Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some of our neighbors claim that the local gopher snakes have interbred with the Great Basin Rattlers here in Ely, NV. We are very skeptical that this could happen. Does anyone know if this is possible? We have caught many Gopher snakes and a few rattles and not seen anything to suggest this.

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-Nicole

2.1.0 collared lizards
2.0.0 side-blotched lizards
1.0.0 desert tarantula
small tropical fishes

That other photo was a baby rattlesnake in the Weepah Spring Wilderness.

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-Nicole

2.1.0 collared lizards
2.0.0 side-blotched lizards
1.0.0 desert tarantula
small tropical fishes

Putting aside complete lack of genetic compatability, the 'lock and key' strategy of the hemipenes in snakes prevents interbreeding entirely.

Gopher snakes vibrate their tail, have a smal 'button-like' structure at the end, flatten their head and have a similar pattern. Its called mimicry not in-breeding

We get the same thing here, only people are insisting its pythons and brown snakes!

Cheers
Bryan
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
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Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
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Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
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http://www.venomdoc.com

....not quite so fast....the american people were bright (or cowardly) enough to elect a hybrid between a monkey & a devil...
I suggest thats proof we've broken through all genetic barriers & "todos es pos'ible"...

Beers / John Gunn

>>....not quite so fast....the american people were bright (or cowardly) enough to elect a hybrid between a monkey & a devil...
>>I suggest thats proof we've broken through all genetic barriers & "todos es pos'ible"...
>>
>>Beers / John Gunn
>>

Excellent!!! But half of us in the US say, "Sorry World. We tried.".

Nicole:

This is an "Old Wives Tale" that has been around for ages and ages. Every generation passes it on to scare somebody. When I was a young lad I was told that Dekay's Snake was inbreeding with the local Copperheads. Not in a million years!

Nice snakes by the way

Al
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"Fighting on the forums is like competing in the Special Olympics, even if you win, you're still retarded."

DH June 2005

Not even close to being possible. A persistant rumor caused by a combination of gopher snakes mimicing rattlers and humans who can't tell the difference.

It's the Texas Ratsnakes breeding with the Canebrake Rattlesnakes in East Texas. This urban myth was even printed as fact in a local newspaper! LOL
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Conservation through Education

I was only there for 3 weeks and I heard that the horny bullsnakes were chasing the timber rattler's!

That story has all the dcredibility of a movie on the science fiction channel...................

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Hi Nicole,
Well, as you probably already guessed from all the other posts, there are no crossbreeds. But as a testament to the general publics ignor....um, I mean lack of knowledge...I do rescue in Northern Nevada and over half of all rattlesnake calls turn out to be gopher snakes. And many of them are solely on sight alone without the gopher having to mimic, so it's no wonder that rumors like this persist. I also do local education and I hear that exact question probably a thousand times a year. And of course there are those few people who's dadies were snake milkers and they will argue to death that these crosses do occur. Cudo's to you for actually seeking out educated answers and welcome to the forums.

P.s. I'll be in Elko tomorrow, I'll have to throw a rock your way