---
title: "What the sources say about the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "45 claims from the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (*Crotalus atrox*)

> 45 claims from the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Western Diamondback Rattlesnake](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/western-diamondback-rattlesnake/)

## Ingmarsson (2002). Crotalus atrox (Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Crotalus_atrox/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A desert pit viper with a heat-sensing pit on each side of its head | Like all Pit Vipers, it has a pit organ, which is situated in an indentation of the upper jaw, between the nostril and eye. (note: tagline; desert from ADW biomes) |
| Dry, rocky, shrub-covered terrain, from California to Texas and into Mexico | Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes inhabit dry, rocky, shrub-covered terrain (note: stats.habitat) |
| Dry, rocky, shrub-covered terrain, from California to Texas and into Mexico | ranges from central and western Texas, through southern New Mexico and Arizona, and into southern California. It also extends well into central Mexico. (note: stats.habitat) |
| Small mammals and birds, sometimes reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates | preys on small mammals and birds, and sometimes other reptiles and amphibians, and even fish and invertebrates (note: stats.diet) |
| The western diamondback has a plump body and a broad triangular head | has a plump body, short tail, and a broad triangular head |
| Like all pit vipers, it has a pit organ in an indentation of the upper jaw, between the nostril and the eye | Like all Pit Vipers, it has a pit organ, which is situated in an indentation of the upper jaw, between the nostril and eye. |
| Each pit is about 5 mm deep | The pit is about 5 mm deep |
| A thin membrane inside it senses very slight temperature differences between the snake's body and its surroundings | The membrane senses very slight temperature differences between the snake's inner and ambient temperatures. |
| An adult is about 1.5 m long | Body length: ~1.5 meters |
| Body weight is up to 6.7 kg | Body weight: up to 6.7 kg. |
| The tail ends in a rattle | The Western Diamond Rattlesnake also has the self-named rattle on the end of the tail. |
| Each link is the remnant of a molted skin: as the snake molts, the last scale loosens but does not fall off | Each link of the rattle is the remnant of a molted skin; as the snake molts, the last scale loosens but does not fall off. |
| This species can shake its rattle 40 to 60 times a second | Their rattles can activate at 40 to 60 cycles a second. (note: ADW 2002 only; cycles rendered as shakes) |
| The rattle is a warning sign | Their rattles are used as a warning sign. |
| The snake is not apt to attack offensively, but is defensive | They are not apt to attack offensively, but are defensive. |
| When threatened it slightly flattens its body, coils, lifts its front end into an S-shape and keeps the tail raised | The Western Diamondback assumes the threat posture by slightly flattening the body, rolling it together into a spiral, lifting the forebody from the ground into an S-shape, and keeping the tail raised and the rattle rattling. |
| The snake lives in dry, rocky, shrub-covered terrain, hiding in rock crevices or mouse holes | inhabit dry, rocky, shrub-covered terrain where they can conceal themselves inside crevices in the rocks or in mouse holes |
| It preys on small mammals and birds, sometimes reptiles and amphibians, and even fish and invertebrates | preys on small mammals and birds, and sometimes other reptiles and amphibians, and even fish and invertebrates |
| Live. The species is ovoviviparous: the young pierce their thin egg membranes just before birth | This species is ovoviviparous; the young pierce their thin egg membranes immediately before birth and are born live. |
| A birth may last 3 to 5 hours and produce 10 to 20 young, and the young stay with the mother for a couple of hours, a day at most | The birthing process may last for 3 to 5 hours and produce 10 to 20 young. |
| the young stay with the mother for a couple of hours, a day at most | The young only stay with the mother for a couple of hours, for a day at the most. |
| Hawks, bald eagles, roadrunners and wild turkeys are listed as common predators | Common predators of C.atrox include hawks, bald eagles, roadrunners, and wild turkeys. |
| Males have been seen in ritualized fights | Ritualized fighting has been observed in C.atrox males. |
| Each lifts its forebody 80 cm in the air, and the two wrap around each other, head to head, until one backs off | Fighters lift their forebodies up 80 cm. in the air, wrap them around each other, orienting head to head. They keep moving in a surging movement back and forth until one of the males backs off. |
| A western diamondback can shake its rattle 40 to 60 times a second | Their rattles can activate at 40 to 60 cycles a second. |
| dangerLevel: Deadly | The Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is notorious for its fatal bite (note: Capability tier, not the 2002 page's dated ranking ('more fatalities than any other snake in the United States'), which the page does not use. SDZ's all-rattlesnake page agrees bites can kill: 'few snakebites are fatal to people'.) |

## AnAge entry for Crotalus atrox. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Build 15, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.

https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Crotalus_atrox

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| AnAge lists a maximum longevity of 27 years in captivity | Maximum longevity 27 years (captivity) |

## Rattlesnake. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/rattlesnake

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A desert pit viper with a heat-sensing pit on each side of its head | the "pit" on each side of the head, which is a heat-sensitive organ for locating prey (note: tagline/superpower; rattlesnakes as a group) |
| A heat-sensing pit on each side of its head | the "pit" on each side of the head, which is a heat-sensitive organ for locating prey (note: stats.superpower) |
| Rattlesnake rattles are made of interlocking segments of keratin, the same material as our fingernails | Rattlesnakes have either a rattle or a partial rattle made of interlocking rings, or segments of keratin, the same material as our fingernails. (note: group scope, worded as rattlesnakes) |
| Two pits that sense heat | the "pit" on each side of the head, which is a heat-sensitive organ for locating prey (note: heading; rattlesnakes as a group, the pit on each side of the head) |
| tags: ambush-predator | At dusk, a hungry rattlesnake may begin to move and look for a good spot to ambush a mouse, ground squirrel, or rabbit. (note: Genus scope (SDZ's all-rattlesnake page).) |

## Villalobos Juárez et al. (2023). BEYOND MYTHS: REDISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKE Crotalus atrox (BAIRD & GIRARD, 1853) IN THE MEXICAN STATE OF OAXACA AFTER A SPAN OF 79 YEARS. Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología.

https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2023.01.625

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the species can exceed 180 cm in total length | is a large snake that can exceed 180 cm in total length |
| Its range covers much of the southwestern United States, from California to central and northern Texas, with a presence in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma | covering much of the southwestern United States of America, from California to central and northern Texas, with a presence in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma (note: 2023 paper replaces ADW 2002 range, which omitted AR, KS, OK and the isolated southern populations) |
| In Mexico it covers 12 states, with isolated populations in Hidalgo, Jalisco, Veracruz and Oaxaca | In Mexico, the distribution covers the states of Aguascalientes, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas, with isolated populations in Hidalgo, Jalisco, Veracruz, and Oaxaca (note: 12 is a count of the states listed) |

## Minton & Weinstein (1986). Geographic and ontogenic variation in venom of the western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). Toxicon.

https://doi.org/10.1016/0041-0101(86)90167-4

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Young venom, tested on mice | Venom of young snakes from north Texas was much more lethal by s.c. injection than that of adult snakes from any part of the range |
| In a lab test on mice, venom from young snakes in north Texas was much more lethal when injected under the skin than venom from adults taken from any part of the range | Venom of young snakes from north Texas was much more lethal by s.c. injection than that of adult snakes from any part of the range (note: s.c. is subcutaneous, under the skin; the abstract says samples were tested for i.v. and s.c. lethality for mice) |
| Fifteen months later, the young snakes' venom had become almost five times less lethal | Fifteen months later, lethality had declined almost five-fold |

## Gillingham & Baker (1981). Evidence for Scavenging Behavior in the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1981.tb01270.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| It will also take a meal that is already dead | The results were used to document strong evidence for a scavenging feeding strategy for this species |
| In lab tests, adults and newborns readily accepted mice that had been aged up to 48 hours | Adults and neonates readily accepted mice that had been aged up to 48 h |

## McCue (2006). Characterizing the starvation syndrome in the western diamond-back rattlesnake, a species well-suited to tolerate long-term fasting. The FASEB Journal.

https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a827

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In one study, snakes fasted for 168 days lost 30% of their body mass, and their whole-body resting metabolic rate dropped by 75% | over a fasting period of 168d ... fasting snakes experienced a 30% reduction in body mass ... Whole animal and mass specific resting metabolic rates reduced by 75% and 65% respectively |
| In one study, fasting snakes lost 30% of their body mass over 168 days | over a fasting period of 168d ... fasting snakes experienced a 30% reduction in body mass (note: tagline) |
| It can go hungry, too | a snake species that is well known to tolerate long periods of fasting (note: linking sentence) |

## Frost, Hammerson & Santos-Barrera (2007). Crotalus atrox. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2007: e.T64311A12763519.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2007.rlts.t64311a12763519.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | Least Concern (note: stats.conservationStatus; GBIF copy of the Red List, taxon 64311) |
| The IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern, in an assessment published in 2007 | Least Concern (note: assessment year 2007 is in the DOI/citation (e.T64311A12763519, 2007)) |