Gardner has estimated that there is a rattlesnake for every 3 acres of Florida, which means that there are approximately 12,000,000 pit viper rattlesnakes in this state.1 Parish reviewed the poisonous snakebite problem in Florida2 and stated that from 1934 to 1951 there was an average of about 34 bites per year. In 1936, fifty-three were reported; in 1954, one hundred six, and in 1955, one hundred thirty-five were reported, with the rattlesnake accounting for about 50% of these. Of all bites that occur in the United States, between 3% and 5% occur in Florida with an estimated number of 2,000 to 3,000 human poisonous snakebites annually in the United States. There are 30,000 to 40,000 deaths annually in the world from poisonous snakes.2 With the clearing of land and the growth of housing developments many rattlesnake dens will be destroyed. The snakes then will be moving