CLEVELAND ADVOCATE (Texas) 06 September 07 Snakes rattle nerves, but are needed (Glen Dodson)
My article this week is about rattlesnakes. Now that probably causes a shutter or icy chill up the spine in some of you readers.
To quote Chief Dan George: "If you talk to the animals, they will talk to you, and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them, and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
My middle son, Jim Ed, and I were discussing the fact that the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake is on the endangered species list. This led me to doing some research on both the Eastern Diamondback as well as the Western Diamondback rattler.
The Western Diamondback rattler is native to Texas and many of the western states along the California coast, south to Mexico, and east to Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and into Kansas. Western Diamondbacks can weigh up to16 pounds and be as long as 7 feet.
The Eastern Diamondback can be found in lowlands from southeastern North Carolina, all of Florida, and into the eastern part of Louisiana. They can weigh over 20 pounds and reach a length of 8 feet. At around three years, a rattler will reach sexual maturity and they are capable of giving birth to 12 to 20 young rattlers. The baby rattlers are born in the mother's body and they emerge with venom.
The Eastern Diamondback rattler prefers pine forest and can be found hiding in gopher tortoise burrows and saw palmettos. It is considered by many as the most dangerous and poisonous snake in North America. It can deliver enough venom in one bite to kill six adult humans.
Their food consists mainly of rabbits, squirrels, rats, chipmunks and other rodents, as well as birds.
Due to the reduction of their habitat by increasing human population, along with being run over on highways and intentional killing by people, the Eastern Diamondback is now on the endangered species list in some states.
Wildlife biologists are concerned that the survival of the Eastern Diamondback depends a lot on the preservation of undeveloped forests and the stop of intentional killing.
As the settlers began to move from the east to the west, many people were afraid and reluctant to move westward because of the stories they had heard about the Western Diamondback.
Writers such as Bret Harte, Zane Grey and Horace Greeley told tales of the rattlesnake that fueled the settlers' fears of the rattler. This fear, in turn, led to mass exterminations of these animals.
The Western Diamondback rattler continues to survive better than the Eastern Diamondback. A lot of the survival is due to the amount of wide open spaces in the western states. In Central Texas, a lot of land that was used for farmland back in the 1940s and 50s now is being overgrown by post oak and other trees and brush, affording protection for the snakes while at the same time providing habitat for rabbits, rats and mice and other rodents.
Coincidently as I was doing research and formulating my thoughts for this article, a friend of mine near San Antonio sent me some pictures in e-mail of two Diamondback rattlers in their mating dance. The two snakes were observed near the Texas town of Kermit. It is rare for someone to be fortunate enough to see this dance, let alone get some good photographs.
Rattlesnakes have evolved to closely match their surroundings.
Rattlesnake round-ups are held in many states including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Georgia. Florida has outlawed round-ups.
The world's largest rattlesnake round-up began in 1958 in Sweetwater, Texas, sponsored by the Sweetwater Jaycees. It is held annually on the second weekend in March.
Since it first began, over 225,000 pounds of rattlers have been caught. On the average, hunters will catch up to 20,000 rattlers.
Snakes are hunted, skinned, fried and offered as food items at the round-ups. The skins are used for boots, belts and other clothing items. The venom is used by the scientific research to manufacture anti-toxins used to save rattlesnake bite victims.
If you like to view snakes from a good safe advantage point, I would suggest two different places.
Just outside New Braunfels on I-35 South is the Snake Farm. It is the location of over 300 animals including reptiles, birds, monkeys, zebras, donkeys and more. The last time I visited, the farm had a big pit with a heavy screen on top and the pit was full of rattlers. Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Snake Farm is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The other is the reptile house at San Antonio Zoo in Brackenridge Park.
Snakes rattle nerves, but are needed

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