‹ Compare two snakes
Timber Rattlesnake vs Western Massasauga
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(c) Evan M. Raskin, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Timber Rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
Venomous(c) Meghan Cassidy, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
Western Massasauga
Sistrurus tergeminus
VenomousThe quick way to tell
Look along the back. A Timber Rattlesnake has dark V-shaped chevrons and often a rusty stripe down the spine. The Western Massasauga has rounded dark blotches and no rusty stripe.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Dark chevrons - V shapes pointing forward - and often a rusty spine stripe.
Rows of dark brown blotches on gray or tan, with smaller spots along the sides.
Head
Heavy triangular head, much wider than the neck, usually with no bold cheek stripe.
Triangular head with nine large, plate-like scales on top — unlike most rattlesnakes, which have many small scales there. A white-edged dark stripe runs from the eye to the jaw.
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
Solid black ahead of the rattle.
Banded light and dark ahead of a small rattle; babies have a yellowish tail tip.
What it does
Very reluctant; usually lies still or rattles long before striking.
Usually lies still when approached; some rattle at the least disturbance and strike.
Where it lives
Eastern US from New Hampshire and New York south to northern Florida, west to Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and east Texas.
Central plains from southwestern Iowa, northwestern Missouri and southeastern Nebraska south through Kansas and Oklahoma into Texas, and west into Colorado, New Mexico and far southeastern Arizona.