Old Rattlesnake

Saw this video a friend posted on FB, of a BIG rattlesnake. What's the most rattles you've seen???

No more than about half that in the wild. Seen a couple of captive snakes close to that big

23-24 segments and the button….old snake!

Like to see a picture of the whole snake….hopefully alive

My dad killed one in the early 50's had 23 and a button. I still have the rattlers.
He was quail hunting in an area with rock piles. Was walking through a big rock pile and this guy began to rattle. By shuffling his feet he was able to locate him and keep him rattling. Once located the shotgun did the rest.

That’s a big one.

They break them off so easily the number can be kind of irrelevant. I gassed one years ago that had a full grown cotton tail in it. Way over 6 feet but only had 4 rattles.

Agreed. I've caught hundreds (when I was younger) and the most I ever saw on one was 13 rattles.

As you say they break off easily. A new 'button' is formed each time they shed and they might shed 3-4 times a year (adults), young rattlers can shed more.

Never seen that many rattles still intact, impressive.

I saw a huge rattler on the ranch at Devine last year that was the second largest I ever saw in the wild. Unfortunately, she scooted under a wall of white brush so thick that I dared not follow her in. I am guessing her well over 6 feet in length and extremely thick, I got a glimpse of her tail as she slid under the cover and the rats had consumed almost all of her rattles. Ironically, the snakes d
go into the packrat piles to catch the rats and while in the piles, the rats are consuming the rattles off the unprotected tail.
Adios,
Gary

Personally killed one that was 13 + button; buddy had one that was 19+.

A good friend in Pennsylvania can't wait every year for rattlesnake season (basically last two weeks of June and all of July). He and his son go out and catch dozens of timbers, and they get big and old. They have to be at least 42" to be legal, and the limit is one to keep. All of them fascinate me, and they are beautiful, but don't want to run into them up there!!

Most I have seen was 16 plus button on an Eastern Diamond back that was 96 inches.

Would you please provide a video of rats eating the rattles of a live rattlesnake

Killed one about 15 years ago in South Texas that had 17, close to a 7 footer. I swear to this day that snake weighed 20 lbs or more, told my buddy she would have broke your dang leg with a direct strike. The shear size of that snake scared the heck out of me.

Just the picture posted by blank gives me the Willie's.

That would be difficult as this occurs when the snakes go into the piles to eat the rats and can't get back to their tales. Rattlers over winter in the rat piles in South Texas for warmth and food. As a youngster while burning pear, I would set fire to most every rat nest I came across and most hand rattlers in them.
Adios,
Gary

A buddy killed this one out by Thurber last year.

Dang.

You know if someone had told me they killed a rattlesnake with 30-32 rattles I would have just laughed at them.

That is just unbelievable......!

When I was a kid, we had a lease in Llano and the landowner met us at the gate one day to show us one he killed....it had 23 rattles and a button. The most interesting part was the snake was only about 3 ft. long. I never would have thought one that small could have that many rattles.

dang

Back in the 70s, the convenience store down in Zapata near Falcon Lake had a 8'6" I believe on board above the door with a newspaper writeup on it taped next to it. Seem to recall the skin was 1'+ wide and article said dead weight was 70lbs.+. Dude would of "hit" hard...

Schnikies! I guess you'd hear that fella comin', huh? He ain't sneaking up on anybody.

I've no doubt you could stretch a large skin to that dimension....but can't agree on the weight. That would be about 11 ozs per inch.

The largest Eastern Diamondback ever recorded (larger than Western Diamondbacks) was 7'-8" and weighed 34 lbs.

But yeah.....any rattler over 6' can 'hit' ya hard.

Dang Dan, I hope he did a freeze-dried mount of that snake, I think it's one of a kind.

My brother shot one that was 6ft 4in. It had 22 rattles, not including the ones that he blew off or had broken off.
It had a whole rabbit inside of it.

Man oh man - that’s very impressive.
Hopefully it was mounted for display.