Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A while ago I mentioned a friends shop where he had 2 red speckled rattlers with their tails taped in shipping for protection,The wrath of god came down on me,that he was shipping illegaly ,.I said these came in with huge strings of rattles,up to 20.I was called a LIAR.
Well,I bought one of those rattlers,today I got aa new digital camera,so here is your proof,
All you so called "Experts",you know hat I want to say....
for the rest of you,enjoy the pic,COUNT EM !there are 20 !

That's a nice rope.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

that still doesn't prove that your friend isn't shipping illegally. It only proves that a handful of people can count to 20.

I stand corrected on the number of segments on the Rattlers tail. I did however give you the benifit of the doubt in one of my posts. I did say it was possible to have that many. However it doesnt change the fact that he has still sent my friend some venomous snakes via UPS. As stated before, I have seen that for myself, not just hear say.
Chris
Gemini Reptiles

I'd have to say I believe you. Not to mention, there is alot of negative things that have been said about that person and their
business practices.
That's why I only buy from a few select vendors and usually only buy animals at shows. It eliminates the whole illegal shipping thing, takes stress away from the animal, and allows the vendor to see my permit and get to know myself a little better. I feel it's good to get a face-to-face rapport with hot dealers.
-tom

Tom,
I couldnt agree more. I always supply my permit and I.D. when purchasing venomous whether I am asked or not. It keeps me out of trouble, and the vendor as well. If I cannot pick it up or the seller cannot ship Delta, I just pass on the sale. Its not worth the headache or the problems assocciated with illegal activities.
Chris
Gemini Reptiles

That's pretty cool.. Reptile world in Drumheller has a prairie rattler with 20-25 seg's.. I can't remember how many, but low 20's. I heard that if they fall off that you can snap them back on if they are still intact, is that true?

You might ought to think about restraining the sharp end before you do that.....
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hey,

I wouldn't try to reconnect a button that fell off. You would more than likely cause stress in the rest of the tail, and could cause damage to other buttons of the rattle. It would probablly fall off again quickly (should you ever get it on), and it would put serious stress on the snake to try to restrain it while you go about the attempt of tail "reconstruction". Taxidermists have reattached buttons using superglue, which works fine as the animal is dead and will not be using its tail! The rattle needs to be able to move in order to vibrate and produce that buzz we all love so much. Pushing the brittle plates together could cause stress cracks leading to further deterioration, or the rest of the tail to snap off in your hand!

Rattlers have been known to have a serious number of "buttons" or segments. Wild caught buzztails usually have less than captive raised ones as in nature they are easily broken by rough terrain, predators, etc. With that said there are of course exceptions...roundups often times have an award for any snake brought back with the most rattles. Usually the winner is from 18-23 rattles, but there are often times many more or less. I don't support roundups in any fashion, I am merely stating a fact. A lot of what we know about "record" snakes is not from collectors or hobbiests, it is information that was obtained through these horrid events.

My little norther pacific female (02 CH) has about 6 buttons now. She should have a few more, but she likes to soak in her water bowl, and has lost 2-3 in the process. She is in burmation now, and should form a nice new button upon her next shed (as soon as she is active and out of burmation).

-Steve Clark

And there's even the button! Could be the person sending didn't want the string broken. We had a dryinus with a very long string, including the button, and every time we cleaned her cage, we worried about it breaking off. Especially since her cage had some "furniture" in it. We have since sold her, and as far as I know, it's still in tact. Had a sidewinder once that had about an 18 piece string and couldn't even rattle with it. Just kind of a neat phenomenon.