Snakes Alive!!!!

My son killed a rattlesnake, a diamond back, it did not rattle, but he seen it at dusk about 100 ft away from where we were sitting. The rest of us saw nothing. We were having our evening coffee and chat with one of the neighbors and the sun was working its way down so it was a little hard to see. Snakes never crossed my mind. Suddenly my son jumped out of his chair, ran to the front of the RV, grabbed a shovel and ran across the street with it. We watched him in wonder when he started hitting the point of the shovel on the ground. We walked over to see what was going on and what he had done, there was a diamond back rattle snake with its head chopped off. He told me most of the snakes do not rattle anymore because they have bred with the mojave snakes and other poisonous snakes. Also the local hospitals are having trouble with the effectiveness of the serum for the snake bites for this same reason. Since the snakes are interbreeding, they will contain more than one type of poison in them. What really amazes me is that he was sitting with the rest of us with his back to the direction of the snake and yet he was able to observe the area and scan for snakes. When I ask him how he knew it was there, he said when you live here, you learn to keep your eyes open and watch for what may be there.