This doesn't look like a "silent" rattler. It has a full set of rattlers.
I just caught what I have heard is a "silent" or "blind" rattler. One with no rattles, and no sound (warning). (Believe it is a Red Diamondback. 5th one I've found here, all about 21-24 inches in length.)
It appears that this rattler had lost the tip of its rattles, with only one or perhaps two rattles remaining. But they appear to have lost their ability to make noise. I can see the snake shaking its tail, but, since the rattles are damaged/gone, there is no sound.
Now, I usually don't kill snakes. I take the rattlers away from the house, and bring bull (and other) snakes up TO the house. (They're great mousers, and the bull snakes are supposed to eat rattlers.)
So now I'm in a dilemma. I don't need a silent rattler lurking around my property (41 acres). "Noisy" rattlers are okay, I can hear them, and know they're there. (I came one or two steps from stepping on one when I was building my house.)
But one that is silent? Either I kill it, or take it far, far from any house. (With the rattler in an unsafe container, that could be a hairy drive!)
