I have not had too much experience with snakes until lately-4 or 5 years
ago while horsecamping in the southern california desert we rode by a lot
of very large sunning themselves rattlers that nobody got upset about or
they got upset with us ..but recently I was riding my 4 yo(the least
experienced, of course),out on the trail by ourselves(always a problem
since he is not real confident yet)when he again, stopped suddenly(on a
dappled forest trail on a windy day)and refused to move another foot, we
discussed, he reluctantly moved several feet and a small snake(for a
rattler) leaped out(yes I know he was striking from a coiled position) of
the bushes by the edge of the trail and scared the sh..t out of both of
us(it was then that I heard the rattles..I guess I'm a little slow)we
backed up carefully and took another trail. I thought we both did very
well..we were only a little paranoid at that same spot for 1 or 2 weeks
afterwards-Two weeks later a nice big fat black snake(?type) startled in
front of us and raced across the trail-Clipper(the 4 yo)saw him clearly but
wasn't impressed-my conclusion was that he at least knew the difference
between the two and has good survival instincts(better than me)(vbg)
Penelope