Jess and I saw this today. Might be shedding or just did. Not sure. I believe it is a female.
Rattlesnake
- Thread starter Teegate
- Start date
Hey Guy, (s)he looks pretty freshly shed. I'm leaning more towards an injury on that side of the face. It could be a counter bite from a prey item, but it could also be a fungal infection.
Just a heads up, there's one fungal infection (snake fungal disease, Ophidiomyces) that is causing some concern among herpetologists. It's been documented in NJ and I believe has shown up in the pine barrens. Many species of snakes are susceptible to it but timber rattler populations can be significantly impacted by it. A lot of times it spreads quickly in communal dens, but timbers in the pines don't have the same denning habits that they do in the mountains (up North they den with rat snakes, racers and copperheads). This one doesn't look too banged up and if it were a serious infection, this snake would probably show a lot more lesions. I know that you photograph a lot of snakes, if you see one with a lot of lesions on it, it might be Ophidiomyces.
What time of the day was it? It was pretty hot today, was the snake out in the open?
Just a heads up, there's one fungal infection (snake fungal disease, Ophidiomyces) that is causing some concern among herpetologists. It's been documented in NJ and I believe has shown up in the pine barrens. Many species of snakes are susceptible to it but timber rattler populations can be significantly impacted by it. A lot of times it spreads quickly in communal dens, but timbers in the pines don't have the same denning habits that they do in the mountains (up North they den with rat snakes, racers and copperheads). This one doesn't look too banged up and if it were a serious infection, this snake would probably show a lot more lesions. I know that you photograph a lot of snakes, if you see one with a lot of lesions on it, it might be Ophidiomyces.
What time of the day was it? It was pretty hot today, was the snake out in the open?
Thanks.for the info. Yes it was on a log at 9:15 this morning.
This is the best view of it's face.
This is the best view of it's face.
Yikes. Her face looks pretty banged up. Looks like under the eye, behind the head, and even around the left nostril.
Caught a big black rat today. I could not resist.
Beautiful Rat Bob!
I don't know where you came across your beautiful example, but I have only seen two in Wharton. I think that they are uncommon in that general area. It could be just a cycle in the population, with lower numbers in recent years. Timbers on the other hand are like weeds!
I don't know where you came across your beautiful example, but I have only seen two in Wharton. I think that they are uncommon in that general area. It could be just a cycle in the population, with lower numbers in recent years. Timbers on the other hand are like weeds!
Gibby, I was at Glassboro Wildlife Management Area with a group of botanists. That area is definitely different than the pines proper. More deciduous trees and swamps.
There appears to be a direct mathematical relationship between your increase in age and the size of your hat.
Scary looking snake by the way.
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I saw this today on the AVMA website. It is disturbing information, I hope it does not get out of hand.
Have any of you seen any snakes with lesions on them?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/snake-fungal-disease-treatment-conservation/
Have any of you seen any snakes with lesions on them?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/snake-fungal-disease-treatment-conservation/
That's a beautiful specimen Bob!
Hi Sue, yes I've seen snakes with SFD lesions on them. That's the snake fungal disease that I described in my post above (#2). Thanks for posting the article, it's good that awareness is spreading. Regarding getting out of hand, some snake populations in the U.S. have been seriously affected by it (such as the nearly decimated massassauga population in Illinois).
For the record, I am wondering if the snake in Teegate's photograph is presenting early stages of it (especially after seeing the face up close). I believe at this point that there's no way to tell unless the snake is captured and tested for it.
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That snake will heal up with sufficient basking. When the weather is cool and wet like it has been snakes will show more blisters and sores. They are hibernation sores since timbers den in some wet areas. Seeing lots of kingsnakes with similar issues since they also den in wer areas. The snake fungal disease is not a threat in my opinion. Biologists are big over reactors and want to coin ever thing they see as a threat to populations. Most snakes shake off the blisters after a shed or two. It certainly can kill a snake if it cant sufficiently bask either because of poor basking areas or harrassment by people or environmental stresses. The reality is people having been seeing these sores for decades without raising red flags. We just live in a society where we have to sound the alarms the second we see something we think is new. I should note that when i was on the corn snake permit we had a corn snake with the disease. I didnt want it captured and take to a vet but it was. Long story short it shed its skin and looked perfect and has been recaught recently perfectly healthy after 4 years. There is a very old post on here with a timber rattlesnake with blisters and that uglyp..guy dismissed it as needing to shed.
Black Rat Snakes have to be one of the most common snakes down here in Cumberland County.Probably the most enocuntered snakes in uplands.Northern water Snake is king in the wetlands.Garters are fairly common everywhere,even more so around water.