You have your opinion, and I have mine.
Get a dog bit bad and see if that changes your mind any!

Again, there are PLENTY of non-venomous snakes out there that do the same, EXACT job as your precious rattlesnakes. So as long as I have a breath in me, EVERY damn one is getting sent to hell.

I will go ahead and call BS on the bolded part above.
No damn rattlesnake is eating 200 rodent per year.........NONE.

So by your description, I am stupid. That's entertaining. I always considered myself to be some sort of rocket surgeon. I thought going out of my way to kill rattlesnakes was both wise and noble.

In the wild a rattlesnake does not eat every day. IIRC it is not uncommon for them to go 2-3 weeks between meals.

Can you imagine how active they would be if they did eat daily?

At the rate of once every two weeks, that would be about 25 mice a year consumed. However, that is still a lot of mice over a twenty year period.
Mice are breeding machines. They have a gestating period of 19 to 21 days. A female mouse gets pregnant about 5 to 10 times each year and can give birth to a litter of 3 to 14 pups. On average, the litter size ranges from 6 to 8 pups.
So with my math, that turns out to be about 21,000 rodents over 20 years.

Yes it is

And I figure if I can kill every damn rattlesnake at my place then my coachwhips, rat snakes, bull snakes, etc will be fat & sassy!

Man, that's depressing. I had a packrat (I think) get into the Tundra at the ranch. (They never got in the 86 Bronco that was parked there a loooong time. ) I put a poison bait station in it. It's been eaten and droppings have stopped, but I'm not sure he made it out alive. This afternoon I'll know for sure.

NEVER said a Rattlesnake eats 200 per year. A Rattlesnake does NOT catch every rodent that it bites. It's not a Constrictor.

Rattlesnake kills on average 200 rodents per year.



*** So with my math, that turns out to be about 21,000 rodents over 20 years. *** Sorry, Wrong.

If only 4 pups survive to breeding age, and each generation only breeds once, again with only 4 pups surviving to breeding age,

You will have 16,384 breeding age rodents in only 7 generations.

*** Now if just the First Generation of Pups survives for the duration of the following 7 generations, you will have an additional 21,844 rodents.

*** The summation of all Follow On Generations to breed at the same survival rate, up until the 7th generation provides for a Total of 145,636 rodents.

*** In 20 years, there could be ~80 generations.

They get a pass here too.

Stompy or others, I don’t own land so I’m asking from a city slickers view point. Is the main reason to move them instead of kill for the pest control they provide?

I am thinking a good size rattler kills a bunch of mice. We killed one that had an entire cottontail in it. That would be equal to a lot more than 25 mice in a year.

Lots of field rats, pack rats and mice here that cause lots of damage. I don't want snakes around my compound so I relocate them. If I see them on the ranch I leave them be.

My head hurts. Too much math in this thread. I just do what I've been told & taught. KILL ever rattler you see with rock, stick, gun, car tire, or whatever!
As a consolation to the rattle snake protectors, I must say I haven't encountered a lot & to me that's a good thing.

And another one meets the judge and gets sentenced straight to Hell!
This one came slithering out from under my SxS basically right beneath my damn feed under it while I was spraying a fence line last night.
That Judge has put at least 40 of them away in the last 2 years!

Nice shot!

That's a good snake.

How much is that every month?

A lot more than that Judge pistol that is for damn sure.

Hate em with a purple passion and they get a one way ticket to hell when I see em. All non-venomous get a pass unless they are caught in the hen coop but rattlesnakes are dead even on the road when I see em. I will double back and skid over their azz if traffic allows for it!!!

😳

https://agrilife.org/txwildlifeservices/files/2011/08/Rattlesnakes.pdf

Interesting and thorough information! I have hunted them for many years, almost always tanned the hides. Also have given some a pass why I don't know.

Got a jar myself