Takeout food with a side of rattlesnake? Woman makes terrifying find on Arizona porch

A Tucson homeowner reaching for an Uber Eats delivery got a little something extra with her order: A venomous western diamondback rattlesnake.

The woman was not bitten during the encounter — but what followed was a battle of wills. She refused to pick up the food until the snake moved, and the stubborn serpent refused to budge until it had a good reason.

The snake won (well, sort of) when the exasperated woman resorted to calling a snake removal service, Rattlesnake Solutions.

Rattlesnake “relocator” Dave Holland says the woman saw the snake “stretched out by her bag of food” as soon as she opened the door. Her identity was not released.

“She was startled by the snake’s close proximity, but not as panicked as some are,” Holland told McClatchy News. “We figured the snake froze by the mat or on it when the delivery person approached, and was not seen until the customer opened the door.”

Holland arrived about 20 minutes later, and a photo posted on Facebook by Rattlesnake Solutions shows the snake was practically invisible after moving a few inches. It was coiled up in the corner, behind a ceramic deer on the porch.

The snake was quickly scooped up in a bucket and never once showed off its intimidating rattle, Holland said. It was later released “into a pack rat nest in some nearby natural desert,” which sounds like the rattlesnake equivalent of a fast food restaurant.

Response to the photo has been divided over whether it was the food delivery person or the woman who faced the biggest risk.

Many commenters said they couldn’t even find a rattlesnake in the photo.

“Little rattlesnake was just waiting for his food delivery,” one woman posted.

The incident happened weeks ago — before temperatures dipped — so Rattlesnake Solutions says the snake’s decision to rest on the porch had nothing to do with being cold.

The company specializes in resolving rattlesnake encounters without injuring rattlesnakes, some species of which are increasingly rare.

Western diamondback rattlesnakes are known to grow up to 7 feet in length and live 20 years, according to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Contrary to what some jokers posted on Facebook, the snake was not after the takeout food. Western diamondback rattlesnakes prefer mice, rats, rabbits, lizards and other small animals — the more alive, the better.

Bryan Hughes of Rattlesnake Solutions told McClatchy News it’s fairly common to find rattlesnakes next to doors in Arizona.

“Most of the time, though, it’s the Amazon guy and not a food order, so the timing isn’t as important!” he said.

“Even with this situation happening so often, it’s incredibly rare for a bite to happen this way, and the delivery guy was not in as much danger as it may seem.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 7:10 AM with the headline "Takeout food with a side of rattlesnake? Woman makes terrifying find on Arizona porch."