Speaking of rattlesnakes

[Voni]

I found this on my back porch, 25 miles north of the park.

What kind is he/she?

R.I.P.

Voni
  sMiling

[Roy]

AAIIIIIIEEEEEEEE
(Well, that's what I'd prob'ly have said if I'd found that thing on my porch)

Ms. V, what you've got there is an excellent speicmen of crotalus atrox; the western diamondback.

[madplanter]

.
a 'scute' !!
 

actually what you have is a young and very dangerous
Mojave Rattlesnake  (Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus)

(western diamondbacks have true 'diamond' shapes
framed by straighter white lines....notice the roundish
blotches instead....like a prairie rattler....and the 'coon tail'
completes the i.d. as a 'scute')


please read what Mr Hollister says about them...

http://www.trans-pecos.us/snakes/scute.html




mp

[RichardM]

Where's JeffB?  This one sure looks a lot like his Mojave, except for the tail stripes.

[Roy]

Looking at it again, it probably is a mojave.  I was looking at the pattern on the upper left (10 o'clock to 12 o'clock position) where the pattern really looks like regualar diamonds separated by white.  Most of the rest of the snake's body is either overexposed or slightly out of focus in the pic, so I didn't look at it too hard;  the pattern is less diamond shaped everywhere but where I looked.  Both species have that black and white pattern on the tail.  Either one of them could ruin your day in a big hurry.

[madplanter]

.


i notice a lot of folks here still kill snakes of any kind.


i encourage everyone to consider safely and carefully
re-locating venomous snakes to a remote area...
and leaving non-venomous snakes in peace or
also re-locating them.


most educated hikers and campers understand the
protective regs for these important creatures
when inside the NPS lands; i wish everyone would
be as repectful of maligned living creatures as they
would be of their deeply loved fuzzy pets.


(soap box -off-)


cheers

mp

.

[Sanjuro82]

That's a Mojave.  They are rare in Texas so that sure is a nice find!  The easiest way to tell a Mojave from a Western Diamondback (besides the size difference) is to look at the banding at the tail.  The Western Diamondback has banding of similar sizes (the white and black bands).  Like this:







Whereas the Mojave's bands are not of equal size.  The white band is atleast twice as thick as the black band. 

[Voni]

Thanks for all the identification help.  I was pretty sure it was a Mojave, but wanted confirmation.  It was the last snake I wanted to meet and the first I've seen in the wild in Texas.

As to live and let live, I'm fine with that.  In the wild. 

But not on my porch. 

Sure hope none of his friends are around . . .

Voni
  sMiling

[Sanjuro82]

So where is your place?  25 miles north of the park, that's an awesome location!  As for the Mojave, it's a shame that you had to put it down, but sometimes that's the best thing to do when they are living near our homes.   Especially when there are children nearby.  A child biten by a Mojave of that size (it looks like it's about a 2 footer) would be in really bad shape.

[Voni]

We're on 118.  Surrounded by mountains and with most beautiful sunsets and sunrises.

Not a usual place for rattlesnakes since we don't have the food and water they require.  He was probably just wandering through.  The first one I've seen in two years of living there.

Voni
  sMiling

[aggiehiker]

Did you make a belt of his skin? The meat is also good to eat.

[Voni]

No.  It didn't seem right somehow.

Voni