Family: Viperidae, Pit Vipers view all from this family
Description 16-32 5/8" (40.6-82.9 cm). Small-headed and slender; greenish-gray, bluish-gray, or pinkish-tan, with widely spaced, irregularly bordered narrow black or brown crossbands. Dusky spotting between bands may be sparse or so heavy as to form secondary crossbands or lend a speckled appearance. Scales keeled, in 23 rows.
Warning Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Cottonmouths belong to a group of snakes known as pit vipers. These dangerous snakes have a heat-sensitive sensory organ on each side of the head that enables them to locate warm-blooded prey and strike accurately, even in the dark. The curved, hollow fangs are normally folded back along the jaw. When a pit viper strikes, the fangs rapidly swing forward and fill with venom as the mouth opens. The venom is a complex mixture of proteins that acts primarily on a victim's blood tissue. If you hear a rattlesnake shaking its rattle, back away. The snake is issuing a warning, and if the warning is ignored it may bite. There are many factors (temperature being the most important) that determine how a snake will react when confronted by a human. Venomous snakes should always be observed from a safe distance. Pit vipers are never safe to handle. Even dead ones can retain some neurological reflexes, and "road kills" have been known to bite. How to avoid and treat snakebites
Subspecies Four; 2 in our area:
Mottled (C. l. lepidus), spaces between crossbands heavily spotted, dark stripe from eye to angle of mouth; se. New Mexico through Trans-Pecos region to sc. Texas, south to San Luis Potosi.
Banded (C. l. klauberi), crossbands distinct, no dark stripe from eye to angle of mouth; se. Arizona to extreme w. Texas, south to Jalisco, Mexico.
Breeding 2-8 young, 6 3/4-8 3/4" (17-22 cm) long, are born July to August.
Habitat Chiefly rocky mountainous areas; talus slopes, gorges, rimrock, limestone outcrops, rocky streambeds; 1,500-9,600' (450-2,900 m).
Range Se. Arizona, wc. and se. New Mexico southeast to Jalisco, and through the Trans-Pecos region to sc. Texas.
Discussion May be observed during the day sunning itself among rocks. Feeds on lizards, small snakes, and small newborn rodents. Record longevity is 23 years.
