The Crotalus atrox is a western diamond-back rattlesnake.  They can grow to be 2-7 feet long.  Seven feet is very rare while around 3 feet is the usual.  Male snakes are larger than the female snakes but the size difference doesn’t occur until the snakes have reached full sexual maturity.  These snakes of course have a rattle on their tail. The tail has white, black, or light gray rings around it. The colors of the rest of the snake can be dusty brown, brown, black, gray, red, yellow, and a pinkish color. The snakes have a diamond-like pattern down the middle of the snakes back which gives this snake its name. This snake is like other rattle snakes as you can see but these have a few adaptations that make them special. They flick their tongue, their eyes are always open, they can open their mouth 180 degrees and they have a pit in there head. The flicking tongue allows them to pick up the scent of any nearby pray. Their eyes are always open even when they are asleep so predators think they actually are awake. Their mouth can open 180 degrees so they can now eat their pray whole. Their last adaptation is the pit on their head. It allows the snake to sense any drop in temperature.

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These snakes have a big role in the food web. It is an important predator of small rodent, rabbits, birds, and lizards. They also get eaten by bigger predators like coyotes, foxes, and hawks. When hunting for prey they ambush them. They wait on a trial coiled up and ready to attack. When a pray comes near enough they attack. They inject the pray with venom from there fangs and after that they let them go and follow their scent trail to eat them. They let them go so they don’t get scratched up or hurt, but they don’t do this for birds because the bird will fly away.

               

C. Atrox can live in many different areas. They can live in deserts, parries’, forests, and other areas.  Sometimes they can be found near rivers and streams. They live in the southern-central states in the U.S. They also live in Mexico and go all the way down to Baja California.

               

There are many C. Atrox so they aren’t endangered. In fact according to the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species they are least concerned about C. Atrox because this animal is stable. They are far away from extinct and are doing fine. But people are taking and capturing these snakes for rattlesnake roundups. They are being drawn out of their homes by gasoline and then captured for the horrible roundups. But other than the roundups this animal is doing just fine.

               

I have learned that C. Atrox is an incredible animal. When I first got this animal I was disappointed I didn’t get a cute animal but I learned how amazing a snake can be. I have learned many things I never knew even existed, like the rattlesnake roundups. While looking for information I also learned that this snake is made of the same thing that our finger nails are made of, keratin. I think that’s pretty cool.  This is the end as you can see and I hope you learned some new information just like me.

 

Author: Sana A

Published: 02/2010

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Photo credit: http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/2383813

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 Sources:   "Crotalus atrox -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_atrox>.

"Nearctica - Natural History - Snakes of North America - Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)." Untitled Document. Web. 9 Feb. 2010. <http://www.nearctica.com/herps/snakes/viper/Catrox.htm>.

"Rattlesnakes." Along the Way with David Bert. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://www.alongtheway.org/rattlesnakes/transcript.html>.

"Western Diamondback Rattlesnake - Crotalus atrox." The Venomous Snakes of the Eastern United States. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://www.eastcoasthots.com/western-diamondback-rattler.html>.

"Western Diamondback Rattlesnake." Biology site used for web administration. Web. 09 Feb. 2010. <http://biology.uta.edu/herpetology/western_diamondback_rattlesnake.htm>.

"Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Fact Sheet." Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Diamondback%20Rattlesnake.php>.

"Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) - Reptiles of Arizona." The Reptiles and Amphibians of Arizona. Web. 9 Feb. 2010. <http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subpages/h-c-atrox.html>.