Alberta's rattlesnakes!

[vtecngsr]

Originally Posted by TomE

You fed that grasshopper to the Spider didn't you! lol At a Private club here in Calgary there is a Huge Orb Weaver I believe..But I have never seen one as big. About an inch long and wide. It also has the strangest Web I've ever seen..It has the Classic Web which is about one and a half feet in Diameter but surrounded by many long strands of Web..Like it has "Feeler Webs surrounding the main one..Pretty cool..I'll try to get a Pic..

This is one from my back yard, cell phone picture as all the bateries for all my digital cameras were dead (facepalm) Thats a 2x6 its on for scale

[dodger]

I'm sure posting spider pics is against the forum rules. ALL MODS - Please send these demented people to timeout.

Dodger.

[marlin1]

so is the Black widow from Alberta? nice pics by the way

[Arachnodisiac]

Yup, it sure is! And thanks!

[rottik9]

I was out Looken for moose about a week ago, I seen a garter snake and about a dozen little ones , about 1-2 inches long? Is this a normal time for them to have young, and what would those small snakes eat?


Joe

[threeforthree]

[Arachnodisiac]

Where are those from?

That's a captive... which isn't allowed here, unless it's at a zoo or approved facility.

Even if they are captive bred, you're just not allowed to keep hots in Alberta, unfortunately.

[threeforthree]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

Where are those from?

That's a captive... which isn't allowed here, unless it's at a zoo or approved facility.

Even if they are captive bred, you're just not allowed to keep hots in Alberta, unfortunately.

Not sure where you came up with that assumption.............but it is in the wide open prairie at a oil and gas facility, the one is coming out of a Rodent bait box.

[sparky660]

Originally Posted by threeforthree

Not sure where you came up with that assumption.............but it is in the wide open prairie at a oil and gas facility, the one is coming out of a Rodent bait box.

Assumptions are a regular occurance around here and people love accusing others based on these assumptions. Get used to it, people are so much braver over the internet especially on this site.

[Arachnodisiac]

Originally Posted by threeforthree

Not sure where you came up with that assumption.............but it is in the wide open prairie at a oil and gas facility, the one is coming out of a Rodent bait box.

Wow! That looked *exactly* like a terrarium to me!
I very much apologize to have come across in an accusatory manner.

Please forgive me – you'd be amazed at the stuff I've seen when it comes to rattlers and people.

[threeforthree]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

Wow! That looked *exactly* like a terrarium to me!
I very much apologize to have come across in an accusatory manner.

Please forgive me – you'd be amazed at the stuff I've seen when it comes to rattlers and people.

Totally accepted

[WayneChristie]

Rattler feeding station, gotta love it Im amazed I havent seen any at work with all the mice we have, we even have a badger. Love to see my boss come upon one and scream like a little girl

[HighRiver]

My parents have black widows in their backyard in Hanna, a craptown east of Drumheller. I used to work at a gas plant sout of Oyen and would occasianally cross paths with a rattler that had taken up residence under our compressor skid. I gave her more than enough room to know I wasn't a threat, lol.
EDIT: What do rattlers eat in the wild? Mice and gophers? I never seen our rattler eating. The office shack cat new enough not to wander near the compressor or separator so maybe house cat would have been on the menu lol.

[Arachnodisiac]

It depends on their size.
When they are just-born neonates, they will eat insects. As they get older, they will eat different sizes of rodents. Smaller snakes will eat smaller mice, as they grow adult mice. Baby rabbits, kangaroo rats, all sizes of gophers, real rats along the border with Saskatchewan.
Cats? No. Kittens? I suppose if they were given the opportunity they would, but they are pretty specialized and adapted for the prairie and its native animals.

Further south where lizards are much more common, the smaller species of rattlers and the juveniles of larger species and even the adults of larger species will prey a lot on the lizards as well. Some almost exclusively.

[Pudelpointer]

Saw a couple more buzz-tails last week. One crossing a gravel road and another down by the river. Also saw a third one, but it was unfortunately a little flat: just a young one, had one rattle and a bud of a second one. Too bad.

Won't be long now and I won't see any till next year.


Ian

[WayneChristie]

interupted this little guy while it was swimming across the SSR this weekend, took a pic and sent it on its way.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXPVMKmtSC4

[FishingMOM]

Arachnodisiac and Wayne Christie should go on a snake date together.
Between the two of them they could come up with interesting pictures and stories about the snakes here in alberta.

I should know better than to open their snake threads but it never ceases to amaze me the mischief these 2 get into.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by FishingMOM

Arachnodisiac and Wayne Christie should go on a snake date together.
Between the two of them they could come up with interesting pictures and stories about the snakes here in alberta.

I should know better than to open their snake threads but it never ceases to amaze me the mischief these 2 get into.

wayne would just giggle, and make 'you want to see my snake?' jokes.

It would be a bad scene all around, as I could see arach tipping over wayne in his pontoon boat. the jeans in the picture aren't the best for floating or swimming, and next thing you know, alberta diver will have to rescue dive his scrawny butt outta the water.

[FishingMOM]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

wayne would just giggle, and make 'you want to see my snake?' jokes.

It would be a bad scene all around, as I could see arach tipping over wayne in his pontoon boat. the jeans in the picture aren't the best for floating or swimming, and next thing you know, alberta diver will have to rescue dive his scrawny butt outta the water.

Yeah but you would love it Diver. Any excuse to get in the water is a good excuse.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by FishingMOM

Yeah but you would love it Diver. Any excuse to get in the water is a good excuse.

I'd rather not have to rescue Wayne. I hear he's kinda smelly.

[thumper]

I imagine that eating mice that have been feeding on poison bait isn't good for snakes. I wonder if that would be a factor in the drop in rattler and bull snake numbers?

[FishingMOM]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

I'd rather not have to rescue Wayne. I hear he's kinda smelly.

He would only smell of the waterway you pull him from.......

Not like he has been sleeping with the fishes.

[Arachnodisiac]

Holy crap you two...
I leave this thread for an hour and look what happens!

Originally Posted by thumper

I imagine that eating mice that have been feeding on poison bait isn't good for snakes. I wonder if that would be a factor in the drop in rattler and bull snake numbers?

I'm really not sure...
I think that the poison probably kills the mice right away, right?

I'm not sure that they scavenge all that much. If I am correct, then once the mouse cools off, they probably wouldn't find it anyway.

But that's interesting, and I will ask some of my friends who have a deeper knowledge base than I do.

[Loggrlee]

arach, have you ever come across a hognose snake. I hear they are very interesting as well.

[Arachnodisiac]

I have! But western hognose (Heterodon nasicus nasicus) are very rare, and their habitat and behaviour make them even harder to find.
I found three at once (two males courting a female) in Manitoba. The population there is cut-off from everywhere else, and in one small area.

I have found another in Alberta, near the rattlesnakes I visit. And another in Saskatchewan, but it was unfortunately DOR.

They are great little snakes! They put on a great show sometimes, and they will also play dead to try and escape predation. The eastern hognose (Heterodon platirhinos) is much better at playing dead, but they both can.

It's hilarious! Even when you roll them over, they roll back over. See?
"No! I'm dead! I'm rotten! You don't want to eat me!"

They are rear-fanged, and their saliva has a little bit of venom in it, but it's nothing really for us to worry about at all.

Originally Posted by Loggrlee

arach, have you ever come across a hognose snake. I hear they are very interesting as well.

[Loggrlee]

really?!?!?!!? didn't know they were poisonous? You wouldn't kid me on the internet would you? Have heard about their antics of playing dead and would love to see it live. Have also heard they put on an aggressive display before trying the play dead thing. Remember reading they can flatten their necks like a cobra too. Don't suppose you have a link to one like that?

[Arachnodisiac]

Well, even garter snakes are somewhat venomous. So is every single spider. It's just that the venom they produce isn't targeted for mammals, or primates, or for gigantic creatures like us, so it's really only a scientific point of interest.
However, there are a couple of species that people used to keep thinking they were harmless because they were just rear-fanged, but once some people died, lessons were learned. (Boomslang, for instance.)

That's why in general, most people will mention when a snake is rear-fanged, thus often producing a watered-down venom which is exuded from venom/saliva glands in the mouth to run down grooves on the side of the rear fangs, rather than in hollow fangs at the front of the mouth as seen in vipers, rattlers, which actually inject their intense venom into their prey. In rear-fanged snakes, the diluted venom mostly functions as a pre-digestion aid more than method of killing food items.

I've seen them flatten, but I don't have any links handy.

Originally Posted by Loggrlee

really?!?!?!!? didn't know they were poisonous? You wouldn't kid me on the internet would you? Have heard about their antics of playing dead and would love to see it live. Have also heard they put on an aggressive display before trying the play dead thing. Remember reading they can flatten their necks like a cobra too. Don't suppose you have a link to one like that?

[Loggrlee]

knew about the spiders, didn't know about the garters. Never heard of rear fanged before either. Was "into" snakes when I was young but haven't done much with them after life became work. You are very well informed on them, do you have any science training or just informed amatuer?

[Arachnodisiac]

Thank you!
It's just a hobby.
There's way more I don't know than I do know, and I confess to being a "crote head" - someone that's into the rattlers the most. I'm sort of fascinated by the venomous stuff.

Originally Posted by Loggrlee

knew about the spiders, didn't know about the garters. Never heard of rear fanged before either. Was "into" snakes when I was young but haven't done much with them after life became work. You are very well informed on them, do you have any science training or just informed amatuer?

[Young Eldon]

I was elk hunting down at Suffield this month and found a small (~ 16”) rattler on a road. At first it was coiled, rattling and ready to strike. But after about ten minutes (while I took a couple poor pics on my cell phone), it uncoiled and would barely move when poked. Do rattlers play dead very often? I began wondering if maybe it had been “truck struck” before I got there.