Rattlers in the Midst

by Wolfgang Lohrer

Uneasily I walk through the waist high grass, hunting with a set of very long tongs, and a small pink Dora the Explorer backpack that contains iced tea and water. What I’m hunting basks in the morning heat. Within minutes of snaking through sun soaked grass a quiet but distinct rattle erupts. The rattling sound is not very loud and sounds like an insect buzzing in the grass. This is a sound I’ve never heard before and nothing like what I expected.

This is a great place to find what I’m hunting, the unique Eastern Massasauga rattle snake. I don’t know what one of these rare creatures look like in the wild and did not know what they sounded like until now. My hand grips the tongs tight while honing in on the source of the not so loud rattling. If not alert for the sound I might easily have missed its warning. One more step reveals the snake, within striking distance from where I’m standing. Lying in the grass sunning itself, it seems incredibly calm and harmless for such a feared animal. Fat and dark, with a small head, at first glance it’s hard to tell which end is the head and which is the tail.

Carefully I grab the venomous snake’s mid section with my tongs. I have a firm grip on the snake but it still slides out a bit. Slowly I lower it, tail first, into a pillow case. Yuman Lee, a conservationist from the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) uses her tongs to pull the pillow case up to her so she can tie it.

Dan Morris, her assistant, almost steps on another snake.  It rattles and starts to slither away but we grab it just before it disappears into the wilderness of tall grass. While we bag the first two snakes my mother, Lydia Lohrer-Bevier, spots a third snake. We capture it and take all three to a tree by a picnic table.

We are on a hunt to find, capture, weigh, measure, and mark the threatened Massasauga rattle snakes for the MNFI.  We open each pillowcase on the ground very cautiously.  Yuman, using the tongs, carefully slides the snake’s head into a clear, plastic tube so we won’t get bitten.  At first I hold the Massasauga nervously. It’s cold and smooth on the belly, with a rough back. Handling a wild, venomous snake is real easy with its head is in a clear plastic tube.  Yuman explained that it’s a gravid (pregnant) female; not surprising considering her plump, long body. These rattlers give birth to live young and apparently this one is due some time around September.

In addition to cauterizing the scales, the snakes receive a mark with nail polish to identify them in the future. I mark the tail with green and white nail polish; I am an MSU fan, and someday someone else who sees it slithering through the grass at the U of M Botanical Gardens may see the colors.  We record the rest of the snake’s features and colors and then release them back where we found them – in waist high native grass.

You might wonder why anyone would care about these reclusive pit vipers. These snakes are an important part of the ecosystem. They are great at controlling pests. They eat mice, voles, and other small mammals.  They’re also prey for other species like some hawks.  Their venom is used for medicinal purposes and they rarely harm humans.  For example, there’s only one reported bite a year in Michigan and, in contrast, over ten ATV deaths per year in Michigan.

Massasauga rattle snakes can deliver venomous bites if aggravated. Don’t ever harm one of these rare threatened snakes. Even though they are venomous and dangerous to humans, they help control disease by controlling pests. Plus, it’s illegal to kill a Massasaug rattle snake. If you are ever lucky enough to see one of these unique and rare snakes, leave it alone, avoid it and let it fulfill its part in the ecosystem.

All in all it was a very exciting experience and I’d love to do it again. I’d like to thank Jeff at U of M Botanical Gardens for graciously allowing us to partake in this experience, and Yuman Lee and Dan Morris for their patience, knowledge, and help. It was a great learning experience. Most of all I’d like to thank my mom, Lydia Lohrer-Bevier, for taking me and giving me this opportunity and my dad, Patrick Bevier, for documenting the research snake hunt with photos. This Conservation Kid learned a lot about rattlesnakes, what they look like in a wild setting, how they help the ecosystem and what to do if I see one!