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AMERICAN-STATESMAN (Austin, Texas) 17 November 05 UT researcher looks to take bite out of rattlesnake myths - Herpetologist to offer lecture on snakes Friday (Mike Leggett)
A rattlesnake strike, start to finish, takes only half a second and covers just a few inches.
From the first muscle twitch through the bite and back to the restart position, the snake uses not even half a heartbeat.
It reaches maximum velocity of 10 miles an hour just at payload delivery. The hinged jaw opens wide. The hypodermic fangs easily penetrate the thin skin of the careless wood rat that wandered too close to the snake's hiding place beneath a prickly pear, and the complex load of protein-based toxins spurts into the rat's flank.
Three things happen now: 1) The rattlesnake goes into standby mode, rebuilding the energy he spent on the strike; 2) the rat scurries off into the brush, traveling a few feet before keeling over, lost in a death twitch that overtakes its brain, even as the venom begins pre-digesting the muscle tissue inside the skin; and 3) the snake follows the scent trail to its evening meal.
Travis LaDuc has never been bitten by a rattlesnake because he keeps his hands away from the business end of the reptiles he handles. But the researcher and herpetologist at the University of Texas knows more than a handful about what happens when rattlesnakes attack.
He has turned a childhood fascination with snakes into a lifelong pursuit and a profession. He did his doctoral dissertation on rattlesnake bites, using super high-speed cameras shooting 1,000 frames per second to focus on the first tenth of a second of a snake's bite.
LaDuc hopes he can use some of his knowledge to help people become less afraid of snakes while accepting them as a part of the natural landscape when he presents a lecture, "The Striking Behavior of Rattlesnakes," on Friday night at UT.
"My goal is to introduce people to rattlesnakes, to show them a little of the natural history and behavior in the wild," LaDuc said. "People don't have to come away liking rattlesnakes, but maybe they can leave with respect for them."
To achieve that goal, LaDuc knows he'll have to overcome some of the myths that have grown up around all snakes. Such things as:
* I was chased by a snake. That's just a misinterpretation of the snake's behavior, LaDuc says. "Snakes are very aware of their surroundings," he said. "You're on his turf and sometimes that means you're between him and his hole. He's just looking for security and sometimes that means moving toward you to get where he's going."
Snakes can be aggressive, LaDuc said. The degree depends on the species, the day, the weather, all kinds of things, but snakes know people aren't food and they really don't want to bite them.
* All snakes are venomous. Many people kill snakes just on principle. It doesn't matter whether it's a rattlesnake or a rat snake.
And while some of the so-called non-venemous snakes do have venom, it's the big four that humans should pay attention to, LaDuc said. Rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, copperheads and coral snakes are the four venomous snakes in Texas.
In his research, LaDuc focused on western diamondbacks because they are the signature snake of Texas and the most easily located and collected. They are also the rattlesnakes most willing to bite.
Timber rattlers, the one Texas species that's protected because of diminishing populations, are almost never aggressive, LaDuc said. "I couldn't get them to strike (so that he could study them). In lab situations, they would just hide their heads."
Although they are closely associated with the Piney Woods of East Texas, timber rattlers actually occur much closer to Central Texas than most people might imagine. "I have a timber rattler from the state park in Bastrop," LaDuc said. "It really surprised me when I got the call that it was there."
But the diamondbacks are his main topic of study, and LaDuc is more in awe than fear of them. "The muscle control they have is amazing," he said. "Sometimes during a bite, they would miss with one fang and they would remain with the prey long enough to get the other fang repositioned and into the prey."
That would happen within the half-second duration of the bite sequence, LaDuc said, faster than the eye could see and only visible through the use of the high-speed cameras.
A prey strike typically won't extend beyond about 30 percent of the snake's body length, LaDuc said. Defensive strikes are somewhat longer, no more than 40 percent of the body length, designed to keep a predator at bay and possibly force it to leave.
Rattlesnakes are common in Central Texas, LaDuc said, but that should offer some comfort to people who worry about them. They live in town, in the country, in the heart of the city. Yet bites are rare, especially when the snake isn't being handled or messed with.
"Everyone is just petrified that they are here and that they might encounter one in the wild," LaDuc said. "For the most part, the snakes are terrified of people and want nothing to do with them. For us to have such wanton disregard for them is just not cool."
'The Striking Behavior of Rattlesnakes'
What: A lecture by Travis LaDuc, a herpetologist at the University of Texas, who will dispel some of the myths surrounding rattlesnakes by sharing insights into their natural history gained through the use of high-speed videography, thermal imaging cameras and radio transmitters.
Where: In front of Room 2.224 of Welch Hall, on the UT campus.
When: 7 p.m. Friday, with a question-and-answer session to follow from 8 to 8:30. Refreshments will be served in advance of the lecture, starting at 5:30.
Herpetologist to offer lecture on snakes Friday

I will also be there exhibiting Venomous and Non-venomous snakes of Texas. It should be a good conference.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
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