Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know, this is a stupid question, but someone needs to see the answer posted here...

Some self-professed "knowledgable" people are claiming that Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes are quite common in Randolph County, AL (that's east-central AL, almost as far north as Birmingham.) They also claim that the confusion about ranges is because many people confuse these snakes with the Florida Diamondback.

Any comments?

>>I know, this is a stupid question, but someone needs to see the answer posted here...
>>
>>Some self-professed "knowledgable" people are claiming that Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes are quite common in Randolph County, AL (that's east-central AL, almost as far north as Birmingham.) They also claim that the confusion about ranges is because many people confuse these snakes with the Florida Diamondback.
>>
>>Any comments?

Yeah - Get you a copy of the Peterson Field Guide Reptiles and Amphibians - Eastern Central North America, by Roger Conant and Joseph T. Collins, Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

It is readilly available from brick-and-mortar bookstores, Amazondotcom, and even eeebay. This a definitive reference that should be in every herptophile's collection. It will settle almost any argument regarding identity and range.

BTW - there is no such thing as a "Florida Diamondback" Rattlesnake - they are all Eastern Diamondbacks Crotalus adamanteous. There is a Diamondback Watersnake Nerodia rhombifer rhombifer, but how anyone could confuse this with an Eastern Diamondback back is beyond me.

JPD
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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

But we're dealing with someone who thinks he knows better. So I thought if enough posters here pointed out his misunderstandings, he might actually start to realize that he doesn't know it all.

All you have to do is look at a copy of Mount's Reptiles of Alabama. Eastern Diamondbacks are the only diamondbacked rattlesnakes in Alabama and they only make it as far north as the Red Hills (southern Barbour county). They don't get near Randolph county according to records. They do make it further north in western GA, so it guess it isn't impossible, but I don't think there is any Diamondback habitat further north.

The proof is in the pudding. Get one of these experts to show you a photo or better yet, a specimen from this area. It would be a significant range extension north.

And there is only one Diamondback found anywhere in the Southeast - the Eastern Diamondback. There is no such thing as a Florida Diamondback.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

the post that started all of this nonsense; it starts like this: "I know snakes and I saw a 7 foot Eastern Diamondback killed in Randolph Co, north of the lake. There are quite a few true eastern diamondbacks in Randolph Co. Sometimes you'll find the FLA diamonback in south Alabama and it gets confused with the eastern. The timber rattlers are there, too, but they smell different."

To see the rest, or to respond, just follow the link. (Be prepared; the site is a cavalcade of idiots.)
"I know snakes..."