Rattlesnake Ranch Record

[Junkers88]

I wonder why it's so thin. I mean as old as it is it must have figured out how to keep fed a long time ago.


Richard.

[okrattler]

Could have just been a rough year for him. A snake can go a year without eating. Crawling on your belly and just waiting on food to walk by would be a pretty hard way to make a living. Think of it like bowhuntin. When you're in that blind or deer stand you're capable of killing anything that walks by. But not everything is gonna walk within range. Snakes deal with that all day,every day,all of their lives. Like 'em or hate 'em they're true survivors. It's hard not to respect a critter like that.

Snakes can get obese just like people can. If he ate two rats a week he'd be pretty chunky.

[Junkers88]

Could have just been a rough year for him. A snake can go a year without eating. Crawling on your belly and just waiting on food to walk by would be a pretty hard way to make a living. Think of it like bowhuntin. When you're in that blind or deer stand you're capable of killing anything that walks by. But not everything is gonna walk within range. Snakes deal with that all day,every day,all of their lives. Like 'em or hate 'em they're true survivors. It's hard not to respect a critter like that.

Snakes can get obese just like people can. If he ate two rats a week he'd be pretty chunky.

I didn't know they could go that long without eating. Our Bearded Dragons can go a couple weeks but it begins to worry me. Heck I wish I could go without eating for a few weeks myself, might be able to see my feet without a mirror.

Richard

[Lawhunter]

Could have just been a rough year for him. A snake can go a year without eating. Crawling on your belly and just waiting on food to walk by would be a pretty hard way to make a living. Think of it like bowhuntin. When you're in that blind or deer stand you're capable of killing anything that walks by. But not everything is gonna walk within range. Snakes deal with that all day,every day,all of their lives. Like 'em or hate 'em they're true survivors. It's hard not to respect a critter like that.

Snakes can get obese just like people can. If he ate two rats a week he'd be pretty chunky.

A whole year?! That’s wild

[okrattler]

A whole year?! That’s wild

I've read studies where they've been known to live longer than that in some cases. It's not likely that a snake would ever have to go that long without eating but it's definitely possible for them to go without food for a year. I don't remember the exact science behind it now but I'm pretty sure their metabolism has a lot to do with it. During the Winter they don't eat anyways since their metabolism slows down so much that they stop eating before they den up because food would rot in their stomach and they would become septic basically.

[okrattler]

I didn't know they could go that long without eating. Our Bearded Dragons can go a couple weeks but it begins to worry me. Heck I wish I could go without eating for a few weeks myself, might be able to see my feet without a mirror.

Richard

I'm not 100% sure but I think lizards probably have to eat more often. I'd guess a few months or so would be about tops for a Bearded Dragon. I could be wrong about that but I'm sure the conditions they're used to,how active they are and the over all health of the lizard probably plays a part in that. I've never really thought about it before but I assume lizards may be a little different.

[Lawhunter]

I've read studies where they've been known to live longer than that in some cases. It's not likely that a snake would ever have to go that long without eating but it's definitely possible for them to go without food for a year. I don't remember the exact science behind it now but I'm pretty sure their metabolism has a lot to do with it. During the Winter they don't eat anyways since their metabolism slows down so much that they stop eating before they den up because food would rot in their stomach and they would become septic basically.

I learn something new everyday. I had no idea.

[Encinal]

9 year old.

[Worksalot]

Some of the bigger snakes I've seen were actually fairly skinny for their size. That's not always the case though. The biggest I've seen personally was 82" long and bigger around than two beer cans layed side by side. He had 20 rattles and a button.

My dad and his brother would regularly hunt an area where an old petroleum pipeline crossed. There was an area where the grass never grew back on the sandy, red clay soil above the pipe. Dad said he had seen and killed plenty of rattlesnakes out in that area. But there was one humongous snake that left a wide trail when it crossed the pipeline. They tried to find it but never could. It was assumed that it was most likely a big rattlesnake.

Edit: My uncle mentioned it again recently how he wished they would someday find it and get to see it up close. He said it was definitely a snake that was leaving that wide trail.

[okrattler]

My dad and his brother would regularly hunt an area where an old petroleum pipeline crossed. There was an area where the grass never grew back on the sandy, red clay soil above the pipe. Dad said he had seen and killed plenty of rattlesnakes out in that area. But there was one humongous snake that left a wide trail when it crossed the pipeline. They tried to find it but never could. It was assumed that it was most likely a big rattlesnake.

Edit: My uncle mentioned it again recently how he wished they would someday find it and get to see it up close. He said it was definitely a snake that was leaving that wide trail.

Very well could have been a big rattlesnake. A few of my buddies catch snakes in deep South Texas and they find some that are massive. They held the record in Oklahoma for a long time. It measured 88" long and that snake wasn't even stretched out to get a good measurement. It would have beat the world record of 92 1/2" if it would have been. There's some big son of a guns out there.

The further North you get up into Texas and Oklahoma you can definitely tell a difference in size of the rattlesnakes than those found further South and believe it or not I can tell where a snake is caught just by looking at the coloration. Those South Texas snakes look different than the ones up here in Oklahoma.