Brian Hubbs wrote:
That is not a 55in. rattlesnake...more like 36 inches...
I think all that birdwatching has thrown off your mental-calibration skills.
Let's say the measurement across the guy's fist is a not-very-impressive 4 inches (I'm using his fist as a reference, since he's holding up the snake in one of the photos so it's at the same distance from the camera as the snake is). Using this reference, the snake is about 48 inches long.
Or, you can use the bricks on the wall of the house as a reference. Assuming they're only 6 inches long (erring conservatively--those would be short bricks), the snake is at least 48 inches long.
I don't think 55 inches is unreasonable.