Signs that say spring is around the corner.
We found a baby rattlesnake by the back door over the weekend. It piqued my curiosity about whether the venom of a baby rattler is truly more poisonous than an adult.
This is from Gardeners Anonymous:
I read everything I could by Sean Bush and went straight to Harry Green; one of the world’s leading authorities on snakes, and this is what I learned:
When rattlesnakes are babies they are too small to eat what adult snakes eat. Adult’s diet consists mainly of mammals like rodents. Baby rattlesnakes eat mostly reptiles such as little lizards.
The baby rattler’s venom contains more neurotoxins than the adult’s because reptiles react differently to adult rattlesnake venom.
Neurotoxins are more dangerous than cytotoxins, which make up most of an adult rattlesnake’s venom.
Therefore, baby rattlesnake venom may be slightly more toxic than adult venom. However all snake experts agree that being bitten by an adult rattlesnake is far more dangerous than a bite from a baby rattlesnake because of the sheer quantity of venom that an adult snake can produce.
He quietly slithered away. Hopefully when he gets older he'll help control our gopher population.
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