Where is Yesterday's Snake Today?

Yesterday evening at dusk as I accompanied my 2 year old friend Noah on a walk down the street we came upon three young girls -- Olivia, Paige and Katie -- wildly circling on their bicycles sounding the alarm that there was a snake in the street.  Dogs and young children were to be kept at bay.  The girls scurried over to make sure Noah was kept safe.  Noah went straight for the foot-long snake like a moth to flame.  The word SSSS-Nake has long been a favorite of his.  He says it often and was inevitably drawn to the real thing.  His mother Samantha ran out to explain that he was not to touch snakes, ever.  And the girls wondered out loud what kind of a snake it might be.  Maybe just an innocent garden snake?  They worried it would get run over if left in the road.  We discussed how to move it to safety.  The girls ran off to find a competent hand and stick for snake moving.  Noah and I took advantage of their short absence to take a good long look.  Personally methinks it was a very young rattler.  Its head was diamond shaped and its coloring matched that of a rather large rattler I encountered on our local golf course a mere 2 weeks ago.  With Noah back in his mother’s arms, I dashed off to get my camera for the rescue mission.
Our neighborhood posse reconvened in the street a few minutes later.  The snake was gone.  It had suddenly before Samantha’s amazed eyes scurried back into the nearest garden.  And it was gone.  Too late for pictures or well-intentioned relocation plans. We now had a young rattler on our street and we didn’t know exactly where.  We all scattered.  It was dark and dinner waited.