Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

General Palm Springs area.

Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby AJB » Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:57 pm

This is an interesting National Geographic article about the Southern Pacific rattlesnakes on the Idyllwild side of Mt. San Jacinto which have more dangerous venom than the same species in the desert. Watch out!
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com ... nt-venoms/
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby Perry » Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:14 am

Interesting. It mentions some "rubbish" news articles. I may have read one of those in the past.

In another article I found out that the Baja Speckled has a neurotoxin, not the Southwestern Speckled that we have around here:
https://medicine.llu.edu/research/depar ... /roles-and

Baja Speckled Rattlesnake
Crotalus mitchelli mitchelli

Mojave-like toxin

Distribution of toxin not known; absent from C. m. pyrrhus in U.S.
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby Pitownpi » Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:56 pm

thought i'd share some more pics of my local variation of the Southwestern Speckled.

when it's hot they go for a dip and a gigantic drink of water like 1-2 minutes!
ImageBeachmaster & friends by Pitown Pi, on Flickr

it took several attempts, at one point the dove beak was almost sticking out his skin.
i was blown away, but he literaly pulled the head off inside his throat and choked this one down
ImageBeachmaster & friends by Pitown Pi, on Flickr

if a fat well-fed snake could waddle it would look like this
dude(tte) was stuffed and I thought that would last a few weeks but back out hunting the next 3 days!
ImageBeachmaster & friends by Pitown Pi, on Flickr

beachmaster spent 1/2 the summer on point....yes bunny you smell something dangerous!
he has made strikes at rather large bunnies and i think he gets some venom in...
.not enough for large bunnies,
i think they have some tolerance, they are stong enough to hop away before a full injection occurs...then you see them scratching the itch for a day
ImageBeachmaster & friends by Pitown Pi, on Flickr
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby Perry » Sun Sep 16, 2018 12:22 pm

Pi, I had thought perhaps that was really a Red Diamond, but after looking it up I think you're right, it does look like a variation of the Speckled. The reddish ones sure look similar, with the Speckled having more of a stripy look than a diamondy look.
http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/p ... rrhus.html
http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/p ... ruber.html
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby Pitownpi » Sun Sep 16, 2018 4:32 pm

Perry wrote:Pi, I had thought perhaps that was really a Red Diamond, but after looking it up I think you're right, it does look like a variation of the Speckled.


yup, i spent 17 years figuring it out.
the "give away" is the bands on the tail from what i can see, they are just rings...

i have a friend/biologist and they say the variations in snakes is amazing!

some locals just call them rock rattlers..because that's all we have in the rocks out here, they blend in nicely to the decomposed granite & quartz monzonite
otherwise there are no other color rocks for them to have adapted to, or forest for that matter.

evidently not as painful bite as black widow spider bites.... from a numskull i know that's been bitten by both!

even the deer, bunnies, fox, coyote, and mountain lion and bighorn seem to have the same color as each other out here! brownish....hahaha

IT'S HOT......i'm ready for cooler weather...hottest darn summer yet!!!!
Let the summer be over, RIP summer 2018!!!
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby guest » Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:28 am

Nice pics Pi, those bunnies are pretty tough, it seems, (like the squirrels, (beechy ground Sq?) that are immune, (the theory being it's an arms race to out-compete each other).
Love that shot of the shot of the rabbit who realizes he's in striking distance, (they may be fast, but so it a rattler strike).
I hadn't noticed how much more pronounced the "coontail" is on the Red Diamond, (thanks for the links Perry).

Interesting how much they can drink, just like how much air their lungs seem to hold. I was in JT a few years back, cool & windy, (not good snake conditions), and while sitting on a few small rocks, I kept hearing a long, sustained "hissing-type" sound. I kept thinking it was the wind, until I looked down a bit, and wedged at the bottom was a large Mojave Green, giving me the warning hiss, I guess, pretty eerie, (he never did rattle, too cold maybe).
Yesterday on my bike ride up Whitewater Canyon I spotted a long Red Racer, in their typical stance of it's head a foot off the ground for better visibility.
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby Plante » Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:20 pm

The Mrs. almost stepped on a rattler up in Oswit, just past the spring and palm oasis. Was heading back, came around a big boulder we had to hug to get past on the way up. On the way back she turned the corner and boom, there it was, rattling. It was in some bush we had to step on to get past, two paces away. Close call.
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Re: Speckled Rattlesnake at Low Elevation

Postby Ellen » Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:52 pm

Howdy Plante :)

Yikes :shock: I am so glad you're both unscathed. Thanks for the heads up. The buzz tails are out in Box Springs (western diamond back) -- one was laying across the trail yesterday afternoon. I stopped a trail runner who was jogging down. We waited a bit and it slithered off.

Miles of smiles,
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