Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
Crotalus atrox • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Viperidae, Subfamily: Crotalinae, Genus: Crotalus, Species: Crotalus atrox
Southwestern United States (Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern California, southern Nevada) and northern to central Mexico.
Look up Western Diamondback Rattlesnake in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Viperidae, Subfamily: Crotalinae, Genus: Crotalus, Species: Crotalus atrox
Conservation
IUCN status: Least Concern. Populations are stable, though threatened locally by habitat loss and 'rattlesnake roundups'.
Physical Description
Heavy-bodied with a triangular head. Coloration is gray, tan, or brown with dark, diamond-shaped dorsal blotches outlined in white. Features keeled scales and a distinctive 'raccoon tail' with alternating black and white bands near the rattle. Eyes have vertical elliptical pupils.
Size & Dimensions
Specimen appears to be an adult approximately 3-4 feet in length. Species typically ranges from 120-150 cm (4-5 feet), with exceptional specimens reaching over 200 cm (6.6 feet).
Habitat
Desert, rocky hillsides, shrublands, and grasslands; found from sea level to about 2,100 meters (7,000 feet). They often seek shelter in rodent burrows or rock crevices.
Diet & Feeding
Active forager and ambush predator targeting small mammals (rabbits, gophers, rats), birds, and occasionally lizards.
Reproduction
Ovoviviparous (gives birth to live young); typical litter size ranges from 4 to 25. Breeding occurs in late summer/autumn, with young born about 6-7 months later.
Conservation Status
IUCN status: Least Concern. Populations are stable, though threatened locally by habitat loss and 'rattlesnake roundups'.
Cultural Significance
A cultural icon of the American Southwest; featured in Native American folklore, the 'Don't Tread on Me' Gadsden flag, and extensively in Western cinema. Ecologically vital for rodent population control.
Notable Features
Equipped with heat-sensing loreal pits between the eyes and nostrils to detect warm-blooded prey in the dark, and a keratinous rattle used as an auditory warning signal.