Roadkill Rattler Rare Opportunity

The juvenile diamondback rattlesnake in this post was run over directly in front of my driveway entrance last week.

(Not by me.)

It must have happened only a few minutes before I slowed to make my turn, because the tail was still quivering when I knelt to look at it.

That movement faded in the time it took me to grab my Sony out of the JEEP.

While I was sorry to see the rattler had not made it, the situation did allow for a close examination of a snake that would normally be off limits.

Here is the business end.
Diamondbacks are pit vipers, and you can see the heat sensitive pit below, and in front of the eye in the photo above.  At night or in a burrow's darkness, these pits allow the hungry Diamondback to find the mouse, rat, gopher, mole, or rabbit as it hunts.

I'm always fascinated by the layout of scales on reptiles and fish. There are so many shapes, so many patterns to allow for a coat of armor that protects while not restricting movement.

On the dorsal side, the layout is one called disruptive coloration. The Diamondback is not attempting to match the background perfectly. There's too much variety in the landscape for that.

Instead, a pattern of spots, stripes, and geometric shapes "disrupts" the sinuous snaky outline, so that even a large Diamondback can be hard to spot against the background soil and vegetation.

This youngster was just getting started on it's rattler.

The scene above is the entrance to my drive. Behind the JEEP is the paved road where the snake was lying. The snake lover in me was sad to find a rattler killed while crossing the road. This is a species that is becoming increasingly rare in the Southeast.

The dog lover and personal pain avoider in me had to consider that every single morning before dawn and every night before bed, Bear and I walk this long sandy driveway so he can do his "bidness".

On these walks, he is always barefoot and I usually am.

Things to ponder.

After the pictures, I placed the snake deep in the palmettos.