PATRIOT-NEWS (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) 17 April 06 Decline detected in rattler's numbers
Timber rattlesnakes are emerging from the dens they've occupied since last October or November over the next few weeks.
Sadly, fewer of the reptiles probably will emerge this year than last and definitely less than a decade ago, particularly in the south-central part of the state.
The South Mountain population of rattlers is among those that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the agency with responsibility for reptiles in the state, considers to be on the periphery of the snake's modern range, under pressure from human development and activities, and apparently in decline.
Others are the northeast population in the Poconos and the southwest population in the Allegheny Plateau and Laurel Highlands.
Anecdotal evidence and preliminary research by the commission indicates the state's core population of rattlesnakes, in the large tracts of forest in north-central Pennsylvania, might still be doing fairly well.
Overall, statewide the timber rattlesnake is on the "candidate" list for those species that eventually might become listed as endangered or threatened within the state and the commission is considering tighter regulations to further protect the species.
Bottomline: There are far fewer of the critters out there than most of us snake-fearing humans believe.
And, most of the rattlers that are out there will be relatively close to their dens until next October or November.
Gravid, or pregnant, females generally will stay within 200 yards of the den.
Subadults, which won't reach breeding maturity until 8-10 years of age for females or 5 years for males, also stick pretty close to home, as will the young of the year, which will be born in the summer.
Free-ranging and dispersing adult males can move several miles from the den over the course of the summer and early fall.
The quick quiz:
1. True or false? Basking, which involves laying in the sunlight to warm the body, helps a rattlesnake with digesting food and metabolizing the nutrients, and, in females, gestation.
2. Female timber rattlesnakes are livebearers, in early fall producing on average A. one to four babies, B. five to nine babies, or C. 10 to 15 babies.
3. Fish and Boat Commission regulations place an annual limit on the number of rattlers any one person may collect in a year. Guess that number. Answers
1. True.
2. B. The average female rattler every two or three years produces five to nine babies.
3. The current limit of one per year was set in 1996. From 1993-96, the limit was one in possession at a time. New regulations under consideration by the commission would add minimum size restrictions and could place the snake off-limits to any hunting in the South Mountain region, including portions of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties.
Decline detected in rattler's numbers