BRASHER FALLS — Rattlesnakes are hard to find in New York. The endangered timber rattlesnake is the only species native to the state.

So it was a surprise when an unidentified species of rattlesnake came out of a garden hose to latch on to Thomas J. Gurrola's sandal in his yard on Munson Road in the town of Brasher.

"My husband was mowing the lawn and he picked up a hose and the snake came out," said his wife, Melissa. "It didn't get his foot, but it got his shoe pretty good."

Mr. Gurrola, who was not injured, tried to knock the snake out with a shovel, and then put it in a covered bucket. When he and his wife realized it wasn't dead, they put some cold water in the bucket to try to slow it down, Mrs. Gurrola said.

They then called the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park, Watertown, which sent someone out a few hours later to retrieve the snake and bring it to the zoo for identification.

Mrs. Gurrola said that after looking it up on the Internet, she believes the snake is a timber rattler. The Gurrolas also have seen similar snakes in their yard, making it unlikely this one was an escaped or released pet.

"It's one of those things — if we come across one and it is a timber rattler, it's venomous. We're going to kill it — we don't want it to hurt the kids," she said. "It's a Catch-22. We want to protect the snakes, but if the kids are in danger, we're going to kill it."

Complaints about snakes are rare in Saint Lawrence County. When they do come in, they usually are from people worried that there are nests in areas with children. Animal control officers most often get calls about garden snakes — which are not poisonous — and water snakes — which are.

"Snakes are not one of the main things we get called for," said James E. Pipher Sr., an animal control officer in the county. "More often it's raccoons, skunks, fox, coyote and bats. We've had maybe half a dozen (snake calls) in the last 15 years."