The one species of rattler that's range approaches a reasonable driving distance from where I live is C. viridus. Today, while attending the Albertan Herpetile Group meeting (bunch of biologists discussing their herp work) I found out some really interesting stuff on this snake.

In southeastern Alberta, on a Reddeer river tributary is the northern most border to the rattler's range. It's also home to the largest rattler hibernaculum in Alberta, probably Canada, and questionably North America. Study numbers from the last 4 years give a pretty good approximation of 1000 /- snakes using this den. It's interesting that such a large den is on the very edge of the range. Are these numbers surprising at all for you Americans? Is this huge for C. viridus? For any crotalus?

Also very interesting was the size of these animals. I know prairie rattlers to be about 75cm - 90cm and about 500-600grams tops. I found them in close proximity to an urban center (Lethbridge), and similar "small" snakes were discovered by a different biologist in Medicine Hat. The snakes in this large, very rural den averaged well over a metre when adult; the largest was 173cm and over 2kg! That's huge for any viridus! It's theorisized that urban sprawl selectively kills larger snakes, which in the end, puts a population's reproductive ability at risk. This of course, is unproven, and will likely be the target of a future study.

So thanks for listening and responding to what I hope comes across as an enthusiastic rant, and yes I know, I'm spelling viridus wrong.

I'd love everyone's take on these topics! If it doesn't conflict with exams, I'm hoping to attend the spring treck to this den.

Ian

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