Tags: atrox, Crotalus, desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, rattle snake, rattlesnake, western diamondback
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on Monday, January 31st, 2011 at 10:19 am and is filed under Behavior, Field Herping, Field Trips, Research.
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bryan D. Hughes, SFAAZK. SFAAZK said: RT @zigbot: Rattlesnake and Tortoise Living Together http://t.co/5ek8PiO […]
COOL! Makes me want to look in every hole now 🙂
Well, you can, but be careful. There’re snakes in there! Do you see many in your travels?
Don’t have to travel to see them. I live in NE Scottsdale against the McDowell Mountains so we have many species venture into our yard. My cats had a narrow escape last year! http://ezpixels.com/pad/?p=5846
That’s amazing that it’s the only one you’ve seen in that area in such a long time. Have you always lived in that location? I work in Scottsdale and have had absolutely no trouble finding rattlesnakes in the McDowells, and get called out there quite often to remove them from porches.
Do rattlesnakes and tortoises “get along” or are there any conflicts between them that you may be aware of?
I really don’t know much about their relationship, other than the two instances I have found of them sitting together. I would assume that there are absolutely no problems, unless the snake is surprised somehow, as neither is a natural threat to the other.
Hm ok. There is a tortoise that lives in a particular hole in the side of a wash (I’ve seen him there consistently for 2+ years), and once he was absent, and there was a shed atrox skin in the hole. The next time there was no rattlesnake, and the tortoise was back… makes me wonder how they interact, if at all…