Anna Moskaleva, Menlo Park Elementary School
Middlesex County
Timber rattlesnake. Middlesex County. Anna Moskaleva
Hiss! I am a mossy green timber rattlesnake with scales and dark brown bars on my body. My scientific name is Crotalus horridus, and I am four feet long, but when I grow up I will be six feet long.
My habitat is in a forest where it is easy for me to camouflage and stalk prey. Pregnant females prefer open, warmer places, but the non-pregnant females prefer cooler places. My diet is mainly rodents. I eat mice, rats, pigeons, voles, carrion, frogs, and even other snakes. The venom in our fangs is toxic, but we rattle before we bite to warn predators or people that they are standing too close to us.
Female timber rattlesnakes have a low reproductive rate. They have a small litter that usually ranges from six to nine young. Females and males mate in the summer or fall. Males will fight with each other to compete and see who gets the female. The females mate every three years.
People that think we are threats to their world, kill us. That is why we are an endangered species.
We are also endangered because humans destroy our habitats to build roads, stores, and/or cities. Also, humans collect us as pets but when we bite them, they kill us! Please help us, timber rattlesnakes, so that we will not be endangered.
Written by: Anna Moskaleva
Menlo Park Elementary School, Menlo Park
Teacher: Mrs. King