Rattlesnake narrow escape!

[woodsorrel]

I just had a close call with two Northern Pacific rattlesnakes.

I know you don't have these venomous snakes in the UK. So it's important to remember that although venomous, the snakes are not aggressive. Their first response is to coil defensively and remain motionless. Their second is to slink off into the underbrush. If neither of these work, they issue their famous auditory warning. If a hiker accidentally touches them, they may strike without warning. And of course there are individual differences between snakes. But I have come to admire their cool demeanor.

But this situation was very different. A friend and I hiked to a rock ledge overlooking a stream. I dumped my pack to take some photos downstream. We were gone about an hour.

For some reason (laziness) I chose a different route back to my pack. I'm glad I did! Two enormous rattlesnakes staged a combat dance in the shadow of my pack. If I had approached from the other side, I might not have seen them until I was much closer.

I have never seen a combat dance before and had no idea they did that. It's a fascinating behavior. The two hormonal males put on quite a show!


Here's more details on how the whole thing went down, along with pictures and some research I did to interpret what I saw.


Rattlesnake Dance


I feel lucky to have seen it -- in several ways! Have you guys seen anything like the combat dance with UK species? 



- Woodsorrel aka "Dances with Snakes"

 

[CLEM]

Wow, lucky that you made the decision to go the different route and even luckier to get to watch something like that too. Blummin great
I believe our Adder does something very similar. Resident wrangleriser �� of serpents JonathanD will be along shortly I'am sure.

 

[JonathanD]

Yeah, Clem is spot on. Several species of viper perform this non-aggressive wrestling match (dance) during the mating season to compete for mating rights. I've seen as many as five male adders engaged in this at once, although that number is very rare. It's usually two, or maybe three on occasions. And you're right, you are very lucky to have seen it.

[video=youtube;VJzrjm5sex8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzrjm5sex8[/video]

 

[ammo]

That is amazing. I wasn't aware that even happened here.

 

[wicca]

A lucky detour, but a real privilege to see. I've seen the Adder dance but only at a distance (through a telescopic sight on a Sniper exercise!!) That first photo Woodsorrel, how well the snake's colouring matches the surroundings, great photos.

 

[woodsorrel]

Thanks for the information and video JonathanD and CLEM!

I was not aware that adders behaved similarly. How large are adders? The rattlesnakes I saw exceeded four feet long. Their heads appeared to be held much higher off the ground than the adders in the video. Is this just a perspective thing?

Wicca, that's cool that you witnessed a dance first-hand. Both of us are serpently lucky!
Rattlesnakes can be surprisingly difficult to spot. They have a habit of remaining motionless to ambush prey and as defense. I was hiking one time and didn't hear the rattle until I had already stepped over the snake! That one kept me awake for many nights thereafter.

Fortunately, the snakes are level-headed (more so than the hikers that spot them). They generally avoid people. So most of us pass them on the trail without ever noticing that they're there.

- Woodsorrel

 

[wicca]

I confess that at the time I wasn't sure what I had seen.. I was expecting a pop-up target somewhere in the area and as there was a time limit on the target exposure.. I almost fired at the poor snakes.

It wasn't until later that someone explained as JonathonD has, exactly what was going on.
I understand that Military Training areas, certainly in this country, have some of the very rarest flora and fauna on them because of their isolation and lack of human disturbance.