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 Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus)

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake | Crotalus adamanteus photo
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Photograph by elvissa / Tricia. Some rights reserved.  (view image details)








EASTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKE FACTS
Description
The Eastern Diamondback is a large dangerous snake - the venom can kill humans. The mortality rate from a full bite is about 40 percent. This rattlesnake is a bulky snake with a large head. There is a row of large dark diamond shapes with brown centers and cream borders along the back. The background body color varies from olive, to brown, to almost black. The tail is brown or gray and banded with dark rings with a rattle at the end. The head has a dark stripe through the eye. The young are similar to the adults in color pattern. The tip of the tail of a newborn diamondback ends in a button which grows into the rattle as it ages.

Size
Length 0.9m - 1.8m. Maximum length 2.4m. One of the largest North American snakes.

Environment
palmetto flatwoods, dry pinelands

Food
small mammals, such as mice and rabbits. Also birds.

Breeding
Six to twenty-one live young are born after gestation period of 6 - 7 months. The young are born in abandoned animal burrow or hollow log. The baby snakes are about 38cm long at birth.

Range
coastal lowlands, ranging from southeast North Carolina to eastern Louisiana, and throughout Florida

Notes
Bite symptoms include pain, swelling, weakness, breathing difficulty, weak pulse, heart failure, shock and sometimes convulsion.

Classification
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata (Serpentes)
Family:Viperidae
Genus:Crotalus
Species:adamanteus
Common Name:Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake


Relatives in same Genus
  Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (C. atrox)
  Sidewinder (C. cerastes)
  Baja California Rattlesnake (C. enyo)
  Timber Rattlesnake (C. horridus)
  Banded Rock Rattlesnake (C. lepidus klauberi)
  Rock Rattlesnake (C. lepidus lepidus)
  Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (C. mitchellii pyrrhus)
  Blacktail Rattlesnake (C. molossus molossus)
  Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (C. oreganus helleri)
  Great Basin Rattlesnake (C. oreganus lutosus)
  Northern Pacific Rattlenake (C. oreganus oreganus)
  Twin-spotted Rattlesnake (C. pricei)
  Red Diamond Rattlesnake (C. ruber)
  Mojave Rattlesnake (C. scutulatus)
  Tiger Rattlesnake (C. tigris)
  Hopi Rattlesnake (C. viridis nuntius)
  Arizona Ridgenose Rattlesnake (C. willardi willardi)







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