You may want to think twice about having food delivered instead of cooking. One woman got a food delivery, and she also a terrifying surprise: a rattlesnake waiting for her to grab the bag.
A delivery driver in Tuscon, Arizona, left the to-go containers on the woman’s front porch, according to a photo shared on the Instagram account @rattlesnakesolutions. An angel statue was beside the drop-off, and coiled behind it was a reptile ready to pounce.
The good news is, a man identified as “Dave” was working at Rattlesnake Solutions that evening, and he was able to help the woman safely retrieve her dinner. “Food delivery ended up, unknowingly, right next to a coiled Western Diamondback Rattlesnake in Tucson,” the photo’s caption explained. “The homeowner saw it when she went to get it … which is where it sat until Dave arrived.”
It’s also lucky the woman spotted the snake before she reached out to grab the food. While it’s unclear if the rattlesnake would act aggressively toward her, rattlesnakes are venomous, which means a violent encounter with the beast would have led at least to an emergency room visit.
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The photo was frightening to some viewers, but most commenters came up with innovative ways to grab the food. “If I was really hungry I would have used a rake or broom to get my food,” wrote @laraphotographer0. Another made the same point. “I would have grabbed my food,” said @mikezl0v3, apparently ignoring the danger.
Looking at the Rattlesnake Solutions Instagram account, it’s clear the food delivery is not an isolated incident. The stories of hidden, watchful rattlesnakes are numerous. And thankfully, the company is designed to help everyone remove the dangerous predators safely from their property. Rattlesnake Solutions is active in Phoenix and Tuscon, Arizona, both places where surprise snake visits aren’t uncommon.
The social media feed shows that snakes aren’t always easy to spot, especially where there are small cracks hiding places. The reptiles are likely to evade an untrained eye, as in this photo, where Rattlesnake Solutions had to circle the snake’s crevice since the snake was so well hidden.
If you live in a location with wild snakes and are afraid of finding them on your own property, there are a few ways to protect your yard. A “snake fence” is an option that will eliminate gaps that snakes can squeeze through. For residents in Phoenix or Tuscon, Rattlesnake Solutions offers walkthroughs to track the critters and identify weak spots in your property’s defense.
