Riley the rattlesnake

Riley is a fellow who lives at Byrd Camp but does not share the joy of companionship with other NMDers or any of the comradely spirit everyone else has. He lies in the woodpile, or under the med tent, and generally keeps away from everyone. He is antisocial and when someone walks too close, you can hear an ominous but quite distinctive and threatening rattling noise, or a fierce hissing. He can be seen at times, lying with most of his scaly body covered, and just glaring at everyone above him. As you can probably guess, Riley is a rattlesnake.

In spite of the creepy crawlies that inhabit the desert, one of the only animals out there that is potentially fatal is the rattlesnake. The other is the black widow spider. A bite from a rattlesnake is lethal unless antivenom is provided within a few hours, from what I gather you swell up and eventually suffocate on the poison. It’s not a nice way to go. I’m sure that a kiss from the black widow is equally terrible.

Riley and I have had some interpersonal conflict my first night at Byrd and things haven’t gotten better since. The first time I saw him I was walking by with H, one of our volunteers and by the woodpile we heard the rattling. It was my first time hearing it and I was curious to know what it was, H yelled to get away from the woodpile; that is a rattlesnake. We quickly vacated, and when we looked back, there was Riley, just glaring at us and hissing and looking every bit like the antisocial and hostile and mean jerk that he is. That wasn’t the end of it, though.

Later that night when I was trying to sleep, I heard the same rattling noise. I jumped up and turned on my flashlight in terror and searched the tent… did I forget to leave the flap closed??? Luckily it was, and there was nothing in my tent other than myself, my belongings, and the dozen or so heavy rocks I put in there to hold it down from the inside after the winds made my pegs more or less obsolete. But Riley was definitely not there. I tried to fall back asleep but kept hearing him rattle. He was obviously somewhere nearby. Finally I had enough and loudly told him to shut the hell up and let me sleep. Interestingly, the rattling stopped soon after.

I saw Riley a few other times after that, and even managed to get a picture of him. However, any traces of a potential friendship or understanding we could have once enjoyed is now long gone. The Fire Department has been contacted a while ago to have Riley removed but he is still there, a dark shadow over (to be accurate, more like under) the community at Byrd Camp.

Shame on you, Riley. You need to learn some manners, and to treat others like you would like to be treated. Otherwise you will be forever regarded as little more than a slithering and irritating reptilian pest by the good folks who call Byrd Camp home. Let that be a lesson to you, you scaly thug.


* I realize that in fact, rattlesnakes are not inherently vicious or evil creatures and God created them too. They try to avoid people, and the rattle sound is meant to scare danger away before a strike is necessary. The hissing is also something that is completely normal and not any indicator of aggression or illwill.

Riley, perhaps I misjudged you. Oh well. Keep away from me anyways though, and I will do likewise. And don't rattle by my tent again at night when I am trying to sleep.


J, one of our NMD volunteers and a medical student, watching Riley. When Riley is sighted, someone usually keeps a watch on him so we know where he is. Then he disappears somewhere.


Riley the rattlesnake giving us his "Riley look".