Rattlers

I saw multiple snakes today but by the time I was on them, it was already hot and they just wouldn't cooperate. Whenever I found them in awesome looking basking areas, they felt my footsteps and slipped off before I could get photos. The black phase was caught in a roadway with nowhere to go but unfortunately, a dirt road just isn't the backdrop that I was looking for. Anyway, here's today's photos.

You could do some rattlesnake macro and see how close you can get....

The odd thing is that I'm not sure some of them wouldn't let me today as long as I left them where they were comfortable like the yellow phase under a rock. They were skittish and immediately headed for cover as soon as I got remotely close but none of them were even a bit aggressive. I touched the black phase a few times with a stick to get him to coil or move his head and he refused to strike. They truly are far, far more afraid of us than we are of them (at least most of us).

neat shots, Bill

beautiful shots Bill

Thanks guys.

Nice shots!

I love that melanistic example. What a beauty!

Jason

What amazes me is that even his eye color is pitch black whereas the yellow phase rattlers all have brilliant yellow eyes.

That black one is a beauty!

I have never seen a black one so that one is interesting to me. I don't even know if they exist or not where I live. How large do you suppose that black one was?

He wasn't a true whopper, I'm guessing 40 inches. The other thing that was noticeable was that he was really a velvety and clean black. It was obvious that he had very, very recently shed his skin. In person, you didn't even see the distinct markings at all but in the photos you can.

Here in the east, the black phase of a timber rattler is actually fairly common but this one was a truly beautiful specimen.

that last one has nice coloring. too bad you could not get closer.

black timbers are a more common color mutation in the eastern us. their pattern can vary, but within various populations is usually similar.

there is a lot of debate over the southern version of this snake whether it should be a separate subspecies, the cane brake timber rattlesnake. i won't bore you w/ the details you can google if you are interested but they are all very beautiful creatures.

Wicked shots, the second one is awesome!