Rattler Tattler at North Table Mountain

​Adaptation Environmental Services is embarking on another Front Range adventure with Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis). This time, we will be at North Table Mountain Open Space (near Golden) and are working with Jefferson County Open Space . Our goals are simple: find 20 Prairie Rattlesnakes, put a transmitter in them, and track them 3 days every week while they are active in 2017. Here, we will keep you updated with how things are going. A variety of experts will weigh-in weekly sharing bits of their extensive knowledge on a species important to Colorado. We realize that not everyone likes snakes like we do, and that’s okay. We invite you to follow along anyway and perhaps you will come to dislike them less…or hopefully even start to like them.

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Let’s get this party started!

To say we’re excited to start this project is an understatement.
First, winter is always long and tortuous for those of us that crave the outdoors and summer warmth. This winter…yeah, I guess I saw a few flakes here and there…had a lot of warm days. These days tell us in one sense that we should be seeing our scaly friends. Yet, they lie low (literally) knowing it’s too risky to leave the den. A warm day could inspire a move one day only for such a risk-taker to be doomed the next as a Front Range snow storm rolls in.
Second, our like-minded human friends from within the U.S. and all over the world post pictures to their social media accounts of their previous and/ or current finds. Between the snow and these photos, all we can do is anxiously anticipate the field season and what we might find.
Furthermore, being out every week with great people is addicting! Cracking jokes with one another in between making nature discoveries is a big part of the fun. It’s also the suffering together that leads to the story of any adventure. We certainly don’t like bug bites or sunscreen dripping in our eyes more than anyone else, but after reviewing our pictures and recalling the fun things we had done the former doesn’t seem quite as bad.
Yep, we’re excited - a new place to explore, new friends to meet, and new stories that will be shared with laughter not too long after!

Now, about rattlesnakes…it’s time! They’re up and moving! It’s time to be vigilant on the Front Range for a bit until the heat suppresses a majority of their activity to night time. Or, in our case, we want to find them quickly so we can study all season how they use North Table Mountain Open Space. How do we do it? No, I don’t mean what’s mentally wrong with us to even want to do something like this. Rather, how do we find rattlesnakes?

1. In brief we’ll be hiking off-trail much of the time. This works because trails are open areas and rattlesnakes are food. We’ve seen the hawks and coyotes here on the Front Range, but the eagles, owls, and bobcats also have no problem taking a rattlesnake. These skilled predators are simply too much, and usually easily overtake a rattlesnake. 
2. Next, we may turn some rocks, check under crevices, and search brush piles. These areas offer the cover a rattlesnake often seeks and often resides in. [A side note: when we see them crossing a trail or basking in the open, it’s a calculated risk a snake takes. Their metabolism relies on external heat (i.e. radiation from the sun and/ or convection from a warm surface) to help digest their rodent or lizard prey. Also, they need to move from time-to-time to find food, a mate, and more cover…think bedroom to kitchen, to family room, to school/ work, to kitchen again, and then to bedroom again.] 
3. Finally, we are seeking areas with some open room for the snake to bask, but still somewhat covered too. The bases of shrubs, bunches of grasses, and other plants may offer this…and if the snake is thirsty or needs to shed its skin, then hanging out in dense vegetation near some water could be good too. 

IMPORTANT: I should add that while we may seem quirky to some of you, we are not stupid. Really. When heading off-trail and looking for rattlesnakes we wear snake-proof gaiters, close-toed shoes, think about where we place our hands, and do our best to look out for one another. Things may not always go perfect, but that’s why we try to put the odds in our favor. So, even if you’re not looking for rattlesnakes, don’t forget about them and know how to be safe. 

Thankfully on the Front Range, dialing 911 works in much of the area…you don’t have to know or remember all the “Do’s and Don’ts” of snakebite. Call 911 if you have an emergency…they’ll know what to do.