Robert Ybarra, age 11, of National City, California, for his question:
How long does a rattlesnake grow?
The average snake doubles his size in the first year of his life and reaches his full size by the time he reaches his third birthday. Most of our rattlers grow at this usual snakey rate. But we have 13 different species and the final length they grow to be depends upon the individual species. In the deserts east of San Diego lives the swerving sidewinder. His full length may be anything between 18 and 30 inches. The eastern diamondback may be three times longer.
Almost every state in North America is lived in by a native rattlesnake and some regions have two or even three local species to worry about. They are more numerous in the arid and semi arid prairies and deserts in the West and South. But two of our 13 species lurk in the Eastern and South Central states. One of them is a giant who may reach a length of nine feet. He certainly deserves the title of largest poisonous snake in North America.
He is the eastern diamondback, alias the Florida rattler. His scaly body is marked with a network of tan colored diamonds on a background of dark brown. Though a record specimen of nine feet has been verified, individuals rarely get a chance to grow longer than about five feet before somebody spots them and puts a permanent stop to their growing days. The timber rattler lurks in wooded regions through the Culf States and along the Eastern seaboard, sometimes as far as the center of the continent. His average length is somewhere between 3 1/2 and six feet.
The prairie rattler's range begins east of the Mississippi. He is a greenishyellow fellow, mottled with dark brown blotches. His length varies from 2 1/2 to five feet. From the plains he extends westward throughout the prairies and the mountains, all the way to the Pacific coast.
Toward the South, the timber rattlers of the East and the prairie rattler of the West share a stretch of territory with the sidewinder and the western diamondback, alias the Texas rattler. The sandy speckled sidewinder reaches a maximum length of 30 inches. But that Texas rattler has been known to reach 7 1/2 feet, though his average is about 4 1/2 feet. His pattern of darker and lighter diamonds blends with his background as he slithers among rocky slopes and across the open desert.
The pigmy rattler is 18 inches to two feet long.. He shares the southeastern corner with the timber rattler and prefers higher ground. The thick, blotchy brown massasauga rattier prefers the swampland along the Mississippi Valley. He may grow to be 3 1/2 feet long.
All of our rattlers have poisonous fangs and even a youngster can deal a deadly bite. During the first two or three years of growth they shed their skins several times a season. Later, when they stop growing, they usually cast their shabby old coats about once a year. Each year, an extra button may be added to the rattle at the tip of the tail. But since the last ones often get lost, we cannot be sure of a rattler's age by counting the bony buttons on his rattle..