Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How deep do males and females probe? I captured (then released) one near my house and it probed 13-14 scales deep. Any help would be appreciated. Also, what literature exists that gives a run-down of such info?

here's a pic:
Link

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Very pretty animal.

Generally speaking, in rattlesnakes (at least in my experience, others will hopefully chime in) males probe deep, and females probe very shallow. Anything over 5 scales is a definite male, as females usually probe 1-2, maybe 3 scales deep. When probing I also go by "feel" of the probing as to what the sex is. Males feel more cylindrical, and the probe tends to drift towards the lateral portion of the tail, and the internal anatomy of the female snake is more conical shaped.

Here's a good link to follow.
http://caudal.bravehost.com/

Randal Berry

That is the beginning of a list for subcaudal scale counts, but is there a list out there for probe depth?

Yes, at Probe depth.com

Randal

13 to 14 scales deep would certainly be a male for virtually any species of snake.
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Abhishek Prasad