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hey i have a 4 foot male mojave rattler that ive been tryin to find a female for for quite some time...i have found a female prarie rattler of similar size that i would like to take the place as this guys girlfreind..my question to you is do you think a prarie and a mojave will crossbreed? and do you think they can be housed together in the same 8 foot long by 2 foot deep and high enclosure without any problems? thanks alot

I don't know how easy it is to get to "work", but I have heard of a couple cases of the cross happening. One thing to keep in mind is that in the event of a bite, it will be more difficult to treat. The person I talked with about hybrid rattlers that he had said that their venom shows characteristics of both species' venoms. As bad as mojave bites can be, they don't need to be worse. Your best bet would be to keep looking for a female mojave.

Also consider the ethics of breeding obvious hybrids (not talking about mixing locales a little). Patience is always a virtue with reptiles, and this is just another area where it applies.
My opinion of course, as obviously many people are all throwing the taxanomy tree into the blender

I would be careful in housing them together. It makes for a tough situation with having to move them. Just be careful that you have enough room to move about without getting tagged. In theory snakes in the same genus can reproduce. Ie, bitis species are naturally found crossed in the wild (rhino X gaboon, gaboon X puff adder, etc). Rattlesnakes den with other snakes, and are pretty good together, but there is always more risk having 2 snakes together over one.

When working with the animals be sure you know where they both are, and remove them (or close off the section of the enclosure) from the enclosure prior to cleaning or other routine things. 2 big buzztails in one little cage is a harsh task to handle. The strike range takes a good bit of the enclosure, and with two that leaves even less room for error!

As for venom, crofab would still apply, as it is now formulated to more effectively treat the type A venom produced by the mojave rattlesnake. It won't be nearly as effective in treatment as some species, but it is still used.

My guess is if anything the venom would have a lower toxicity, while exhibiting traits of both venom compositions.

You will find naturally occuring hybrids, it happens...and your rattlesnake should take to nearly any comprable rattler of the opposite sex. I am not saying it is a good or bad idea, but entirely possible to do.

Best of luck, and be safe!

-Steve Clark

Is it possible? Sure it is...My question is...why? I can't speak for anyone else here, but if you're looking to sell the mutt offspring, I certainly wouldn't buy them. Mojaves are incredibly common (especially here in Az), so I'm just not seeing how acquiring an adult female is an incredibly difficult task....

If I were you, I'd keep both your snakes in seperate (lockable) enclosures (due to the aforementioned safety reasons)...Both the species you mentioned (scutulatus and viridis) can be downright demons at times, and having to deal with two irascible cagemates that decide to get that way at the same time is not the safest of situations (for the keeper or the snakes)....My advice is to keep 'em seperate and go to the trouble of finding a female scutulatus if you intend on breeding them.....

With a fistful of steel,
-AzAtrox

Needless to say, you couldn't PURCHASE a female Az scutulatus legally...You'd have to take a trip out here and catch one yourself (with a valid hunting license of course!)...(Not much of a task, as during certain times of the year, they're all over the desert roads out here...) You may be able to purchase a Tx female tho....

-AzAtrox