I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, after looking at the above picture of the eye of the snake, this is not a rattlesnake but the often misidentified eastern fox snake. Take a real close look at the pupil of the shown snake, it is round, rattlesnakes have a vertical slit pupil. I had one of these fox snakes in the camground at Meaford a couple years back, just about jumped out of my shoes. They also mimmick the tail rattling, but have no loose rattles. Also, the head is not triangular, common with most venemous ones. Check the following: The Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) is the only venomous snake in Ontario. It is characterized by the presence of a heat sensitive pit between the eye and the nostril, a segmented rattle at the tip of the tail, a vertical eye pupil and keeled scales. The body colour is grey to brown with dark brown or black blotches along its sides. Blotches near the tail sometimes join to form rings. The belly colour is black. The Fox snake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Snake