WESTERN DIAMOND BACK RATTLESNAKE!

We had some unexpected excitement tonight. Reagan was driving down our street after dark, when he saw a large snake crossing from the woods on the north side towards our yard. He stopped, got out and yelled for Zachary, who was just coming into our house, to run home and get a gun. Then Reagan, Zach and Chuck walked around the yard looking for the snake. It was nestled against the north side of the laundry house, not three feet from where Chuck had walked by, looking for it. Reagan shot it.
It was huge! It was a little over 5 feet long and really thick.
Amy and Mathieu came over too, and I went outside with Lyric, who I was babysitting, to get these photos... none of which turned out very well.
You can tell a western diamond back rattle snake from an eastern diamondback by the 'raccoon tail' change in markings ahead of the rattles. This snake had 13 rattles. The contrast between the very rough back of the snake and the flawless smoothless of it's underbelly is remarkable. The diamondback pattern is so beautiful, but so repelling at the same time. Where there is one snake, there are more, so we will be even more watchful and careful than we have been this spring and summer, so far. *Shudder*