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Mexican West Coast Rattlesnake (Crotalus basilicus)

By Will Nace on

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Handling venomous/poisonous animals is dangerous and should only be performed by licensed professionals.

Owning venomous snakes, reptiles, etc. might not be legal in your State/County/City. Please contact your local DNR for more information.

Transcript

[Music] what is going on guys welcome back to another episode as you can tell we're here in the snake room today we're gonna be learning about one particular snake I've been saying I was gonna do these videos again it's been a little while but today we're learning about the Mexican West Coast rattlesnakes also known as the Mexican green rattler these guys have a scientific name which is crotalus bat vasculitis I think I'm saying that right that really sure I'm horrible scientific names so we're gonna jump into this video I'm gonna teach you guys a little bit about these certain rattlesnakes hopefully you guys do enjoy it [Music] okay guys so in this cage I do have two of these wonderful snakes I have my female which doesn't have a name and I have my male which his name is wasabi now these guys both originally came from the same person which is Tom Crutchfield down in Homestead Florida they were one the female is given to me the male was given to somebody else which I had acquired the male a couple years later because he was very aggressive now these snakes are relatively large snakes the two I have are a good size you see normally they max out at about

around five feet there are some snakes that do get close to almost seven feet so they do get rather large now I have not handled them in quite some time but I do need the spotclean their cage I figure there's a perfect time to talk about them and I also do need to feed these beautiful snakes as well so this one here is the female go ahead and put her in a garbage can for right now now I'm gonna go ahead and grab the male out now you'll see a huge difference in color between the male and the female the female has more of a brownish color where the male here has their like an olive green color I like to call him big blondie but he does have a new name and it is wasabi oh you're not happy today huh so again it has been quite some time that I've handled these snakes because I've been working so hard on other projects pretty cool little fun facts about these guys these guys are the only snakes in their particular range that actually have diamonds on them you're gonna be mean towards me the whole time you're okay I know it's been a little while Tenace funny last time I pulled them out they didn't even wrap for me but then again it was a little while ago so I didn't need to quickly spot clean their cage now these guys are active and you start breeding right now during this season so during the summer seasons where it gets very rainy they're very active during those times it probably sounds funny in here because I am inside of a cage but these guys are diurnal that means they do come out during the day they are very active during the day they are sometimes seen in the morning

you know basking like most snake species do to get warm in the morning yeah yes yes I just spilled their water bowl now what I'm gonna be doing also is raising the humidity in their cage because it is summertime also where they come from it is very wet and rainy right now as well got some mulch in there you want to get that out so yeah so I'm basically just gonna be filling up their water bowl I'm taking the rest of this pitcher and kind of dumping it around their cage to raise the humidity up in there so it's not bad for them where these guys do come from is yes the west coast of Mexico like I've seen on the screen there so these guys do have a very large range of that West Coast as well okay so now that the cages all clean we're gonna go ahead and put them back I am also gonna be feeding them in this video as well just waiting for those rats to defrost so when these guys or where these guys come from I'm sure that's very loud so where these guys come from they live in like coastal plains areas like that but they don't live in like forth the areas they actually live in like tall grass areas thick bushes particularly there a lot of times found in like thorny bushes for some reason all types of grumpy today so I'm gonna try and show you these diamonds on his back a little bit better right now I'm just seeing what his mood is these guys are relatively nasty in the wild but they are known to tame down very quickly in captivity right now again just feeling out his temperament seeing what he's like so you can see those beautiful diamonds on his back they're beautiful beautiful thing where are you going let me go back in

your house absolutely love this make so when these guys are actually babies there are almost a red color very beautiful red color as they get older they become that beautiful olive green like this one here the male's always have a more of a predominant holo green color than the females the females usually tend to stay a little bit more of a brownish color with sometimes highlights of red I'll show you that on the female right here so these guys are ready for meals that is for sure I've been waiting to feed them to do this video for you guys this here's the female as you can see her color is much different than the male itself again a beautiful diamond pattern the only snake from its range that actually has diamonds on it she's sunny now love these snakes absolutely do love them are you doing you gotta you gotta stay in there perfect so now like most rattlesnakes these guys you know every time they shed they get an extra bead on their tail that bee grows over time shedding not with age you know it's a very big confusion a lot of people think that rattlesnakes as they get older their tails grow which yes is true but it's not true for the right reasons so oh they're all cuddled up over here come over here guys look at this they're they're all cute and cuddly right now they're actually both very angry right

now I can tell they're hungry by their tongue flicks very fast going in and out so we're gonna go ahead and check up on their rats and then when we come back we're gonna talk a little bit about their Venom's and probably about their bike too because it's not a very pleasant one so we'll be right back all right guys we're back we do have the famous red bowl that ever be absolutely loves on my channel I do have a jumbo rat or a large rat for the male and a medium-size rat for the female just because their size is a little bit different did something or something I did forget to mention earlier to their scales they don't have smooth scales they have keeled scales that means they have little raised ridges in the middle of each scale - which is actually a really interesting feeling if you ever have a chance to feel a keeled snake coolest feeling in the world I mean yes normally they do feel like thumb nails or toenails whatever you want to consider it because it is keratin just like you know your fingernails but the keeled scales is something like you'll never touch before I promise you that so we're gonna go ahead and feed these guys talk a little bit about their Venom's as well they both stop - rattling now which is a good thing I wish one of the other snakes who's in a bad mood today would stop rattling - but it's okay now their venom is actually highly toxic there are usually very fatal bites when people do get bit by these snakes not much is actually known about their venom who should we feed first let's probably feed the male first because he did you more aggressive eater than the female you guys just look so cute right now to let my cameras being used to film this so yeah their Venom's in different ranges have different toxicities I guess you could say some are chemo toxic venom some are neurological Venom's it depends on where they come from but as a species in whole it's very hard to get a grasp

on what their venom actually is come on Big Boy come on Big Boy see I told you he's way more food aggressive than the female itself oh that was a good bite very very good bite he's so cute so let's go ahead grab the female now now their venom actually a lot of people will compare it to Mojave venom because Mojave rattlesnake venom is actually also all over the place in different ways do you want a baby all right I'm gonna leave it there for you since you're not gonna fight it apparently so I've noticed this with her particularly when she's in a bad mood or wakes up on the wrong side of being closure she won't strike her food but if I leave it in there with her she will start to eat it

[Music] so these guys normally do only eat mammals in the wild that's pretty much the only diet that is known for them but I'm gonna let them be I want that female start eating her rat before the male finishes his because he will tried to eat it it's not so we're gonna get out of here and let them eat in peace hopefully you guys enjoyed this video hopefully you learn something new because that is the goal of my channel to teach and educate you guys on these amazing animals and break you of fears that you might have so subscribe if you are not already smash that like button if you haven't already big thank you to everybody for watching big thank you to my patreon as well because you guys are truly awesome and we will see you guys in the next video like always they're just so so wonderful I love them so much rattlesnakes I mean what better pet right bye [Music]  

About Will Nace

Will Nace's YouTube channel showcases his snake room. He has purchased a number of Vision cages from CustomCages.com, for his rattlesnakes, vipers, cobras, and many other species of snake.

Will's channel is dedicated to the care of venomous snakes. Learn great tips, tricks for feeding, enclosure cleaning, handling, etc. Watch snake unboxing videos. See expert handling of various species of venomous snakes.

In addition, many other types of animals are featured on the channel, from reptiles (particularly alligators), to sharks, to mammals.

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