Rattlesnakes - his fellow warriors. I don't know, if he hung out with them they might make him meaner.
We apparently have plenty of those guys too, in particular the pigmy ones, but I have yet to see any on my property. I always assume they are in the tightly packed palmettos where I never go.
Just stay away from the young ones if you find any. You know they give full dose when they bite, unlike their elders who know how to ration.