Florida boy finds venomous snake in Wekiwa Springs yard: 'Thought it was a stuffed animal'

WEKIWA SPRINGS, Fla. - A boy found a venomous snake in a yard in Wekiwa Springs Tuesday.

Angelo Owens, 9, said he was out looking for lizards in his grandmother's backyard when he saw the snake behind a shed.

"It was all the way back there, and it wasn't moving," Owens said. "It looked like it was coming out of it, but it was standing really still."

Owens loves nature. The snake he found was four feet long. It was about as long as Owens was tall.

"At first I was about to go touch it because I thought it was a stuffed animal, but then I saw its tongue move," Owens said.

He saw an Eastern Diamondback. They are native to Florida and range between three and six feet in length.

Owens said he called for his family and also filmed a short TikTok video. The family called multiple services to remove the snake but said no one would agree to do it, citing its venom.

The family then got in contact with Bob Cross, a local trapper, and he got the snake from the backyard.

"I don’t know how he got into their yard," Cross said. "Their wood fence around their house goes down almost to the ground. He really crawled underneath their fence to get in."

FOX 35 has interviewed Cross after big catches in the past. He's seen on video with a python around his neck. Cross was not touching the rattlesnake.

Anne McGrath, Owen's grandmother, said she’d never seen a rattlesnake on her property before. She’s thankful it didn’t bite.

"If he was bitten by this thing if he’d gotten any closer, he could be dead right now," McGrath said.

Owens said the experience is another story to tell.

"It’s my first time seeing any type of rattlesnake," Owens said.

Cross said he’ll take the rattlesnake to the Reptile Discovery Center in DeLand. The snake’s venom will be used to make anti-venin.