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Wildlife Western Rattlesnake Page
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Western Rattlesnake
Crotalus viridis
Habitat: Typical habitats include plains grassland, sandhills, semidesert shrubland, mountain shrubland, riparian zones, piñon-juniper woodland, and montane woodland.
Food and Predators: Known prey in Colorado includes the plains spadefoot, side-blotched lizard, lesser earless lizard, short-horned lizard, prairie and plateau lizard, plateau striped whiptail, ringneck pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) (juvenile), nestling songbirds, pocket mouse (Perognathus sp.), prairie dog (Cynomys sp.), ground squirrel (Spermophilus sp.), chipmunk (Tamias sp.), Ord’s kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ordii), vole (Microtus sp.), deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus and other Peromyscus), western harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis), and cottontail (Sylvilagus sp.) (Klauber 1937, 1972; Hill 1943; Stabler 1943; Smith, Maslin, and Brown 1965; Ludlow 1981; Chiszar, Smith, and Defusco 1993; Kyle Ashton, pers. comm.; pers. obs.).
Humans are the most important “predators” on rattlesnakes in Colorado. Other primary predators probably include eagles, hawks, and occasional mammalian carnivores.
Recognition: Horny rattle or button on end of tail; numerous small scales on top of head; head much broader than neck; pit on each side of face between (but lower than) eye and nostril; dorsum usually blotched; dorsal scales keeled; pupil vertically elongate in bright light.
Distribution: Southern British Columbia, southern Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan south through all of the western United States and Great Plains region to central Baja California and north-central mainland Mexico. Occurs throughout most of Colorado, except the high mountains, reaching an upper elevational limit of 7,500–9,500 feet (2,285–2,895 m) in different areas of the state.
Status: This species is not listed.
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Species Occurrence Tool
(*) NDIS has no county occurrence data for fish at this time.
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