SFR Rattlesnake behavior

[bobduck]

My buddy and I were enjoying a glass of wine after dinner on the D when he said Is that a snake? It was slowly crawling under my foldout table about 4 feet away and had the right markings. It was getting dark and my flash light confirmed it was a rattler about 2 feet long. My buddy says Damn I hate those things and tossed down his wine and went into his tent and zipped it up. Said he wasn't afraid of them, just hated them. So now I'm sipping wine alone with a rattlesnake. But I'm not crazy about them either so I took my wading staff, prodded him on the tail end and told him to leave. It moved about two feet and stopped So I prodded again with the same result. I placed the staff firmly on its back. He wiggled out and slowly moved another two feet. I was expecting it to get a little cranky and coil and rattle but nothing doing After another half dozen prods it finally got into some heavy brush and I wasn't going in there. But it was far enough away by then so I wasn't really concerned. So I went back to my chair, sipped my wine and looked at the stars before turning in. But I thought that this snake's behavior was odd in that it was never in a hurry and only regarded the prodding as a minor nuisance. So I guess you can tell them to go but not where to go or how fast. Curious about other experiences with these critters.

 

[Billy]

I truely believe man has influenced the rattlesnakes genetics into generally a more quiet calmer snake...

not saying there isn't aggressive rattlesnakes out there but killing the loud ones over time I think plays a roll in some of the modern behavior we are seeing more.

 

[clarkman]

I truely believe man has influenced the rattlesnakes genetics into generally a more quiet calmer snake...

not saying there isn't aggressive rattlesnakes out there but killing the loud ones over time I think plays a roll in some of the modern behavior we are seeing more.

Totally agree with this sentiment. Loud ones die, quiet ones don't, naturally selecting those that remain quiet and undetected. It probably helps to have a large enough sub-population that is naturally pretty chill to begin with (as is the case with North Pacific Rattlesnakes). Probably would take longer to develop in a population of say, Western Diamondbacks which are naturally more aggressive to begin with.....but then, maybe not. Most people don't see the quiet ones.

I think I saw a study a while back on this. I'll see if I can find it.

I've probably said this before, but I find many of the gopher snakes to be far more aggressive than the rattlesnakes in our region. That said, I'll happily free-handle any gopher snake. Rattlesnakes require a bit more care....even the calm ones.

 

[Flymph]

Sleeping in a tent in rattlesnake country this time of the year? Not to mention scorpions, black widows, brown recluse, and ticks. Not even if wild steelhead came readily to the dry fly in easy wading conditions. Some of us are just plain snake wimps!

I try to get to a favorite Canadian stream when ever possible because there are no rattlesnakes. "yet"! There are cougars, black bears, the odd Grizz, and the farmer's beefalos that can get mighty aggressive. I fully realize that these large predators are far more dangerous but don't seem to mind them nearly as much as snakes. Just had a friend's wife get rattlesnake bit while gardening. I think it was a quiet, passive-aggressive snake. Thankful she is OK and recovered.

 

[clarkman]

It is rather interesting to hear about folks and their fear of snakes in general (is it engrained? taught?). Especially when one considers that 99% of rattlesnake bites are not life threatening (majority of those are likely from Mojave and/or Western Diamondbacks) while I'm just guessing that the percentage of Grizzly encounters is a bit different in survivability if you get touched up. Personally, I'd rather not get touched up by either regardless of how life-threatening it may be.

 

[Old Man]

I've been here in Montana going on 15 years now. I have yet to see a rattlesnake at all. I've only seen Garter snakes dead on a dirt road in the boonies. I know enough to stay away from them, but would like to see one and get his picture from far, far away. Using a telephoto lens. I'm not that crazy to get up close to one.

 

[Chadk]

A snake that chill may have 1) just eaten, 2) is cold (not likely it sounds like given this heat wave), and/or 3) it just didn't register you as a human/predator yet and didn't fully realize who was poking it. Did you stand up and approach it, or just reach from your seated position?

 

[krusty]

Don't know if breeding time affects rattlesnakes in a similar fashion, but I do know otherwise docile bull snakes become pretty aggressive during mating season.

 

[clarkman]

All things being equal, individual differences will account for variation in behavior more than anything else.

 

[Yard Sale]

I'll take a loud one please. Not so worried about myself as the pups. That said I'm sure my dogs have been around hundreds of them and mostly they just let the dogs go right on by without making a peep. Probably best for both critters.

I used to sleep on a tarp out on the D but my back made me upgrade to a cot. Glad I did!

 

[Jim F.]

I've been here in Montana going on 15 years now. I have yet to see a rattlesnake at all.

I'm surprised that you didn't see any during your Dillon years, especially considering all the time you spent along BSC and the Ruby.

 

[Old Man]

I'm surprised that you didn't see any during your Dillon years, especially considering all the time you spent along BSC and the Ruby.

Never saw or heard them. And I'm not deaf yet. Was over to Bannock and saw a sign in the grave yard that there was snakes there. I wandered around in the grave yard and didn't see or hear them. Maybe they heard I was coming and slide and hid from me.

 

[DoesItFloat]

Sounds to me like that rattler was either sick or maybe hot/dehydrated, maybe young and dumb. I've only encountered a few in Texas, but they have all let me know they are there, and we've both made it known we don't want anything to do with one another pretty quick.

 

[Buzzy]

Sounds to me like that rattler was either sick or maybe hot/dehydrated, maybe young and dumb. I've only encountered a few in Texas, but they have all let me know they are there, and we've both made it known we don't want anything to do with one another pretty quick.

Several times I've seen the same behavior @bobduck noted. One time at Nunnally I was sitting on my float tube getting my fins on when a rattler came out of the brush and began crossing the launch path into the phragmites. I used my fly rod to deter him, moving him back to the brush as he would have gotten too close for my comfort level. I think three times the snake started back across the path after I'd moved it a couple feet. I finally realized the best solution was to let the snake have the right of way. It never buzzed me, never coiled and was never a threat to me. His territory, I was the visitor. Similarly at Rocky Ford, I was walking back to my car just after sunset. I saw something moving on the path in front of me, rattler. I touched it with my fly rod a couple times, it stopped moving but never buzzed or coiled, leaving me to move off the beaten path.

I've seen pictures of your Texas rattlers, no thank you!

 

[PhilR]

For the record, I don't like snakes. They move wrong, they eat wrong, they're sneaky, and I don't like them. Why anybody would want them in their house is beyond me. Looking at you, @clarkman

The northern pacific rattlesnakes we have here are just about the most chill of all the rattlers. All of the ones I've encountered have either just slithered away, or given a little half-ass shake of the tail while slithering away. I think the fact that you could just kind of shoo him along without him getting at all defensive is right in line for a northern pacific. Probably nothing wrong, and no special reason to not try to murder you. Just being his chill self.

That said, I'd probably be up on the picnic table the rest of the night, bc that's how my snake phobia rolls.

 

[RCF]

After encountering water moccasins, copperheads and timber rattlers, and diamondbacks in Alabama I have one response. You go that away and I will go the opposite way. Not sticking around.

PS: they even hang from tree branches. Those are knarley for sure...

 

[bobduck]

A snake that chill may have 1) just eaten, 2) is cold (not likely it sounds like given this heat wave), and/or 3) it just didn't register you as a human/predator yet and didn't fully realize who was poking it. Did you stand up and approach it, or just reach from your seated position?

I stood up to get my wading staff and followed it for maybe 15-20 yds which put it out of harms way. I've tent camped on the D for 30+ years and have never zipped it up. Claustrophobic I reckon. But the front lip is 9 to 12 inches high and I can't imagine a snake bothering to go over it into a tent with no food there for it. I've even tripped on it more than once in the middle of the night answering nature's call. The worse thing I've ever had in there with me is a moth or a few caddis. Oh wait, once my cousin shared it with me and snored all night Key word there is once. I've had a lot of encounters with rattlers but the strangest was a time I walked down a path and stopped to watch for rises in a back eddy. A snake started rattling loudly but it was back on the path I'd just passed. Maybe it thought better late than never. Things like that make me keep a wary eye.

 

[Mossback]

Flattened on the road and sun baked...

Now THAT'S good rattlesnake behavior.

 

[Uptonogood]

I was a biologist for the USFWS and was gifted a very freshly dead eastern diamondback rattlesnake by a DOT guy on a joint project. I put the 3ft animal in a cloth bag and headed back to town about four miles away. I parked the car, grabbed my snake-in-a-bag and walked into the federal building. As I waited for the elevator, I struck up a conversation with the GSA guy who asked what was moving/ squirming in my cloth bag. By that time, four men in suits were standing near us. I explained to my friend that I had a dead rattler I was going to take home and skin. Remember, I was in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife uniform. The elevator door opened, the suits, all lawyers heading to federal court on the second floor, entered it. I said goodbye to my friend and followed them into the car. Immediately, all four lawyers pushed past to get out of that elevator. I said, “Hey, guys! It’s dead, it doesn’t have head!”. Their response was, “That’s okay, we’ll take the next one!”.

I told this story to my brother who is a lawyer. He laughed and said, “Those guys had nothing to fear. A rattlesnake would never bite a lawyer out of professional courtesy!”.

True story.

 

[Rob Allen]

I truely believe man has influenced the rattlesnakes genetics into generally a more quiet calmer snake...

not saying there isn't aggressive rattlesnakes out there but killing the loud ones over time I think plays a roll in some of the modern behavior we are seeing more.

I have never seen an aggressive NW snake. But in Montana I have, they seem to be smaller ones and only in the spring.