Police: Man bit rattle off of snake

39-year-old accused of weaponizing reptile in neighborly dispute

A Texas man is accused of biting the rattle off a rattlesnake before releasing it into his neighbor’s home after the two men got into an argument, authorities said.

Ryan Felton Sauter, 39, was jailed in Caldwell County in late June after police say he got in an argument with his neighbor and tried to turn a rattlesnake into a weapon, the Austin AmericanStatesman reported.

He faces charges for deadly conduct and criminal trespassing and is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail, according to the Statesman.

Keith Monroe, the unsuspecting neighbor, told the Statesman that he and Sauter had been arguing on June 17. The two live in RVs next to each other in Dale, about 40 miles southwest of Austin.

Later that day, Monroe said he saw Sauter leaving Monroe’s RV and asked his neighbor what he was doing in his home without permission.

“He said, ‘You’ll see why,’ ” Monroe told the Statesman.

And Monroe did — inside his RV, he found a 3-foot-long rattlesnake curled up, without its tail, the paper reported.

Deputies took a written statement from Monroe, noting in an affidavit obtained by the Statesman that the “snake’s rattles had been removed.”

The Caldwell County Sheriff ’s Department got a warrant for Sauter’s arrest several days later, per the affidavit. Jail records showed Sauter was still in custody at the Caldwell County Jail on Sunday.