Rattlesnakes!

by Tristan Lannon
Hodgdon Mill Pond School Grade 5
    Note: Tristan used to live in Arizona, so he has had some first-hand experience with the topic of this essay!
    Rattlesnakes are dangerous animals that can be quite scary to humans. Rattlesnakes will try to kill you sometimes. They live in peoples’ yards in Arizona. They sometimes strike out at animals and people. They are an interesting but a little scary kind of animal.
    Rattlesnakes will strike at people and other animals. They will strike when they feel threatened. They will strike and put poison into the person or human. They will strike to kill their prey to make it easier to eat! Watch out that it doesn’t strike at you!
    Rattlesnakes do try to kill you sometimes! One example of how a rattlesnake can kill you is by sinking their teeth into you. The poison goes into you and your body can’t handle it. People are killed by rattlesnakes each year. Rattlesnakes strike when they feel threatened. Diamondback rattlesnakes are responsible for most snake deaths in the United States. 15,000 animals are bitten by snakes each year, and 80 percent of the bites are from rattlesnakes.  I’ve seen so many, and I hope I don’t die by a rattlesnake!
    Rattlesnakes live in peoples’ yards in Arizona. This is the truth because one time in my neighbor’s yard we saw a diamondback! It had diamond shapes on its back.  It also was black around the shapes, with a head bigger than my fist! It was in the shade to cool off and hide, which is where they often go. I ran off to tell my dad. I wasn’t too scared because I had seen them before, but we didn’t want it right by our house!