Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi:

I have a juvy Pigmy. It either has not grown its rattles yet or has lost them. When he rattles his tail, no sound is heard and No rattle is seen at the end of his tail (even with a magnfying glass.)

I don't know if he has never grown them yet or he has lost them. I seem to remember that rattlers add a section to their rattle each time they shed. My pigmy has not shedded under my care yet. My question is: will the rattle come back with the next shed or is it gone forever? How does it work? I am curious.

thx in advance One Million!

They get a new one when they shed. The rattles are really just modified scales.

You did not state whether this snake is captive born or not. If the rattle was broken, it will come back, one segment at a time, with each ecdysis. If the snake was injured & the tip of the tail removed, then healed over, it will not come back.
Florida's Venomous Snakes

This was a WC dusky. You do make a good point. I always just assumed that the rattle some how fell off or has not grown in yet. It didn't occur to me to consider more extensive damage (ie tip of tail cut off). I don' think that the tip of the tail is cut off, at least from what I can gather. I don't think that he has a stump for a tail.

I'll have to take a closer look and see. I'll also have to be very care not to be so engrossed in the task that I put myself in striking range. A safer option is to just wait and see when he sheds if he gets a segment back--although I wonder if one small segment is going to be enough to be seen and hear??.

If the tail tip has not been damaged, it may well grow back, but bear in mind how a rattle works. Sound is caused by the segments contacting one another. A single segment makes no noise. Actually, in Crotalus, a mid-sized rattle makes more noise than a short or a long one.

~~Greg~~

Actually, your pigmy is pretty close to adult size (at least 2 years old). I have found pigmies that size locked up with a mate in the wild.
Pigmy rattles are very tiny and are very hard to hear from outside of strike range. In fact, I don't think I have ever heard one rattle that didn't have more than 6 segments. They are very fragile and break off very easily and it seems rare to find one with a rattle of any length. Your snake has shed quite a few time to be as big as it is.
Just a few observations from,
The Mouse In The House

I actually just learned today that pigmies start out with no button like other rattlesnakes. They have a yellow tip, like Agkistrodons. Also, I'm an Agkistrodon keeper, not a whole lot of experience with Crotalus, so forgive me if I'm wrong , just thought ithis is a possible solution.

How big is the snake? In relation to the size of the pinkie, it looks like it should have shed a few times but I can't really tell. Maybe it's just so small that it hasn't started to form it's rattles yet and it's just now losing the yellow coloration on the tail. Maybe it's nothing to worry about at all. Also, I had a baby eastern cottonmouth last year that was missing the very tip of it's tail so it had no yellow but you couldn't even tell it was missing any of the tail at first glance. Just another idea. Hope this helps. If not, just a suggestion.

Sometimes pigmys never grow a rattle.....