Timber rattlesnakes

Neonate garter snakes, Thamnophis sirtalis, and brown snakes distinguish conspecific from heterospecific odors (Burghardt 1977, 1983). Newborn timber rattlesnakes, Crotalus horridus, are able to follow conspecific odor trails (Brown and MacLean, 1983). Neonate water snakes are attracted to conspecific odor (Scudder et ah, 1980) and neonate prairie rattlesnakes, Crotalus viridis, to lipoids from the epidermis of adult conspecifics (Graves etal., 1987). 

Timber rattlesnakes, Crotalus horridus, are ambush hunters. They assume the ambush posture after smelling prey odors. In the laboratory, these snakes recoil the front part of their body into the ambush posture after flicking their tongues... 

In a number of species, the active predator odors originate on the dorsal skin. Neonate pygmy rattlesnakes, Sistrurus miliarius, and timber rattlesnakes, C. horridus, respond to dorsal skin chemicals of the ophiophagous king snakes and indigo snakes, Drymarchon corais, but not to those from ventral skin or skin... 

Brown, W. S. and MacLean, F. M. (1983). Conspecific scent-trailing by newborn timber rattlesnakes, Crotalus horridus. Elerpetologica 39,430-436. 

Clark, R. W. 2004. Timber rattlesnakes [Crotalus horridus) use chemical cues to select ambush sites. Journal of ChemicalEcology 30,607-617. 

Bond GR and Burkhart KK (1997) Thryombocytopenia following timber rattlesnake envenomation. Annals of Emergency Medicine 310 40—44. 

Cundall, D., and Beaupre, S. J., 2001, Field records of predatory strike kinematics in timber rattlesnakes, Crolalus horridus, Amphibia-Reptilia 22 492-498. 

It was originally reported that pheromone trails might guide rattlesnakes to their dens in the fall (Klauber, 1972). However, it now appears that only juveniles and yearlings use trails and that adults may rely on other orientation mechanisms. Brown and MacLean (1983) documented juvenile timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) following adult pheromone trails in the fall (Table 3), but King et al. (1983) found that adult prairie rattlesnakes ( viridis, would not trail conspecifics. Adult Crotalus apparently find dens by celestial cues (Landreth, 1973, Duvall et al., 1985) and... 

Brown and MacLean (1983) showed that neonatal timber rattlesnakes (C. horridus) follow odor trails of both adult and neonate conspecifics. Our experiments support the hypothesis that chemical cues from adults may be used in den location by neonatal rattlesnakes, and strengthen this conclusion by extending it to another taxa. These experiments also have determined the locus of production of such chemical cues. Additionally, the findings of Brown and MacLean (1983) that neonate timber rattlesnakes follow trails of neonates as well as adults, and evidence in this paper that neonate prairie rattlesnakes exhibit a locomotory response to neonate skin extracts, suggests that neonates may follow skin-derived odor trails of other neonates, in addition to those of adults, when searching for hibernacula. 

Martin, W. H., 1985, Life history of the timber rattlesnake, Crotalus... 

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