But when they arrived in the garden, the family was staggered to find a four-foot diamondback rattlesnake.
The child said: “I thought it was a stuffed animal.”
His father, Alex, told WESH2 that he could hear a “real loud hiss” – audible from “two to three houses away”.
He shared how Angelo was left “shaking for a while” after finding the snake, and how it could have been a tragically different outcome for his son.
After thankfully not disrupting the snake, the family called one of Florida’s most well-known animal catchers: Bob Cross.
Cross said Angelo is a “lucky boy”.
He continued: “Had he not been wise enough to go get his mom, or if he had tried to pick it up, or get near it … this would be a different story.”
Originally, the family called the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation (FWC) service first, but upon arrival were told that they did not handle venomous snakes.
The snake is known as the country’s biggest and can grow up to eight feet long.
It was removed to a reptile centre that will collect its venom in order to make a cure to save the lives of snakebite victims.
It comes as an Amazon driver was left fighting for his life after a rattlesnake bit him while he delivered a package in Florida.
He failed to see it coiled in the front door of a home in Pam City.
