Here are a couple more species of rattlesnakes for this #creaturefeature
Look at this marble colored rattlesnake. This is a Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake with a Latin name of Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus.
They have quite a range of colors and I suspect their subtle color differences have to do with the terrain they are found in. This one is probably best suited for speckled quartz stones with a dried out grassy environment.
On average a rattlesnake adds around three beads to their rattle per year so you can guestimate how old they are by counting the beads. I would estimate this one is almost six years old. Each time they molt they usually grow a new bead.
This is a nice plump domesticated education rattle snake at a wildlife rehabilitation facility. It knows the routine of getting propped up on the wooden log for presentation to guests. It is nicknamed countertop because its colors looks like a marble countertop.
Now its time to put the snake away, this method of transporting rattlesnakes is called tailing where you support the front of the snake with the hook and hold the snake by the tail. Only experienced snake handlers do this, as you begin to handle snakes you usually use two hooks and support both ends of the snake with the two hooks so you can keep a good two foot distance from the snake's head just in case they strike.
Here is the only safe way to pet a rattlesnake. This method of snake handling is called tubing. You just hold the tube near the snakes head and they instinctively want to crawl into it for safety. With the head in the tube they are no longer dangerous and you can pet them. Rattlesnakes are generally slow unless they are coiled up ready to strike so you don't need to worry about it quickly crawling out of the tube.
This is a western diamondback rattlesnake with a funny story behind how he got to live at the rehabilitation facility.
This snake was brought to the facility after it was found malnourished and trapped in a junkyard barrel.
After it was fed lots of mice and brought back to health it was released back into the wild around 10 miles away from the facility out in the wilderness of the desert. They painted its tail with a yellow color first though just in case it would be encountered in the wild again...
After about a year or so this snake appeared back at the facility on its own and they caught it and put it in a bucket. In the bucket it looked up like a tame snake expecting a snack as it was fed in a bucket before it was released. That's when they realized it was the snake they let go a year ago because of the paint on its tail. This snake wanted the easy life again and returned to the facility for plenty of mouse treats. Now it has to be tubed and petted every now and then to earn its mice.
That's all for now thanks for looking :-)