Poppy Bilderbeck
A nine-year-old boy had a close encounter with a deadly rattlesnake in his grandma's back yard.
I definitely know what I'd have done if, at the age of nine, I'd stepped outside into my grandma's garden to find a four-foot four diamondback rattlesnake lounging around - run!
However, one boy didn't have quite the same reaction.
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Nine-year-old Angelo Owens showed WESH 2 News where he found the snake on Wednesday (8 November) at his grandma's house in Longwood, Florida.
He told the outlet: "I thought it was a stuffed animal."
When members of the news team told him he'd been face-to-face with one of the deadliest snakes in the world, Angelo simply smiled and questioned: "Deadliest?"
Indeed, the Eastern Diamond-backed Rattlesnake 'is a large and impressive snake, and bites can be very dangerous to people and pets,' according to Florida Museum.
"The victim should seek immediate medical care from a physician or hospital experienced in treating snakebites," it adds, noting Eastern Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes are found 'throughout Florida and in every county'.
When Angelo told his family about his slithering finding, they underestimated it too, although not to quite the same degree as the nine-year-old, thinking it was a more typical, and much less venomous snake.
But then his father, Alex Owens, said they heard a 'real loud Shhh' sound'.
"You could hear it two, maybe three, houses away. I mean, it was loud," he added.
The dad even later admitted: "It had me shaking a little bit."
Thankfully, central Florida's 'renowned critter catcher' Bob Cross whizzed round and helped safely remove the snake.
Cross reflected: "[Angelo] is a lucky boy. Had he not been wise enough to go get mom, if he'd gone over and tried to play - you know boys being boys - if he had gone over there and tried to play with it or pick it up and had gone near it and it bit him, it would be a different story today."
The snake has since been sent away to a reptile centre which will reportedly collect its venom to create an anti-venom, so next time someone isn't quite as lucky as Angelo, they can be treated and live to tell the tale.