the wall. The snake got a free ride to elsewhere within its estimated home range.
We got called out to a home in Cave Creek where the homeowner was knocking out yard work during an unseasonably warm afternoon, and since it was late December he didn’t expect to find a beautiful Western Diamondback tucked under a trash can, clearly taking advantage of the weather too. The house sits on a golf course with a view fence and backs up to a desert preserve, so this is exactly the kind of edge habitat where these encounters happen when conditions line up. Even though this one was pretty well behaved, there was no room for any extra holiday guests, so we moved it into the nearby preserve where it’s now living rent and worry free in a massive packrat nest.
A homeowner was checking on some plants by the front door and noticed a visitor. A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake had found a nice spot to rest and thermoregulate against the foundation of the home, with free water! The home is right against the open desert, so a situation like this is an oasis that will have wildlife visiting.
Widespread development in this area has displaced wildlife, which will drive encounters and dangerous situations for years. This Western Diamondback Rattlesnake was already trying to find what it could, and was thankfully found before someone killed it. Marissa was sent to capture it and take it to some habitat that would work much better that wasn’t scheduled to be bladed in the near future.
This glue trap was in the garage and captured a young Mojave Rattlesnake. Marissa was able to safely rescue the snake, and inform the homeowner that the seals alongside the edges of the garage door had been chewed by rodents, making an easy entrance for a small snake.
This tiny Desert Nightsnake was called in just before Christmas. At only around 4 inches long, it hasn’t had much time on the planet yet, and is already being mistaken as a rattlesnake 🙂 Though it does meet a lot of those old-timey identification requirements, these are not rattlesnakes and are entirely harmless animals. Austin helped the little one to a better situation to spend the rest of the winter, and hopefully catch a few lizards next year.
Winter is the best time to have rattlesnake fencing installed. Wait times and costs are both lowest, while the snake relocation hotline isn’t jumping off the hook. Here’s a recent example, with a homeowner planning ahead to a rattlesnake-free 2026.
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Two rattlesnakes were spotted coiled up against the house. The larger one is a male, and has likely been courting the female. The property was very clean with few places to hide, but during the mating season rattlesnakes have other reasons to be where they are aside from the typical food/water/shelter combo. They were carefully collected and released together in suitable habitat at a nearby preserve.
