Snake ID ?

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Yes,KR, I think so, too. I never saw the tail, but the head was all dark, no other coloring. In the early morning light the brown actually looked dark green. At first glance, I thought someone had dropped a piece of camoflage gear, then I got closer and came to an abrupt halt. The camera flash brought out the brown color. The white rings were always quite clear. Another hiker had a photo of an obvious rattler, because the head was quite distinct. It was mostly brown more like a Timber Rattle Snake. The trail along the ridge of Rattle Snake Mt. really does look like prime rattle snake territory with the grasses and open rock. Hikers do have to be aware. I've read that strikes are very uncommon, and usually occur because the snake was stepped on. Snakes do like to lie in the sun to get warm, but the snake in the first photo was in a great spot for it to have spent the night. If the photo was not zoomed you would see that the rocks were against each side of the snake. It just looked comfortable with much of its long body touching each other in its wrap. Another morning I did see a squirrel walking nonchalantly right down the center of the trail, so snakes might also lie on the trail awaiting prey. I thought rattle snakes in New England were rare, but I guess not in NJ and probably PA, too, along the AT.
 
Snake Id

I am not a expert on snakes but this looks like an Eastern Black rat snake or a Northern black racer. The white under the head seems to suggest the rat snake. A Diamond back is more copper/russet looking and the head is more triangular. Although not always true in the world, our native poisionous snakes have cat-like eyes versus the round pupils of all others. That is just in case you want to look one right in the eye!
 
Rattlesnakes are seen n the northwestern part of CT and Massachusettes on the AT.
kmac
 
correction

Sorry, I looked at the wrong photo. Yes, that is a diamond back. Nice find. On an ealier thread Papa Bear mentioned he saw one of these on the AT here in CT. I believe I saw the same snake on that day as well. ( I recognised Papa Bear from his avatar). It is the only the second time I ever saw one.
 
Rambler,
Great shot!! - I am not an expert by any means, but I have seen these a few times in North Central PA and thought they were Timber Rattlers - Maybe I am confused.

BTW, I was just up at Crater Lake yesterday, 3 miles S of Rattlesnake Mountain - I camped up on the summit once - Beautiful place to see the sunset.
 
Great picture! Lucky you to have seen one, they are all but completely gone here in NH and I really don't know the status of the small population of rattlers that was hanging on not too far from the state capital.
 
gaiagirl said:
Great picture! Lucky you to have seen one, they are all but completely gone here in NH and I really don't know the status of the small population of rattlers that was hanging on not too far from the state capital.
Based upon posts made here over the years - I think the location of known rattlesnake areas is kept rather secret by snake experts.
 
Yup, a couple of whom I know pretty well, though I cannot divulge their identities :rolleyes: . And as I said I honestly don't know the current status of the population. Last I knew, and this was several years back now, I believe there were fewer than 50 individuals.
 
I forwarded this snake pic to Paul Foffonof who leads many AMC backpacking trips in the DC area where we see a lot of snakes (yuck!); Paul is a scientist w/ the Smithosonian. He says it is a "Crotalus horridus- Timber Rattlesnake".

dottie
 
I've seen the Eastern Diamondback up close...The snake in Rambler's pic is no Diamondback.
I'm not real familiar with the Timber Rattler, as I've only seen pictures of them, but I'm inclined to agree with Dottie and Paul.
 
I followed Maddy's link and read the description and the warning (reminded me of the debate in the thread re: the world's worst weather). As for the level of danger - personally I'd give any rattlesnake a wide berth, but I think there's a more deadly variety - the Mojave Green Rattlesnake, which has not one but two types of toxins. The word where I live is that if you're bitten by one, insist upon being airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center, which has the reputation as being the best hospital in the country for combatting viper neurotoxins.
 
http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/pages/timber.html

As I moved by the snake I looked direectly down on its head. I saw no coloring other than a solid dark. The white bands were evident, but I di not notice any other white within the triangles as appear in the photo of the diamond back. Notice, too, that the UMASS page on snakes in MA does not include a diamond back. Should have taken another pic, but I just wanted to move along!

Looks more like the Timber RS thanks to Maddy's link:

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/...onZIP=&curGroupID=7&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=7
 
Last edited:
Kevin Rooney said:
Based upon posts made here over the years - I think the location of known rattlesnake areas is kept rather secret by snake experts.

Good GOD, please do share the info so that I can avoid them :eek:
 
7summits said:
Good GOD, please do share the info so that I can avoid them :eek:
I don't have any to share with you. None of the locations mentioned on VFTT are places I hike, so I don't bother to remember them.

Try using the Search function above - you might find some hits.
 
Top