# of rattles & age - a rattlesnake "?"

So I tried searching but had no luck..

I have heard that you tell the age of a rattlesnake by the buds on it's rattle.. is this true?
If it is true.. do they ever stop growing buds, like max out.. or do they continue to grow buds till they die, no matter how old they get?

Thanks in advance for the info!

Rattlers get a new rattle segment each time the snake sheds its skin which is normally about 3-4 times per year. Baby rattlesnakes are born with only one segment on their rattle called a button. The rattle is noiseless until the baby rattler sheds its skin for the first time and adds another segment to the button. The rattle makes noise when the segments click against each other. If the snake is able to find a fair amount of food and grow well, it will shed its skin as much as 4 times a year, each time adding a new segment. By using this as an estimate, one could gain a *rough* estimate of the snake's age in years. However, snake rattles do sometimes break off, due to wear and tear. And the number of times the snake sheds is variable according to conditions, so it would only be an estimate.


hope this helps

As stated above you can't tell how old a rattler is by # of rattles, because of break-offs and very rough estimate of shed frequency, however they DO get a new segment each shed.

Awesome, exactly the info I was looking for... at least kinda gives me an idea provided all is in tact!



Another question... from what I have seen (and just tell me if I am way off LOL I wont be offended)... a rattle has 2 buttons next to each other (or thats what it looks like anyways to me).... and then 4 or 6 or whatever long...

The side by side ones.. is each single button (there are 2 total) a time the snake shed, or that whole section (both buttons)?

Thanks again :D

i have a three year old rattlesnake that has 7 segments.

and each segment on the rattle is one ring.
if that is what you were asking.

Yes each time it sheds it gets a segment which looks like two buds side by side. From what I have seen they shed two to three times a year. Four is a little much but it is definetly a possiblity. They shed depending on food intake, injuries, etc. I am really just restating what was said above.

Age will have something to do with the frequency of shedding as well. A younger faster growing snake will shed more than an adult.

I had a sidewinder once who are fairly regularly during the warm months, march thru october but only shed three times in two years. I caught her as an adult, she had, i think, seven segments on her rattle.

I've had southern pacifics that shed four and five times in a single year, but they are pigs.