That's the beauty of the .22 with bird shot - easy to turn their heads into hamburger!Dont shoot snakes with fmg rounds snakes are hard to kill the head needs to come off.
While stationed on camp pendelton I had a snake under my jeep and we shot it with a clip of 45 acp and a short mag of .223 and the snake was still alive.
Ended up I put a blank in my m-16 and blew his head off with just the blast. Rattlers can strike about 1/3 of there body lenght so be careful.
As far as dischrging a firearm in the city Make sure you over emphize the fact you feared for life and as a last resort fired it is legal to protect yourself.
I shot my nebors (sp) dog after it bit me and nothing happened but thats a differant story.:willy