In northern Oklahoma, an annual rattlesnake roundup is held, in which several hundred diamond-backs are captured. These are processed for their venom, from which antitoxin is made. Some of the rattlesnakes are cooked and their steaks used in a banquet. The meat is firm and quite tasty!
TIMBER RATTLESNAKE (Crotalus horridus). Length 3-4 feet, occasionally longer. The timber rattler occurs only in eastern Kansas and is only locally common, at scattered localities. It prefers the deciduous forest where limestone rock outcrops as ledges, but may wander into cultivated fields and open areas during late spring and summer. The food consists primarily of small rodents and young rabbits. Ordinarily, it is a mild-mannered snake, one which will seek to escape direct contact with man, but its size and habit of living close to human habitations necessitate considering this rattler dangerous. Ground color may vary from a light gray to yellow, with the black chevron-shaped blotches of the back uniting with lateral blotches to form crossbands. Another common name for the timber rattler is banded rattlesnake. Some individuals may be almost all black. The tail is characteristically velvet black in adults; banded in young.
During late spring and summer the timber rattler is quite often encountered crossing roads, where its large size and slow movement often make it a victim of modern transportation.
The timber rattler has a habit of frequently spending daylight time just beneath the edge of overhanging rocks. A hiker should always look beneath any rocks of this sort before using the rock as a resting place.
PRAIRIE RATTLESNAKE (Crotalus viridis). Length 3-4 feet. This rattlesnake is common in western Kansas, where it frequents rocky open regions, grassy prairies, and agricultural areas. In eastern Kansas it has been found only in the Pittsburg vicinity, and any “prairie rattler” east of Wichita or Manhattan is usually the massasauga. The habit of denning in large groups is well-known. Several hundred have been found in hibernation in a single den. The food of the prairie rattler is warm-blooded, mostly rodents and small rabbits. It appears to be active in the daytime, whereas the other poisonous snakes are mainly nocturnal. The ground color varies from a light gray to green, and the pattern of dorsal blotches with alternating rows of lateral blotches may cause it to be confused with the smaller massasauga, but the scales on top of the head are all small on the prairie rattler, whereas paired plates are present on the massasauga (see diagram, [page 6]).
Young are born in late summer or early fall. Usually nine to twelve constitute a litter. As few as five and as many as seventeen have been recorded, however.