Tiger Rattlesnake

Crotalus tigris, (Kennicott)

Colouration: Yellowish gray, with a series of small and not very distinct blotches on the back and on each side, for the forward third of the body; on the latter two-thirds, these blotches fuse into regular cross-bands, producing a strongly barred effect. There is usually a dark bar from the eye to the angle of the mouth.
Dimensions: The largest specimen examined was forty inches long. Its proportions were rather more slender than the Pacific rattlesnake.
Distribution: Desert mountains of Arizona, Nevada and southern California.
Habits: The Tiger Rattlesnake is not a very vicious species--if its habits may be judged by eight or ten captive specimens. After a few weeks in captivity it becomes lazy and good-natured. Three specimens lived for about two years. They fed upon mice, young rats and birds.

The Tiger Rattlesnake attains a moderate length--seldom more than three and a half feet. Its conformation does not materially differ from that of the prairie and Pacific rattles-snakes.

Several specimens from the mountains of southwestern Arizona looked quite black upon a gross examination. Examined closely, the pale ground-colour appeared only as dull gray bars on the sides of the latter portion of the body.

While the Tiger Rattlesnake has for some time been considered a very rare species, numerous records show it to be fairly common in the barren mountain ranges of the extreme Southwest. A collector in southern California says that these snakes live at a considerable elevation, but were not rare. To back up his claim, he sent five specimens East. Mr. Herbert Brown, of Yuma, Arizona, in a letter to the writer, says: "During the late overflows (1905) of the Colorado and Gila Rivers, the snakes were driven from the valley lands and could be had in any number on the higher benches. Black and yellow rattlers (C. tigris) were very abundant. They are scarcer now."