Field Herper.com

Field notes and photography by Bryan D. Hughes
Apr
7th
2017

More Great Basin Rattlesnakes from Southwestern Idaho

The den is broken up, for the most part, into groups of one to two males, each with several females (like this one below) sitting around.

 

One of the secondary males in this particular group. About once a day he would challenge the big male, but was always quickly chased off without even going into combat. Come on man you can do it

Other areas are all female. These are all decently sized adult snakes, but for some reason are not associated with any males, and are here year after year. Could they be gravid?

 

This one is pretty big, moving out from one of the main den areas to one of the staging areas quite a distance away. This part of the Spring, when they are starting to leave the den, is when they are most active.

 

This female got something to eat and was out hoping for some sun … which I don’t believe happened that day. It was cloudy and around 60F all day, so hopefully she found the warmth she needed to digest such a big meal.