There's A 'Baby Boom' Of Deadly Rattlesnakes Happening In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — Timber rattlesnakes are beginning to come out in droves in Pennsylvania as they prepare for a summer season of nurturing their babies, wildlife biologists said.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission just completed a new survey of the snakes in Clearfield county, where they witnessed hordes of pregnant snakes beginning to emerge. Pregnant timber rattlers require the sunshine of the summer.

"What's really important for those aspects, is the snakes that are gravid — gravid meaning pregnant females — they have to have eight to ten hours of solar radiation per day to 'bake their babies,'" said Chris Urban, the PFBC Natural Diversity Section Chief. "Basically, so they can bring their metabolism up to gestate the young. And they'll be doing that from now until about September."

Officials described the Clearfield County survey as revealing an "abundant" population of the native snakes. Timber rattlers can be found in 51 counties across Pennsylvania, however, their numbers struggle to gain much of a foothold in highly populated areas, and they are in steep decline in rapidly developing counties due to habitat loss and poaching. They are a listed endangered species in several nearby states, including New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, Vermont, Virginia, Indiana, and New Hampshire.

Rattlesnakes prefer very rocky habitat, as rocks hold heat and remain warm all day. They're most common above 1,500 feet elevation. Timber rattlers, unlike some other species of rattlesnake out west, are not aggressive, and will go to lengths to avoid human contact and certainly will not attack unless provoked. As long as humans are respectful to the snakes, they pose very little risk, officials said.

"If you see a snake, give it it's respect," Urban added. "Give it distance. You're not under any threat, they're pretty docile animals. People really don't get that, but they really are docile animals and when you encounter them, they just want to get away from you. They just want to go, hey, I want to go do my thing. I want to go bask in the sun. Don't mess with me."

Not only do rattlesnakes not pose a threat to humans who understand them, but they actually offer vital services to a healthy ecosystem — and a thriving population is a good sign in any given forest or grassland.

Rattlesnakes eat large numbers of mice, rats, rabbits, and other small animals whose numbers can quickly grow out of control, leading to easier vectors for disease carrying mosquitoes, propagation of invasive plants which small mammals browse, and more.

The Clearfield County survey involved capturing and adding microchip tags to snakes that had never been tagged, and checking and updating previously tagged snakes. To capture the snakes and administer the tags, experts get the snake into a long, narrow tube that allows them to handle it without risk to human or snake. It also facilitates an easy release.

The tags help biologists track the growth and behavior of the population.

The exact location of the study was kept secret to protect the snakes from poaching, which is a persistent risk in Pennsylvania, officials said.