Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake is a poisonous pit viper species found in the southeastern United States. The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake should not be approached or handled by anyone but professional snake handlers. This snake is extremely dangerous and should be avoided. If you are unfortunate enough to be bitten by one seek medical care at once at the nearest hospital emergency room.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes can approach lengths of seven to eight feet and can weigh twenty five pounds or more. Again let me warn you that this is a dangerous snake that should only be handled by professional snake handlers. This is not a snake to be kept as a pet. it should only be kept by professionals who have a legitimate reason to keep it.

Cottontail rabbits are the favorite prey of large diamondback rattlesnakes in the wild. Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes are found from North Carolina down to southern Florida and west to Louisiana. In the wild the snake will usually rattle and let you know to stay away but not always. They like rocky areas but can be found in your back yard. If you do find one in your yard avoid it and call a professional or your local police. A large or for that matter even a small eastern diamondback rattlesnake should be avoided. They can bite you and can kill you.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes can strike up to one third the length of their body but fortunately they will usually avoid humans if given the chance. Their venom is a potent hemotoxin that kills red blood cells and causes tissue damage. Bites are very painful and if your bitten you should seek medical help at once. A baby rattlesnake can be much more deadly than an adult because the babies have much less control over how much venom they inject.

In the wild the snake feeds on rats, mice, squirrels and the larger ones eat cottontail rabbits.

Please Help Us Out With This Hub Page

1. Please scroll down and vote thumbs up.

2. Please go to the top and give it a tweet to your tweet list.

3. Please post this page to your Facebook Page.

4. Please send the link to this page to your friends and family and ask them to take a look at the page.

Thank you in advance for your help. It is appreciated.

I do research and keep the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake ( In Fact About 100 Of Them ) but I am a professional and I have a reason for keeping them. And yes even I have been bitten by one. I was bitten through a snake bag by a large six foot specimen and spent two days in the hospital and was sick for days. It was a very unpleasant experience. I have had several friends bitten by this kind of snake and I had one friend killed by a Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. As I said I do venom research and have a reason to keep these snakes but I want to warn everyone that these snakes are very dangerous.

Rattle Snakes such as the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake are not great climbers but they are great swimmers. They have been spotted in salt water swimming often miles from land especially in the area of the Florida Keys.

If you approach a Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake it may or may not rattle a warning. But it may stand its ground and strike at you over and over. Never believe the myth that a rattlesnake must rattle before it can strike. This is not true and many people have been bitten by rattlesnakes that never made a sound.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes have been known to live twenty years or more but this was usually in captivity. In the wild the snakes usually live a much shorter life and many are killed especially in some areas of Florida by automobiles.

The thing to keep in mind about Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes is these snakes are very large and they have a large amount of venom. This is one reason these snakes are so dangerous. The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake also has the longest fangs of any rattlesnake species. The amount of Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake venom needed to kill a human is 100 - 150 MG. The average large Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake can produce 450 - 500 MG of venom when the snake is milked to harvest its venom so this can give you some ideal of the danger of this snake.

Let me say here again that this snake is not a pet and should never be kept by anyone but professionals. It is a dangerous species of snake and can kill you. I hope if you have comments or questions that you will post them below and thanks for reading my page about the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake.