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Change in rattlesnake behavior?
11/20/10

Posted on 11/19/2010 10:16:49 PM PST by roses of sharon

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Thought I would post a couple of emails that were fwd to me this week from Texas.

Just in case, better to be safe than sorry!

1 posted on 11/19/2010 10:16:51 PM PST by roses of sharon
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To: roses of sharon

Well I used to hunt “rattlers” as a boy back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s and at least half of them didn’t rattle back then either.


2 posted on 11/19/2010 10:21:33 PM PST by Inyo-Mono (Had God not driven man from the Garden of Eden the Sierra Club surely would have.)
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To: roses of sharon

Rattlesnakes are probably not smart enough to “learn” behavior of this sort. However (assuming this anecdotal evidence is accurate), perhaps the ones who naturally did not buzz before striking are more likely to survive to breeding age, and therefore would eventually become the majority population. It would be interesting to have a herpetologist look into this.


3 posted on 11/19/2010 10:21:55 PM PST by Hetty_Fauxvert (March 2010: Congress shoved Obamacare down our throats. November 2010: We will shove it back!)
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To: roses of sharon

Bump for reference.


4 posted on 11/19/2010 10:25:56 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Hetty_Fauxvert
You are correct.

That is the current theory in herp circles.

5 posted on 11/19/2010 10:30:57 PM PST by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: roses of sharon

The rattlesnakes around here didn’t get the memo, never having seen a wild pig, I guess.


6 posted on 11/19/2010 10:31:04 PM PST by steve86
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To: Hetty_Fauxvert

We lived in a desert community north of Phoenix. The snakes that rattled got killed. The ones that didn’t often got away scott free. Our neighbor was bit twice by a rattle snake that didn’t buzz. He killed it, but not before it did some serious damage. It’s a case of selective breeding.

My question is, will we have to change the name of the snakes if they quit rattling?


7 posted on 11/19/2010 10:34:43 PM PST by stansblugrassgrl
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To: roses of sharon

Do you not see that this is evolution? The buzzing snakes died off and the non-buzzing snakes did not. So, they evolved.

Dawkins is vindicated.

Now move along and stop asking ya-but questions.


8 posted on 11/19/2010 10:42:31 PM PST by lurk
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To: Flycatcher
My experience in the desert of West Texas (in the 60s) is much different. If in the open and no avenue of escape, they would coil and rattle. If they were in the brush they would try and get away. I did not follow them into the brush, and I have not been bitten my a rattlesnake.

I can get along with rattlesnakes, but water moccasins are bad.

9 posted on 11/19/2010 10:44:04 PM PST by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist, Iconoclast: THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR.)
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To: lurk
Do you not see that this is evolution? The buzzing snakes died off and the non-buzzing snakes did not. So, they evolved.

This does not reflect the process of evolution. It reflects the process of natural selection.

Do you not know the difference?

10 posted on 11/19/2010 10:46:44 PM PST by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: cpdiii

bitten my a rattlesnake should read as, “bitten by a rattlesnake”


11 posted on 11/19/2010 10:47:42 PM PST by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist, Iconoclast: THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR.)
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To: cpdiii
Yes, rattlesnakes are predictably unpredictable, if that makes any sense. For the most part, they do prefer to retire from any sort of conflict, but if they feel cornered, as you pointed out, they will assume a threatening posture.

You and I are both lucky we haven't been bitten (yet). I've handled -- in the wild -- nearly 100 rattlensakes (six different species) and I look back now at my sometimes reckless behavior.

I never physically handle them now. I must be smarter. ;)

But in a wild setting, I never kill them either. I'm an old-school Conservationist with a capital C, which makes me the philosophical enemy of the socialist Environmentalist with a capital E.

12 posted on 11/19/2010 10:59:09 PM PST by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: roses of sharon

Rattle snakes are still evolving. Some have even turned into Lawyers. Many have become politicians.


13 posted on 11/19/2010 10:59:39 PM PST by fish hawk (w)
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To: fish hawk
"Rattle snakes are still evolving. Some have even turned into Lawyers. Many have become politicians."


14 posted on 11/19/2010 11:05:02 PM PST by clearcarbon
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To: roses of sharon

My experience is that rattlers won’t buzz unless you stay too near to them for long enough that they become threatened. Most people bit by a rattlesnake never heard them buzz. I had a baby in my backyard that didn’t even make a sound before he got whomped with a rake.

Of course, this hog story does seem to make a good excuse for blasting some feral hogs.


15 posted on 11/19/2010 11:08:00 PM PST by The KG9 Kid (l)
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To: clearcarbon

No way I’m going to get a good night’s sleep after that.


16 posted on 11/19/2010 11:09:49 PM PST by fish hawk (w)
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To: Flycatcher

Aside from the baby rattler in my backyard that got killed because our little Siamese cat was too curious near it, I won’t kill a snake either. I think about Hantavirus.


17 posted on 11/19/2010 11:12:23 PM PST by The KG9 Kid (l)
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To: Inyo-Mono

They may have stoped ratteling, but up here they better be undercover cause we got snow, and its cold. Dont think they much like snow.


18 posted on 11/19/2010 11:14:14 PM PST by teancumspirit (The name is pronouced Tea-anc-um)
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To: teancumspirit

We have snow too, and they are hidden out in their dens now.


19 posted on 11/19/2010 11:17:56 PM PST by Inyo-Mono (Had God not driven man from the Garden of Eden the Sierra Club surely would have.)
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To: The KG9 Kid

Nueces Helicopter Pig Hunt (no music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiHmYsyVniE

“This feral hog eradication program is funded by a group of farmers who are taking progressive action to reduce the devastation done to their crops by these animals. Each and every feral hog is estimated to cause $1400 in crop damage during its lifetime. As you can see this data in combination with the extraordinarily high and ever expanding hog population proves to be a very big problem.”


20 posted on 11/19/2010 11:18:49 PM PST by deks ("...the battle of our time is the battle of liberty against the overreach of the federal government")
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