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Archive for the ‘Reptiles’ Category

Lizards are one of an interesting group of animals that you might not think about too much – the reptiles. The biggest of the reptiles, the alligator, is hard to miss, but they live only in the southeastern United States. Smaller reptiles, like lizards and snakes, can be found in your neighborhood. If you want to go exploring to see these colorful and fascinating animals, here are some of the more common ones that you might find.

Let’s begin with lizards. Most common lizards are between four and twelve inches long, which is about the length of one or two of your hands. If they see you looking for them, they will probably scurry away quickly, so approach them quietly. Some lizards can go as fast as fifteen miles per hour, about as fast as you ride your bicycle, and very fast for a reptile! One really interesting thing about lizards is that if another animal grabs their tail, the tail breaks off, and later the lizard grows a new one! All lizards have smooth dry skin, so do not worry about them being slimy. One of the more common lizards all across the U.S. is the skink, which has a nice round body, short stubby legs, and is very shiny. Look for skinks during the warm part of the day in areas that no one goes near, like groups of rocks in a vacant lot. Many skinks have long stripes along their bodies, and a solid color pink or blue tail!

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

Another wonderful group of reptiles is the snake family. When you see a snake, think about how it uses its muscles to move so differently than any other animal. Snakes can move very fast, so don’t be surprised if it slithers off quickly as soon as it realizes you are there. Be very quiet! Two of the snakes that are found throughout nearly all of the United States are the garter snake and the hognosed snake. Garter snakes are very thin snakes, about the size of two or three pencils, and about as long as your arm. They have long stripes on their bodies, the stripes are yellow and dark green in the eastern US, red-orange in the western US. Look for them in grassy fields or in grasses near the edge of woods, especially in sunny spots where they can get warm.

Hognose snakes have funny turned up noses that they can use for digging, and that is how they get their name. They are big brownish or greyish snakes with darker colored blotches on their bodies. They like open sandy areas, and areas with a lot of fallen leaves on it. Hognose snakes have unusual behaviors when they feel threatened. If you get too close to a hognose, it may try to scare you by hissing at you and puffing out its head. If it feels really scared, it can flop over and play dead.

Go exploring to see what reptiles you can find in your area. Look on the Internet or in a book to see a few pictures of snakes and lizards in your area, so that you will know what to look for. Enjoy!

Is there really any information about Reptiles that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

When you’re learning about something new, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

Basically, any reptile that is caught in the wild is discouraged for use as a pet. It is cruel for a reptile to be removed from its natural environment, for it to be thrust into captivity against its will, just so someone can say they own it as a pet. If you must have a reptile for a pet, buy one that was raised or born in captivity.

Compared to lizards and turtles/tortoises, snakes tend to be easier pets for kids to raise. Just make sure your child is old enough to be properly educated in the handling of the reptile for the child’s safety and the reptile’s safety as well. Because reptiles carry salmonella, it is essential that any person who handles the creature either wear gloves or wash their hands immediately after putting the reptile back into its housing.

But there are some lizards, turtles/tortoises, and snakes that are truly not suitable for pets. Although it is possible to keep them in captivity, it is better for the reptile to respect that it is meant to be kept in the wild.

Burmese pythons can certainly become tame enough to make good pets; however, the cute little baby will grow into a very huge adult. The size alone, once it is grown, will make it less suitable to keep as a pet. The African Rock Python and the Reticulated Python have been known to be kept as pets, but their temperament makes it more of a challenge. Just because they are so cute as babies, it doesn’t mean they will still be appealing as adults. The price should not be your only decision in owning one of these reptiles. Pet shops will often sell low cost animals that often turn into high cost maintenance, which certainly enhances the chance of return business. But it is really unfair to the unsuspecting consumer.

The information about Reptiles presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about Reptiles or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

Imported reptiles such as the pythons are often sold with problems that occurred before or during transport. The prospective owner must be well-educated to be able to spot any deficiencies in the animal prior to purchase. Mites, ticks, dehydration and emaciation are some of the possible problems.

Green anoles are sold at a low cost, but their set up can be expensive. Anoles tend to be caught wild which means parasite infestation is more likely; and they don’t like to be handled.

Wild-caught ball pythons are known to have heavy parasite infestation and are picky eaters. Their stress during shipping causes trauma, which affects their temperament, appetite, and overall health. Captive hatched or farm raised are still imported and still suffer from shipping distress.

Wild-caught chameleons suffer stress, parasite, and crowding from being imported as well. They are an antisocial creature even without the added negative aspects caused by shipping, so a beginning reptile owner would find this animal a disappointing challenge. They don’t react well to everyday household noises like children, other animals, vacuum cleaners, loud radios, and so on. It’s not a guarantee that they’ll be happy when housed with other chameleons either because they aren’t even sociable with their own kind.

Other reptiles which do not make good pets, especially for a beginner, are Tokay geckos, caymans, and alligators. They are quick, aggressive, and very strong animals. Make sure you know what you’re getting before you invest your hard-earned money into the cute little pet shop reptile!

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

If you’re seriously interested in knowing about Reptiles, you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article takes a closer look at things you need to know about Reptiles.

Are you fascinated with shows on TV that show wrestling, wrestling between man and alligator? Do snakes repel you, but you still dream about them at night? Do you sometimes feel like a turtle coming out of its shell? If so, you might want to head to the southern part of America and visit the alligators, and all of their reptile relatives. The states of Florida and Louisiana have a spectrum of places to visit reptiles – from the traditional alligator farms that have been around for the last fifty years, to modern wildlife refuges with tour guides that have doctorates in ecology.

If you start in Louisiana, here is a sampling of places where you can see reptiles at their largest, best, and most active. You can start with a boat tour given by Alligator Annie Miller Tours, who has been giving tours of the area by boat since 1979. You can stay near Annie’s at an alligator bed and breakfast in Gibson, La at Betty Provost’s Wildlife Gardens. Each cabin has an attached deck overlooking the water, and a number of reptiles swim up on the chance that you might throw out some small pieces of alligator chow. These reptiles include small alligators, spiny soft-shell turtles, and red-eared sliders. The bed and breakfast also has a mile of nature trails that truly have the sound and feel of a real Louisiana swamp. Near Slidell, La. (close to Baton Rouge) is Dr. Wagner’s Honey Island Swamp Tour, and is run by the wetlands ecologist. He gives tours through a beautiful cypress swamp, and presents so much fascinating information about the alligators, other reptiles, and waterfowl that live in the area.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there’s more to Reptiles than you may have first thought.

If you visit Florida, make sure to stop and see the alligators. Two of the biggest and best alligator attractions in the state are Gatorland, and St. Augustine Alligator Farm. The Farm is really a zoo that was started in the city of St. Augustine in 1893. While there you will hear some amazing sounds, like the bellow of a large male alligator. It sounds somewhat like an airplane engine, with a lot of vibration that you can actually feel in the air. Bellowing helps the animals locate each other, and brings males and females together during courtship behavior. The farm is also the only park to have all twenty-three species of the crocodile family, some having come from Asia. One of their showcase reptiles was a crocodile brought from New Guinea who grew to nearly eighteen feet long, and weighed seventeen hundred pounds when he died.

As you go near Orlando you cannot miss the signs for Gatorland. This is also a Florida institution, and has been open for fifty-six years. Gatorland has boardwalks crossing over the area where you can watch alligators in their natural habitat. Nearby is the area where you watch large gators propel themselves out of the water at feeding time to retrieve pieces of chicken. Here you will also see alligator wrestling, which is something that was supposedly started by the Seminole Indians. After selecting and wrestling his opponent, the gator handler asks the visitors which is the most dangerous part of the alligator. It is a split decision between the tail and the teeth, but remember which part of the alligator the wrestler is holding shut!

Take a vacation with the animals and see reptiles like you never have before. See them in their power, in their distinctive beauty, and take time to experience their native habitats, the ancient feel of the southeastern swamps.

Hopefully the sections above have contributed to your understanding of Reptiles. Share your new understanding about Reptiles with others. They’ll thank you for it.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

If you’re seriously interested in knowing about Reptiles, you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article takes a closer look at things you need to know about Reptiles.

Of all the reptiles that can be found in an average neighborhood, turtles are probably the easiest to catch. Let’s take a tour of a turtle and see what we can learn from it. One of the most interesting parts of the turtle is the most obvious, its shell. The back of a turtle shell is formed from bones that have fused together into a hard structure. On top of the bone layer are large scales that cover and protect the surface of the bone, and give the turtle its distinctive color.
Some sea turtles have shells with bones that are separated, and the leatherback turtle has no scales at all, just leathery skin with little bony plates distributed in its skin. The shells of land turtles are typically quite high and round, in order to discourage predators from attempting to crush the shells in their mouths.

Water turtles generally have much flatter shells, in order to allow for faster swimming. The bottom of the shell, called the plastron, is also fused bone, but it is covered with a different kind of scale, in order for the turtle to move easily over its territory. A few turtles, such as the American box turtle, have hinges on the bottom of its shell. The box shell turtle can withdraw into the shell and then close the hinges, so that no predator can reach any of the turtle within. These hinges also protect against moisture loss on particularly dry days.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there’s more to Reptiles than you may have first thought.

Like many other reptiles, turtles lay their eggs on land. Baby turtles generally grow rapidly until they reach young adulthood, and then the rate of growth slows. Large turtles often keep growing at a slow rate for their entire life. The shells of most turtles grow to at least five inches in diameter, and the monster of the turtle family is the Leatherback, which can have a shell six feet long and weigh up to fifteen hundred pounds. One of the larger common American turtles is the Alligator snapping turtle, which can have a shell of over two feet in length and weigh up to two hundred pounds. It is easier to tell the age of turtles than most other reptiles because the plates on their back often have growth rings, similar to trees. Each time a turtle stops growing it creates a depression in each scale, and so these can be counted to determine the age of the turtle.

A number of turtles have lived for more than one hundred years, and turtles might be the longest-lived vertebrates, up to two hundred years old. Some American families carved their names and dates into box turtle shells, and these markers indicate that even local turtles can live to be more than one hundred years old.

Next time you see a turtle, check it out carefully. Watch how slowly it walks (generally at about one third of a mile an hour), and look carefully at the markings on its shell. Turn it over to see the underside of the shell, and how the two connect. See if you can see any markings on the shell to count how old it is. Check out other interesting facts and behaviors about the turtles in your area at your local library or bookstore.

It never hurts to be well-informed with the latest on Reptiles. Compare what you’ve learned here to future articles so that you can stay alert to changes in the area of Reptiles.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his new GVO affiliate site: GVO

Are you looking for some inside information on Reptiles? Here’s an up-to-date report from Reptiles experts who should know.

Of all the reptiles, we are usually most interested in the largest ones – alligators, crocodiles, komodo dragons, and the big snakes. These snakes have songs written about them, and the anaconda was even the star of a movie! Not only are these reptiles amazing due to their size, they also have many other interesting points.

Let’s begin with the standard question, exactly how big are they? The largest of the big snakes is the anaconda, which has been reported to grow to thirty-seven feet long. You can’t realize how long a reptile this is until you measure from your room down the hallway, probably well into the living room. A truly enormous snake, and one of the longest reptiles ever! This snake spends most of its time in the water hiding in the water plants of South America.

The other four giant snakes are pythons, and are found in Africa and Asia. They grow to between 22 feet and 32 feet, depending on the species. If you see a python in a zoo or other animal show, it is probably a reticulated python from Southeast Asia, due to its beautiful color pattern and the fact that it does well living in captivity. How do regular snakes compare with these giants? Most other snakes are much smaller, and even few rarely even grow to twelve feet.

The giant snakes can live up to twenty years in captivity. When they are young they can be eaten by hawks or other predators that eat smaller snakes, but no animal would try to threaten or eat a full grown giant snake. The only real enemies of these great reptiles are intestinal parasites, diseases, and man.

It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of Reptiles is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news about Reptiles.

The giant snakes really can swallow a man whole! Very few cases of that have been reported though. Once a giant snake has had a large supper, it would be the same as if it ate four hundred average sized meals. This means that sometimes these reptiles might go a long time between meals, maybe as infrequently as once a year.

The giant snakes have extremely strong muscles, and use them both in movement and in hunting their prey. Their jaws are also very strong, but that isn’t as important as how wide their mouths open in order to eat their prey. Generally the giant snakes kill their prey before the snake begins to swallow them. The giant snakes rely on squeezing their prey (which is why they are often called constrictors), but they generally squeeze only hard enough to prevent the prey from breathing sufficiently, and eventually suffocate the prey. They do not need or intend to squeeze hard enough to crush or break bones, as people sometimes think.

A constrictor throws several coils around the body of its prey, very neatly, and at each breath simply applies a little more pressure until the prey can no longer breathe. There are stories of skulls of goats being broken, but this is not necessary and not even the way that the constrictors work. One interesting behavior is that sometimes the giant snakes will break bones in order to “fold” a victim in two in order to swallow it more easily.

Many snake handlers consider the giant snakes to be quite intelligent, and find that the giant snakes are easily handled and come to recognize and accept their trainers. They are among the most fascinating of reptiles, and make sure you visit them if they are in a nearby zoo or other naturalist area.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Adsense Sites and make sure to download the free adsense sites package!

Current info about Reptiles is not always the easiest thing to locate. Fortunately, this report includes the latest Reptiles info available.

Did you think a frog is a reptile? Maybe it would help to learn the difference in reptiles and amphibians. Amphibians can’t travel far from a water source because their skin would dry out. Their eggs wouldn’t survive either since they must be laid in water. Reptiles, on the other hand, already have tough hard scaly skin.

Snakes are well-known and feared reptiles. Many people simply misunderstand the snake. It’s a benefit to the balance of nature. They consume rodents, amphibians, and insects as well as providing a source of food to other animals. They’re valuable additions to our animal world because of the importance as predators and as prey.

Many people kill snakes without knowing whether or not they are dangerous. Some snakes are “good” snakes in the way that they kill the bad snakes. Those annoying mice are controlled because of the snake population, too. But before you decide that you’d rather have a bigger mouse population than snakes, you would surely agree that everything was created for a reason. Just because you may be scared of something does not mean it is less important to our world.

Have you ever struck out in fear, by instinct or reflex? Sometimes a reptile is forced to do the same thing in order to survive. It doesn’t stop to think first because the time could cost it a life. Snakes do not strike out because they hate humans, lizards do not bite because they are holding a grudge, snapping turtles do not snap because they don’t like the blouse you decided to wear today. A reptile attacks because it feels threatened or because it is hungry.

If you don’t have accurate details regarding Reptiles, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

If you live in an area where the venomous snake population is higher than normal or maybe your chance of coming into contact with such is higher, you may want to purchase a Sawyer Pump Extractor. This handy little machine suctions out the venom from the bite, reducing your chances of more serious illness or death.

There are some helpful do’s and don’ts to know once you’ve been bit. Of course, you should get away from the snake first. Although it is scary, you will less affected if you can make yourself stay as calm as possible. Remove jewelry that may become binding should your arm or hand swell from a bite. Wrap a wide band of material or elastic bandage above the bite area and leave in place until proper medical help is achieved. Do not wrap this too tightly. Alert an emergency center of your upcoming visit if possible.

Don’t take any alcohol or drugs as this may interfere with your treatment once you arrive at the medical center. It could also inhibit your ability to get there if you are forced to drive yourself. Applying ice or electric shock of any kind is not advised.

It will help to pay attention to the reptile that bit you so that you can relate the information to the medical personnel when you get help. It may help them identify your needs quicker.

If you’ve picked some pointers about Reptiles that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won’t really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don’t use it.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, who just launched this great product..
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Current info about Reptiles is not always the easiest thing to locate. Fortunately, this report includes the latest Reptiles info available.

Many people think reptiles are cheap pets, easily accessible and easy to care for. However, after purchasing or being given a reptile several things can happen.

1. The reptile becomes ill and/or dies because of improper care.

2. The person becomes bored with their pet and leaves it unattended or lets it go in an unsatisfactory environment.

3. The cost of the reptile becomes overwhelming.

4. The responsible owner enjoys the companionship of the pet for life.

A reptile in captivity depends on its owner completely. While it may have defenses, it is still basically defenseless. Unable to care for itself, it is at the mercy of the caregiver and every element of its care is important.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Reptiles. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

To neglect responsibility as an owner can mean torture for the reptile. If you think it shouldn’t matter because a reptile is incapable of emotion, maybe you should refrain from acquiring any pet. Whether or not it does or does not show or experience emotion is irrelevant. There is still the element of pain and suffering to be considered should it be neglected.

Any living being deserves to obtain adequate care, especially one held in captivity. A reptile that has been provided for may not know how to adequately care for itself once it is put back into the wild. Maybe the reptile is released in an environment that lacks the right food sources or temperature. Protection from predators may be inadequate.

If you give your pet away or sell it, please make sure the person receiving the reptile has proper knowledge of what it takes to care for and shelter the animal.

If you decide to own a reptile for a pet and don’t practice the proper handling, you could be attacked. Who would be to blame? You.

Reptiles can be interesting as pets. The experience can be rewarding and educational. The responsibility lies in the hands of the owner. If you want a fulfilling and long lasting experience as a reptile owner, take the time and make the effort to learn about what’s involved before you purchase or accept a reptile.

If you choose a pet shop, choose a reputable pet shop. Don’t count on their expertise. Some pets unfortunately are sold merely as profit pieces. It’s often a wonder they even made it to the pet shop in one piece and alive. Exotic pet sales have gone through the roof, so many of these wonderful creatures are handled wrong right from the start. It pays to research how a healthy reptile should look before you make the commitment to purchase. Just having a license to sell a reptile does not make the management responsible people with consciences.

A responsible pet owner is not just someone who loves animals. It’s someone who makes the effort to care for the animals properly. There are many well-meaning people who call themselves animal lovers and still don’t have what it takes to be the right caregiver for reptiles. You may be the perfect match for a dog and far from the perfect match for a turtle or a lizard! Know your limits before you commit.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest acquisition: Free Google Traffic System and make sure to visit my bonus site!

The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with Reptiles.

Basically, any reptile that is caught in the wild is discouraged for use as a pet. It is cruel for a reptile to be removed from its natural environment, for it to be thrust into captivity against its will, just so someone can say they own it as a pet. If you must have a reptile for a pet, buy one that was raised or born in captivity.

Compared to lizards and turtles/tortoises, snakes tend to be easier pets for kids to raise. Just make sure your child is old enough to be properly educated in the handling of the reptile for the child’s safety and the reptile’s safety as well. Because reptiles carry salmonella, it is essential that any person who handles the creature either wear gloves or wash their hands immediately after putting the reptile back into its housing.

But there are some lizards, turtles/tortoises, and snakes that are truly not suitable for pets. Although it is possible to keep them in captivity, it is better for the reptile to respect that it is meant to be kept in the wild.

Burmese pythons can certainly become tame enough to make good pets; however, the cute little baby will grow into a very huge adult. The size alone, once it is grown, will make it less suitable to keep as a pet. The African Rock Python and the Reticulated Python have been known to be kept as pets, but their temperament makes it more of a challenge. Just because they are so cute as babies, it doesn’t mean they will still be appealing as adults. The price should not be your only decision in owning one of these reptiles. Pet shops will often sell low cost animals that often turn into high cost maintenance, which certainly enhances the chance of return business. But it is really unfair to the unsuspecting consumer.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

Imported reptiles such as the pythons are often sold with problems that occurred before or during transport. The prospective owner must be well-educated to be able to spot any deficiencies in the animal prior to purchase. Mites, ticks, dehydration and emaciation are some of the possible problems.

Green anoles are sold at a low cost, but their set up can be expensive. Anoles tend to be caught wild which means parasite infestation is more likely; and they don’t like to be handled.

Wild-caught ball pythons are known to have heavy parasite infestation and are picky eaters. Their stress during shipping causes trauma, which affects their temperament, appetite, and overall health. Captive hatched or farm raised are still imported and still suffer from shipping distress.

Wild-caught chameleons suffer stress, parasite, and crowding from being imported as well. They are an antisocial creature even without the added negative aspects caused by shipping, so a beginning reptile owner would find this animal a disappointing challenge. They don’t react well to everyday household noises like children, other animals, vacuum cleaners, loud radios, and so on. It’s not a guarantee that they’ll be happy when housed with other chameleons either because they aren’t even sociable with their own kind.

Other reptiles which do not make good pets, especially for a beginner, are Tokay geckos, caymans, and alligators. They are quick, aggressive, and very strong animals. Make sure you know what you’re getting before you invest your hard-earned money into the cute little pet shop reptile!

Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it? And you’ve earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’s word on Reptiles.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, owner of this excellent site: Product Profits Club (click to claim your FREE membership)

Of all the reptiles that can be found in an average neighborhood, turtles are probably the easiest to catch. Let’s take a tour of a turtle and see what we can learn from it. One of the most interesting parts of the turtle is the most obvious, its shell. The back of a turtle shell is formed from bones that have fused together into a hard structure. On top of the bone layer are large scales that cover and protect the surface of the bone, and give the turtle its distinctive color.
Some sea turtles have shells with bones that are separated, and the leatherback turtle has no scales at all, just leathery skin with little bony plates distributed in its skin. The shells of land turtles are typically quite high and round, in order to discourage predators from attempting to crush the shells in their mouths.

Water turtles generally have much flatter shells, in order to allow for faster swimming. The bottom of the shell, called the plastron, is also fused bone, but it is covered with a different kind of scale, in order for the turtle to move easily over its territory. A few turtles, such as the American box turtle, have hinges on the bottom of its shell. The box shell turtle can withdraw into the shell and then close the hinges, so that no predator can reach any of the turtle within. These hinges also protect against moisture loss on particularly dry days.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Reptiles? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Like many other reptiles, turtles lay their eggs on land. Baby turtles generally grow rapidly until they reach young adulthood, and then the rate of growth slows. Large turtles often keep growing at a slow rate for their entire life. The shells of most turtles grow to at least five inches in diameter, and the monster of the turtle family is the Leatherback, which can have a shell six feet long and weigh up to fifteen hundred pounds. One of the larger common American turtles is the Alligator snapping turtle, which can have a shell of over two feet in length and weigh up to two hundred pounds. It is easier to tell the age of turtles than most other reptiles because the plates on their back often have growth rings, similar to trees. Each time a turtle stops growing it creates a depression in each scale, and so these can be counted to determine the age of the turtle.

A number of turtles have lived for more than one hundred years, and turtles might be the longest-lived vertebrates, up to two hundred years old. Some American families carved their names and dates into box turtle shells, and these markers indicate that even local turtles can live to be more than one hundred years old.

Next time you see a turtle, check it out carefully. Watch how slowly it walks (generally at about one third of a mile an hour), and look carefully at the markings on its shell. Turn it over to see the underside of the shell, and how the two connect. See if you can see any markings on the shell to count how old it is. Check out other interesting facts and behaviors about the turtles in your area at your local library or bookstore.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, owner of this excellent site: Product Profits Club (click to claim your FREE membership)

Reptiles seem more like creatures from another planet than any other animal, and snakes even more so. Snakes are cold-blooded, they move in very unusual ways, and they have more old wives’ tales about them than nearly any other animal (except maybe the wolf). This introduction to the behavior of the American rattler should de-mystify most of the ideas that you have about this fascinating group of reptiles.

Many of the smaller reptiles, like lizards, startle easily and are more difficult to observe in their natural habitat. Observing a rattler might be easier than other animals, for its major senses are its sense of smell, detection of vibration, and heat detection. Much of a rattler’s waking hours is consumed by waiting for food. They get their food by sitting and waiting, rather than chasing after their prey. Several nights may go by when no potential prey comes near, and so a rattler needs to be patient. He comes out as the sun is setting and the desert begins to cool, and slides across sand and several rocks until he finds an area that smells strongly of rodents, or perhaps a hunting area that has been successful in the past. The rattler coils up in some low vegetation, or near the side of a rock.

The top several inches of his body are not coiled, but have a few shallow bends in his neck so that he can strike quickly when prey comes by. His head rests on his coiled body. If no prey comes by, eventually the rattler’s body temperature gets low enough that he needs to make a return journey, and so the rattler will make the return journey at that time.

The more authentic information about Reptiles you know, the more likely people are to consider you a Reptiles expert. Read on for even more Reptiles facts that you can share.

When a small animal appears, for example a desert mouse, the rattler may be alerted by the vibrations made as the mouse scurries along the ground. Its tongue will pick up the scent of the mouse, and there are extremely sensitive organs of smell in the roof of a rattler’s mouth. In order to determine where to strike, the rattler uses the pits on its head. These pits determine where the heat source, the mouse, is. If the mouse is slightly too far away to strike, the rattler will slowly and quietly move in a straight line toward the mouse, so that the mouse will not detect any sound or movement. The snake normally does not use the normal side to side motion for stalking prey, as it attracts too much attention. When the mouse is close enough, the rattler strikes. As it strikes, its mouth opens wide and the fangs drop down and forward, so that the fangs point directly at the mouse. As its mouth closes on the mouse, the venom is pumped through its fangs into the mouse. The snake then reopens it mouth and lets the mouse go.

After a few minutes the snake assumes the mouse has died, and moves around using its tongue to smell for the location of the mouse’s body. If you look at a snake after it has eaten, you can usually see a small (or large) bump that gradually decreases as it progresses into the stomach. The time the snake takes from first noticing the mouse to swallowing it may be as long as an hour.

Enjoy learning about rattlers, but if you see one, remember to watch it from a very safe distance.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit my latest venture: GVO to claim your $1 trial membership!