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Rattlesnake Attributes and Behavior
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Rattlesnakes
Rattlesnakes are really an amazing reptile. They belong to the Vipor family and there are more than 30 species. They evolved, like 5 million years ago and live in deserts from Canada to Mexico, and all throughout the southwest deserts in America.
In the winter, they live in dens to keep warm. There can be hundreds of rattlesnakes in one den. It is one of the few times that rattlesnakes will tolerate each other. They are usually loners. They can hibernate for up to 6 months. After hibernation, getting food is their number one priority.
Female rattlesnakes can only reproduce once every two years, and they give birth to live baby snakes. They will carry the babies for about 90 days, and usually have about 10 babies. The babies are almost independent minutes after they are born, and have venom that is just as toxic as their mothers! When the babies are born, they have no rattle. What they are born with looks more like a button. When they are between 1 to 2 weeks old, they shed their skin and the first segment of their rattle is created. Every&ensptime they shed their skin a new segment of the rattle is created. Not to long after the babies shed their skin for the first time, they will leave their mother and become totally independent.
Rattlesnakes shed their skin several times a year, and each time their rattle gets bigger. They can live to be 25 years old. The mother will see her babies again when it is time to hibernate. When winter comes, the snakes will follow their mothers scent trail and use the same den to hibernate in. The same dens will be used by the same snakes (and future generations) for many, many years. Some dens are known to have been used for 100 years!
A lot of snakes are killed on roads. The snakes love the heat from the pavement and will often sit on the road and bask, which puts them in a lot of danger. Many times crossing a road, is the only way back to their den.
The Rattlesnakes vision is really awesome. They can see heat images in the night and this makes it really easy for them to find and catch their prey. They can detect the slightest change in temperature. They can also smell with their forked tongue. After a rattler bites its prey and lets the prey run away. By the time the rattlesnake finds the prey, it will be half digested, because of the venom it injected. This makes it really easy for the snake to eat. They eat their prey head first, by unlocking their jawbones. They are completely helpless while they are eating and are not able to defend themselves.
Rattlesnakes can bite without injecting venom. They usually save their venom for their prey. The king snake is totally immune from the rattlesnakes venom. Rattlesnakes use their rattle as a warning to others to stay away. The king snake is deaf though, and can't hear the rattle noise. What is really strange is that rattlesnakes know this, and will stop rattling once they realize that it is a king snake they are trying to scare.
Have you ever wondered exactly how a rattler sheds its skin? It just starts rubbing against rocks to loosen the skin around its jaw first. Then it will keep sliding in, around and through the rocks, loosening and sliding out of the skin as it goes. Just like with people, the snakes first layer of skin is dead. Every time a the rattlesnake sheds, a new, dark link of the rattle appears. So the bigger the rattle, the older the rattlesnake. The rattle is made out of keratin.
Rattlesnakes are also wonderful swimmers! They push against the water, just like they do on the ground. They don't hunt in the water though. They are such good swimmers that some rattlesnakes have actually been found several miles out to sea!
Prairie rattlesnakes can also be thieves! They will actually steal the underground den of a prairie dog! If the rattlesnake gets in while the prairie dog is away, there is nothing that the prairie dog can do to get the snake out.
There are a lot of different kinds of rattlesnakes. How about a rattlesnake with no rattle? Well, there is one!! The Santa Catalina Rattlesnake has no rattle at all. It lost the rattle so that it could hunt. It is a slender and agile snake that can climb trees. It likes to sneak up on birds, who are their prey of choice.
The eastern diamondback is the largest rattler, and the ridge-nosed rattlesnake is the smallest. It is only 1 foot long and it eats rock lizards. The sidewinder, from Mexico, is probably the coolest rattlesnake. It throws itself in loops across the hot sand to move around.
