Habitats & Customs of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Habitats

• Western Diamondback rattlesnakes live in central and western Texas, southern New Mexico, southern Arizona, southern California and north and central Mexico. They mostly live in dry, rocky areas where they can hide in mouse holes, shrubs and crevices in rocks, but they can also live in forests, rivers and grassy plains. Their habitats range from sea level to 7,000 feet above sea level.

Defenses

• Western Diamondbacks are not prone to attacking offensively, but they will aggressively defend themselves when threatened -- and they are easily threatened. Hundreds of people in the United States are bitten by Western Diamondbacks each year, and the crotalus atrox causes more human deaths in the U.S. than any other snake. However, its most common predators are eagles, hawks, wild turkeys and roadrunners. They use the rattles at the ends of their tails as a warning. Another sign that a Western Diamondback feels threatened is that it has flattened its body, rolled it into a spiral, lifted its head from the ground and made an S shape with its forebody.

Prey

• In the wild, rattlesnakes eat once every two or three weeks. The crotalus atrox hunts small birds and mammals such as chipmunks, mice, and prairie dogs, and sometimes other reptiles or fish. It hunts at night, ambushing prey on trails or in the victim's burrow. They kill their prey by biting it and injecting poisonous venom, then swallow the prey whole. The Western Diamondback is capable of swallowing an animal bigger than itself. A rattlesnake needs to drink approximately its body weight in water each year. It can absorb some of its water requirements from the moisture in its prey.

Reproduction

• Rattlesnakes start reproducing when they are three years old. After they emerge from their winter hibernation, a female will remain passive while a male crawls on top of her, flicking his tongue. She lifts her tail as he presses his tail beneath hers, allowing mating to occur. The mating act lasts for a few hours, with resting periods.

  Ten to twenty eggs are fertilized, which gestate inside the female's body for 5.5 months. Just before birth, the young snakes break through the egg membranes and emerge from their mother. The mother and newborns stay together from one hour to one day, then scatter to find food and places to hibernate for the winter. Many young snakes die during the winter from starvation, cold or vulnerability to predators.

Hibernation

• Western Diamondbacks start looking in the fall for places to hibernate during the winter. In cold climates, like on prairies, groups of rattlesnakes hibernate together, using dens and holes of other animals, such as prairie dogs, which then are forced to abandon their burrows. In warmer climates the crotalus atrox might hibernate in crevices of rocks or other small holes and fewer snakes hibernate together. During hibernation, rattlesnakes lower their metabolism by up to 70 percent, allowing them to survive, and even continue growing, for many months without food.