Rattlesnake season has just begun and already I’ve seen more snakes than I thought I ever would. This is because I went to the Rattlesnake Roundup – an event I won’t soon forget – a couple of weeks ago. It’s an annual event in Sweetwater, Texas, which is about 80 miles north of us. Here’s a good YouTube video that sums it up pretty well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkiA4Hhrjuo. Our time in Texas is getting short and we were curious… I’ll just say that hopefully I’ll leave Texas without seeing any more snakes. It was a very strange couple of hours. Watching other visitors reactions to the snakes was really interesting – look at the expressions of delight and disgust on the faces in the background in some of these pictures.
Souveniers I passed on -
The main attraction – snakes were pulled out of their burlap sacks, handled, and measured to find the longest…
A rattlesnake is on the table between these men and they are stretching it out along a measuring tape. The longest measurement I heard was 68 inches. Yikes!
The little boy in the middle seemed really happy about having the snake in front of him. The little girl is thinking crazy little kid…
A snake gets “milked” for its venom…
More snakes and happy little boys…
An especially creepy sight…
