Timber Rattlesnake in Upstate NY!

[Kara]

i know this is a little late but i feel the need to add my 2 cents......i don't know where NERD got thier info about being rare, nothing against nerd(they have pretty cool sh%t,) maybe they are just rare in NY cuz i am down here in pa se of the pocno mt's, and we are swarming with them. yellow phase(my favorite) and dark phase. even as a kid my dad unfortunatley killed them and we ate them (tastes likke chicken)and i got to take all the rattles in for show and tell at skool.
i have them all over the mountains here but in like regions, you won't find them in the valleys but you will find copperheads there. it's funny, i was @ the hamburg reptile show on the 7th talking(arguing) with some people that do the round ups, and they even said they are plentiful. i have seen litterally hundreds of both colorphases here over the years. i used to mess with them some are more agressive than others, some you really have to molest to keep them rattlin'. i know a guy that knows a guy that that collects gravid females and he got a couple albinos and released the rest. he figures they will only die in the wild. we got plenty of um over here, like i said regional, up the broad mountain, over in jim thorpe, gleninoco falls, pocono mountains, and like east of rt 81 you will find them but not in the valleys except for along the lehigh river. no bs they are pretty plentiful, it might be true they take a decade to mature and reproduce, i have never kept them nor bred them. but i have found about 85% more adults than babies. so that tells ya something right there.

Well, if you actually take the time to read our website, you'll see that our efforts are focused on areas where timber rattlesnakes ARE rare - which is all throughout New England (although we do mention NY, because it's nearby & where some of the closest, most viable populations exist).

It's taken us 3 years to find SEVEN ANIMALS in New Hampshire...I don't know if that qualifies for rare in your book, but it sure does in mine. And that's a very last, remnant population which isn't considered viable.

I'm glad they're plentiful enough to eat where you are (why you'd flaunt that is beyond me), but please don't take them for granted. And I assure you, we know our stuff when it comes to timbers - from natural history to population density to reproductive husbandry in captivity, to headstarting animals for potential re-release someday.

Just my $.02 :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

K

[Bambi]

I agree whole heartedly KLG

[Alkaurkharim]

i know this is a little late but i feel the need to add my 2 cents......i don't know where NERD got thier info about being rare

Geez I wonder if they got all their info from YEARS of research on them.
You say big deal about them taking 10 years to get sexually mature but I will tell you this, I'm willing to bet only about 40% of them live for that long in the wild. And I also wanna know why the you bring up the fact that you ate them when you were younger, what does that have to do with anything, besides the fact that you were willing to eat one of the rarest if not the most rare Rattlesnakes in the world o_O If you can find so many where you live, why don't you help try HELPING the species? Maybe tell NERD exactly where to find them? Maybe they can figure out some way to collect some and breed them to increase the population?
Sorry to come off sounding so mean, but this post really pissed me off o_O

I'm just glad KLG was able to reply to this before me ^_^

[led4urhead]

Ok .. everyone take a deep breath and step away from the computer

[wendy]

since i have your website bookmarked,and frequently go there to drool, i decided to read your article. my post wasn't ment to be derogative against nerd, just trying to be informative. like i said just adding my 2 cents. the above posts from what i got out of it that they are rare. i beleived otherwise.

i believe finding 7 animals in three years is extremely rare. i am sorry they are extinct in maine that sucks.

i have been herpin' a few years ago in cape cod and never came across any in massachsetts, maybe was lookin' in the wrong places.

as far as eating them, i didn't know what i was eating at the time, my father was a hunter, and often told us what we were eating afterwards. if you read my post, i took rattles in for show and tell, i was in 2nd & 3rd grade. you can't hold that against me. cuz some people do change as they get older. i wasn't flaunting i was just being honest, a bad habit i have..

like i said they are regional.....maybe you weren't looking in the right places. if i went out the mountrain behind my house, you wouldn't find any, but if you drove over to the next mountain it is crawling with them. they are stretched out along the quad paths.

look i don't want to argue with you, or slam nerd, i am a big fan and am jealous of the work yous do.i was only offering some info and places where i have found them.

a good buddy of mine takes pic's of the ones he finds if you would like i will give him a buzz and try to get you some more pic's if you would like. his buddy also has albino's, i haven't seen them but i will try to get you those pic's too if you are interested. and if you ever go herping down here, i can be more specific as to where they are. they are pretty plentiful, really.

i am against roundups and argued with some people at a show. even though they release them, its still not right in my book.

and as far as my dad killing them, he doesn't anymore,since i got pissed and told him about it.(years later)

good luck on your future endeavers i wish all of you the best in your breeding and repopulating efforts. it sounds like a long haul ahead of you, hope it works out.

[Ginevive]

Anyone hear of timber rattlers being in western NY?
I have heard that they have been sited in the Allegany area, but never saw one myself.