Snake Charmer - diamondback rattle snakes

National Wildlife, Feb-March, 1999

The native predators of the eastern diamondback are other snakes (eastern indigo, coachwhip, kingsnake, black racer), hawks and owls. But humans are a bigger problem than these predators. Shootings, road kills and "rattlesnake roundups" (mass hunting of rattlesnakes) have all taken their toll, but habitat loss and fragmentation are the major threats to this species. Development and agriculture have converted or destroyed more than 98 percent of the snake's preferred long-leaf pine habitat. As a consequence, the historic range of the eastern diamondback has shrunk dramatically. The species is now endangered in North Carolina and is probably extinct in Louisiana, states lying at the northern and western ends, respectively, of its range.

Why should we care about the fate of this venomous snake? Because it is a highly evolved life-form with complicated behaviors and unique attributes. Also, the species contributes to biodiversity and nutrient cycling in its ecosystem by eating mice, rats and rabbits.

The gentle-natured eastern diamondback and other rattlesnakes are good simply because they are. I, for one, hope we are wise enough to include rattlesnakes in our future.

D. Bruce Means is an ecologist and director of the Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy, as well as adjunct professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Five Myths About Rattlesnakes

1. Rattlesnakes pose a major threat to people.

Only six to ten people die each year from bites of all snake species in the United States--a small fraction of the number of people killed by lightning or by insects.

2. Rattlesnake oil, skin, vertebrae and organs cure toothaches, rheumatism, epilepsy and other ills.

There is no evidence that rattlesnake oil or body parts have medicinal value.

3. The snakes use their rattles to hypnotize prey.

Rattles likely evolved as signaling devices to keep large mammals from trampling the snakes.

4. The number of segments in a rattle equals the snake's age.

Rattlesnakes add a segment each time they shed, and young snakes may shed two to four times a year. Also, segments fall off as the snake ages.

5. Rattlesnakes swallow their young to protect them.

Rattlesnakes never swallow their young, but baby rattlers may emerge from the body of a mother that has been decapitated.