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Colorado Desert Sidewinder
VENOMOUS
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- Order: Squamata (scaled reptiles)
- Suborder: Serpentes (=Ophidia) (snakes)
- Family: Viperidae (vipers)
- Subfamily: Crotalinae (rattlesnakes)
- Genus: Crotalus (rattlesnakes)
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| Also Known As: horned
rattler |
Scientific Name: Crotalus cerastes
laterorepens Klauber, 1944 |
| Habitat: Desert flats,
sandy areas, dry washes. |
Krotalon="rattle," kerastes="horned,"
later="side," repens="creeping"
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| Length: 32+ inches. |
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| Food: Rodents and
lizards. |
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| I found several of these
interesting rattlesnakes outside Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
and outside the town of Ocotillo. The "Colorado"
in the common name refers to the Colorado Desert, so named because
it's in the drainage of the lower reaches of the Colorado River
(southern California, where the river course was a long time ago). |
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| Sidewinders, like all
rattlesnakes, are venomous and should not be approached,
especially if you're drunk! Many snakebites occur with
intoxication as a contributing factor, and it's not the snakes
doing the drinking! |
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| These snakes would rather flee
than attack a predator, and would rather save their venom for
killing their prey. After taking a few pictures, this sidewinder
was moved off the road. I'm sure it returned to the warm road
surface after I left. Hopefully it wasn't hit by a careless (or
just mean) driver. |
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