Rattlesnakes of Big Bend

[JeffB]

I had been visiting Big Bend for 4 or 5 years before I read that mojave rattlesnakes inhabit the park.  So in Sept '05 I asked several rangers at the park about them.  The response was about 50/50.  Half of the rangers said that was nonsense adn the other half siad yes it is true.  There is a gift shop in Terlingua that has a very good book section and one of the books was about Texas snakes.  In the book the author stated that mojave ratllesnakes can be found in the "Terlingua flats" region.  I spent part of the afternoon on the porch next to the Starlight theater talking to locals and other benders about the specific location of "Terlingua flats" (while enjoying several cold beverages).  Surprisingly nooone had a clear answer, only speculation.  Finally we decided that Terlingua flats refers to the badlands area that lies on the far west border of the park between Old Maverick and Terlingua.  So around dusk we headed down Old Maverick in search of the Mojave Rattler.  We found a couple of western diamondbacks before spotting this - The Mojave Rattlesnake

[JeffB]

Near the end of our trip we hiked to the top of Casa Grande for the first time.  There was a large bee hive in one of the trees along the rim that overlooks the basin campsites.  We had to alter our path along the rim to avoid disturbing the hive.


We hiked down a few yards from the rim and almost stepped on a snake coiled up on the rocks at midday.  The snake we did not expect to find was the banded rock rattlsnake:

[JeffB]

We had set out on this trip with a specific goal to find a black-tailed rattlsnake.  Although the BBNP web site says they are common, we had never seen one.  Our first long hike of the trip was up Pinnacles trail towards Laguna West campsites.  At 6000+ feet elevation we spotted something in the rocks along the path:



We recognized it immediatley and...



We got a great shot of it on the familiar Pinnacles trail.

[JeffB]

The snake we commonly found on the road at night is the western diamondback:

[randell]

Those are some nice photos.  Do you wear anything special when you are out hunting at night to protect your legs?

I wonder what you would find on Rattlesnake Mountain (between Luna's Jacal and Terlingua Creek - the park border straddles it)...

[Lemming_of_the_BDA]

How do you tell the difference?? I'm grossly ignorant of snakes, so the Mohave & the Diamonback look the same to me.

BTW, fantastic pictures!!

[RichardM]

How do you tell the difference?? I'm grossly ignorant of snakes, so the Mohave & the Diamonback look the same to me.

Same here, so I checked out the detailed description of the Mojave Rattlesnake:
http://www.lifesci.utexas.edu/research/txherps/snakes/crotalus.scutulatus.html
Looks like the most distinguishing characteristic is in the black and white bands on the tail.  The Mojave has the white bands at least twice as wide as the black bands, whereas the Western Diamondback has them equal width.

Great pics, Jeff!  I didn't come across your detailed description on the difference until after looking up the other site.  I'd say yours is a better guide:
http://jeffbullard.homeip.net/Big%20Bend/compare.htm

Personally, I'll leave the identification to you guys.  I'll just keep going around them.

[SHANEA]

Hey, I got an idea - why don't we go play with some fire!  Not fun enough?  How about playing with some dynamite?  Still not fun enough?  How about we go to Pantex and assemble/disassemble some nukes.

[Lemming_of_the_BDA]

Hey, I got an idea - why don't we go play with some fire!  Not fun enough?  How about playing with some dynamite?  Still not fun enough?  How about we go to Pantex and assemble/disassemble some nukes.

Heck, at Pantex we got nukes & snakes.

[JeffB]

We wear regular hiking shoes.  The most important thing is to keep a safe distance and be aware of where you put your feet.   We hoped to find a trans-pecos copperhead on that trip but didn't have any luck.  I think hunting for copperheads is more dangerous because they hide so well in the leaf litter.

[Bobcat]

We wear regular hiking shoes.  The most important thing is to keep a safe distance and be aware of where you put your feet.   We hoped to find a trans-pecos copperhead on that trip but didn't have any luck.  I think hunting for copperheads is more dangerous because they hide so well in the leaf litter.

I'm also going to try to get a shot of a Trans-pecos Copperhead on my Spring trip.

[JeffB]

Copperhead was the elusive one.  Rangers advised us that we would find copperheads down by Santa Elena and other river areas where there is a wooded plot with leaf litter.

[Casa Grande]

this is just my opinion...but you guys are freakin nutso

[JeffB]

My hiking buddy is definitely nuts when it comes to handling snakes.  I'm always extremely cautious and have a healthy fear of poisonous snakes.

After Terry pulled the black-tail rattler out of the hole in the rocks I bitched at him for 20 minutes.  It is really stupid to try that.  Especially in such a remote area as 6000 feet up in the Chisos on foot.  If he had been bit I would have just given him the car keys and kept going toward Laguna Meadows.  "Call me if you make it to the hospital."

[Bobcat]

My hiking buddy is definitely nuts when it comes to handling snakes.  I'm always extremely cautious and have a healthy fear of poisonous snakes.

After Terry pulled the black-tail rattler out of the hole in the rocks I bitched at him for 20 minutes.  It is really stupid to try that.  Especially in such a remote area as 6000 feet up in the Chisos on foot.  If he had been bit I would have just given him the car keys and kept going toward Laguna Meadows.  "Call me if you make it to the hospital."

 
Jeff. I'm afraid that you are obligated to try and suck out the life threatening poison, irrespective of where on your friends body the bite may have occurred.  Of course, sucking  is totally ineffective(for snake bite), but if we(but not me) didn't have this obligation(the Herpers Code of Ethics of which I'm totally unaware), many a rattlesnake joke would never have been created ~~~~ : /