What the heck? Rattlesnakes don't rattle anymore!

[MarathonMike]

It's rattlesnake season in the desert and this evening my wife and I came across two of them. We were within 4 feet of them and they just stayed still,, not rattle! She would have stepped on the second one if I hadn't grabbed her arm. I've heard this is a survival adaptation: the one's that rattle usually end up dead. Any other desert dwellers noticing this?

 

[2aguy]

It's rattlesnake season in the desert and this evening my wife and I came across two of them. We were within 4 feet of them and they just stayed still,, not rattle! She would have stepped on the second one if I hadn't grabbed her arm. I've heard this is a survival adaptation: the one's that rattle usually end up dead. Any other desert dwellers noticing this?

Perhaps they have become too lazy to rattle...perhaps we need to import foreign rattlesnakes to rattle since American rattlesnakes won't....

 

[bucs90]

One of two things

1. Global warming.....somehow

2. They're illegal immigrant snakes who are afraid of being deported. ...hiding in the shadows.

 

[Coyote]

I read an interesting science story on that....the ones that rattle are the ones that people end up killing. The one's that survive are the silent ones. Evolution in action...dumb humanity assisting.

 

[TheOldSchool]

I read an interesting science story on that....the ones that rattle are the ones that people end up killing. The one's that survive are the silent ones. Evolution in action...dumb humanity assisting.

Huh go figure

 

[Granny]

Lord, preserve me from anything that even remotely resembles a snake ... poisonous or otherwise!!

 

[Old Rocks]

What was the temperature, and how active were they?

 

[MarathonMike]

Nice desert evening 75 or so. They were young, maybe 3 rattles and they were both crossing the road when we came up on them.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

It's rattlesnake season in the desert and this evening my wife and I came across two of them. We were within 4 feet of them and they just stayed still,, not rattle! She would have stepped on the second one if I hadn't grabbed her arm. I've heard this is a survival adaptation: the one's that rattle usually end up dead. Any other desert dwellers noticing this?

Evolution. The birds were eating them so the silent ones are now reproducing better.

 

[Rustic]

It's rattlesnake season in the desert and this evening my wife and I came across two of them. We were within 4 feet of them and they just stayed still,, not rattle! She would have stepped on the second one if I hadn't grabbed her arm. I've heard this is a survival adaptation: the one's that rattle usually end up dead. Any other desert dwellers noticing this?

The snake does not need permission from its tail to strike....

 

[MarathonMike]

It's just interesting to see adaptation and evolution in action. A few years ago if I passed within a few feet of a rattler they would go off so loud it would scare the crap out of me. Now they just lay still.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

It's just interesting to see adaptation and evolution in action. A few years ago if I passed within a few feet of a rattler they would go off so loud it would scare the crap out of me. Now they just lay still.

Nature will win in the end, she always does.

 

[September]

I spend a lot of time out in the desert. I frequently encounter rattlesnakes in NV, AZ, NM, TX... and rattlesnakes have not "changed". They will usually just slither away to avoid drama, or just chill in place and attempt to mind their own business. Although their lethal abilities are not to be underestimated, they are not the vicious demonic hell beasts that people imagine them to be.

And yes, they still rattle... though primarily during specific circumstances.​