Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Northern Pacific Rattle Snake

Crotalus oreganus oreganus

Description:

This was one very hungry rattle snake!! It was half inside and half outside a hole on the mountain. Must be eating or waitng in ambush!!

Habitat:

foothills.

1 Species ID Suggestions

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake
Crotalus oreganus oreganus Crotalus oreganus oreganus - Northern Pacific Rattlesnake


Sign in to suggest organism ID

15 Comments

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

the other day i saw a beetle scuttling across. A lizard ran out of the bush with amazing speed!! I bet these could speed too.

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

I've watched documentaries on it before, it's incredible. You should see if you can find some YouTube videos on it, it really blows your mind! Especially when they do it in slow motion but still time it!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

If you look at the snake in the second picture,it does look ready to strike if needed.

Aaron_G
Aaron_G 10 years ago

Basically, if you think you are fast, a snake strike is much faster. Always.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

Ashley , I really appreciate your expert advice!
That is what the general population does not know that " snakes can strike incredibly fast"

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

Well it's never a good idea to stand close to a venomous snake (or harmless if you don't want to get bit), but being a decent distance away is okay. Just be aware of what it's doing, snakes can strike incredibly fast.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

thank you so much! SO it is not a good idea to stand in front of it?

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

As a general rule, snakes can strike about half their body length. But that only works if you can see the whole body and estimate how long it is haha. Smaller, slender snakes can kind of launch their body at you if you make them really grumpy, but a large rattlesnake like this wouldn't be able to get its whole body off the ground to do that

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

Ashley,this question has been bugging me for a while. Some people were standing in front of it,about 5 ft away and looking at it. It seemed safe! But what if it had lunged forward to strike?!!

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

There is no way to tell age of a snake by looking at it. The number of rattles indicate how many times it has shed in its life, and generally the longer the rattle gets, the easier it is to break off. This is probably an old ish individual, but there is no way to tell.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

must be between 8 to 12 years old.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

Thanks beaker! Venomous snake! Looks like it had just finished a meal.

beaker98
beaker98 10 years ago

Wow! Great photos Jemma!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

Thanks for the ID , Ashley.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

I went back after two hours to see it. Looks like it had it's meal. it was sitting there all coiled up. it did make eye contact with me.

HemaShah
Spotted by
HemaShah

Concord, California, USA

Spotted on Sep 29, 2013
Submitted on Sep 29, 2013

Related Spottings

Mojave rattlesnake Black-tailed rattlesnake Timber Rattle Snake Black-tailed Rattlesnake

Nearby Spottings

The Tawny Grey Lily Poppy poppy Daisy
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team