Western Diamondbacked Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)

The Western Diamondbacked Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) is common across Texas, but sometimes it can be hard to find one. This is often not true in the mesquite grasslands of deep south Texas where the species grows fat and sassy on rats and rabbits. Although I worked in the reptile house of the Grant Park Zoo in Atlanta, Georgia during my senior year in high school in 1968, and I have had a great deal of exposure to rattlesnakes in my life, I still occasionally see a huge one in south Texas that literally takes my breath away. This particular animal at left was of a medium size, about four feet in length, and allowed Larry Ditto and me to get a number of nice images. The shot on the top left won 3rd place in the venomous snake division of the Valley Land Fund Wildlife Photo Contest for 2000. The photo at left was taken in February, 2000, with a Canon EOS 3 and EF 180mm F/3.5 Macro on a bean bag at ground level and with Fuji Velvia pushed one stop. Immediately below is another shot of this same animal shot with a Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L zoom.

In 2002, Larry Ditto and I again entered the the same wildlife photo contest and we worked the same Kenedy Co. ranch as in 2000. Left and below are two shots from April, 2002. These were shot with a Canon EOS 1V and EF 70-200 F/2.8 L IS lens on Fuji Velvia. This particular animal was somewhat larger than the one above and was approximately five feet in length.

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The eleven shots below were taken during April and May 2006 in Hidalgo Co., Texas with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II
and several different lenses. A shot caption will be below most images.

The above shot illustrates how well camoflagued a large diamondback can be in dry grass. This particular snake was
quite large, at least five feet in length.

Another large Western Diamondback at the edge of a water hole.

The four shots below show a pair of Western Diamondbacks in copulation.