Baby Rattle(r)

My first black-tailed rattlesnake! Sweet, chubby little Crotalus molossus. Isn't he adorable?
He was probably all of 14 inches long, and quite outraged that I dared to enter HIS dry stream bed. He was a *snappy* little bugger and struck repeatedly. Not one I would have wanted to run across when I was already out on the trail and daydreaming.
For those who are curious, I gently convinced him (with a very long branch) that the road to the Stronghold was not a healthy place for baby snakes. I hate seeing these guys as roadkill, and there are plenty of people out here who still believe that the only good rattler is a dead one.