SCIENTIFIC NAME: Crotalus adamanteus 

The diamondback rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in the United States and considered one of the most dangerous. The snake has a potent venom which is very destructive to blood tissue. A main junction of the venom will not only kill its prey but also begin the digesting process before the diamondback eats its food. Venom toxicity varies between individual snakes. The mortality rate for humans is nearly 40 percent. The diamondback will use its deep sensory pit between the nostril and eye to detect infrared heat. This trait helps the snake detect warm-blooded animals. The snake can be found in dry climates and woodlands. It will avoid marshes and swamps but on occasion will live near the borders of wetlands. It will hibernate in the winter and will mate in the late summer and fall. As a snake sheds, its old skin peels backwards starting at the head. A rattlesnake will have a little bit of the shed left at the end of the tail, and this piece forms a new segment in the snake’s rattle. A healthy snake may shed anywhere from three to eight times a year. The rattle will add several new segments every year and at times will break off and the process starts over. It’s a myth that you can tell the age of a rattlesnake by counting its rattle. The diamondback rattlesnake’s color pattern is brown with a dorsal pattern of dark, yellow-bordered, diamond-like blotches and a brown and white tail. It also has several vertical light stripes extending from the head to the tail.