‹ Compare two snakes
Red Diamond Rattlesnake vs Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
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(c) Parsa Fard, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Red Diamond Rattlesnake
Crotalus ruber
Venomous(c) Mike Lewinski, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
Crotalus atrox
VenomousThe quick way to tell
Look at the color and the diamonds. The Red Diamond is brick-red or pinkish with fairly plain, light-edged diamonds. The Western Diamondback is gray or tan, and its diamonds are peppered with dark speckles.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Reddish-brown diamonds with pale edges, fairly plain inside, on a reddish or tan body.
Fuzzy-edged, speckled-looking diamonds on dusty gray-brown.
Head
Broad triangular head on a thin neck, often reddish, with a dark stripe slanting from below the eye to the corner of the mouth, edged by light lines.
Triangular head with a pale cheek stripe angling down to the mouth.
Eyes
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Pits
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Black-and-white rings of similar width just ahead of the rattle.
Bold black and white rings, usually about equal width - the classic coon tail - ahead of the rattle.
What it does
Usually calm; many stay still or hide, but it will rattle and strike if provoked.
Rears into an S-coil and rattles loudly; stands its ground more than most.
Where it lives
Southwestern California, from southeastern Los Angeles and Orange Counties and the Morongo Valley south through western Riverside and San Diego Counties to extreme southwestern Imperial County; continues south through Baja California, Mexico.
Southwest and southern plains: southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and edges of Kansas and Arkansas, south into central Mexico.