| The Prairie Rattle Snakes is one of 86 species of Rattlers and is commonly found in Colorado at all altitudes and as far south as South America. Highly venomous and can be fatal to man if no medical care within 45 minutes of bite. Size varies from 2-5 feet in length. A 3.5 foot rattler could weigh in at 7 pounds. Heavy bodied for their length with vertical pupils and a large pit below and behind the nostril. A largely triangular head on a noticeably thin neck are hallmarks of all rattlers. Colors varies from mottled shades of brown, black, brick red and gold, often in a hexagon pattern against a ground color that tends to match the habitat substrate. There are often dark rings around the tail and some sort of eye stripe diagonally back through the eye. The venter is ground color with irregular specks or blotches of darker color. Diet of small rodents, lizards, squirrels or frogs. Rattlers are nocturnal and their vertical cat-eye pupils are an adaptation allowing the pupil aperture to close tighter during brightness of daylight.. Rattlers do not hibernate in the strictest sense of the word but will go dormant dictated by mating cycles and weather. Some species of rattlers form large "dens" and can then form what is called a "Ball Up". Rattlers like all snakes are deaf but are excellent at detecting motion and ground vibration. Combine those senses with the chemical sensitivity of the tongue and it is a very difficult to sneak up on a rattler. Rattlers often prey on endothermic animals, birds and mammals that give off body heat as infrared radiation. Venom is an injected poison, a pre-digestive enzyme (haemotoxic and neurotoxic). Venom used in protection is incidental. When approached the "Rattlers" will vibrate at 100 cycles per second and a new "button" will emerge after each shedding (twice a year). They breed in late spring after a mating dance by the male. The eggs are retained by the female until they are ready to hatch usually in the month of Sept. |
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