Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes are native to the Southeastern Coastal Plains. They can be found in Southern North Carolina, Eastern South Carolina, Southern Georgia, Florida, Southern Alabama, Southern Mississippi, and Eastern Louisiana.

These rattlesnakes inhabit low elevation sandy areas, long-leaf pine forests, pine flatwoods, sand hill communities, turkey oak forests, live oak hammocks, pine ridges or coastal areas. Favorite haunts include saw palmetto scrub, Gopher Tortoise burrows, and stump holes.

Eastern Diamondbacks are often found on Georgia's barrier islands, the Florida Keys, and Islands in the Gulf of Mexico. They are well known to be excellent swimmers and have often been spotted crossing stretches of water between barrier islands and the mainland off the Georgia coast, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Florida Keys, sometimes miles from land.

These snakes can often be found on agricultural land. Farms provide a steady food supply in the form of rodents. Tin, plywood, and other debris provide shelter to the snakes. The snakes may spend the first three years of their life underground in stump holes and root systems.

Individual disposition varies, with some allowing close approach while remaining silent, and others starting to rattle at a distance of 20 to 30 feet (6-9 m). When threatened they raise the anterior half of the body off the ground in an S-shaped coil and strike to a distance of at least a third of their body length. Many will stand their ground and may strike repeatedly.
One popular myth is that these snakes must rattle before striking. They are, of course, quite capable of striking while remaining completely silent.

The Eastern Diamondback is a large, impressive, and potentially dangerous snake. It can strike up to 2/3 its body length; a 6-foot specimen may strike 4 feet. The venom of the diamondback is potent. When severely bitten, the mortality rate for humans is nearly 40 percent. Symptoms include, but are not limited to pain, severe swelling, bruising, blistering, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dizziness, collapse or convulsions, Yellow vision; paraesthesia/numbness of digits, metallic taste in mouth, fasciculations, and/or death.