C. atrox Rattlesnake Skull measures 2.3 in. C. atrox Rattlesnake skull is museum quality polyurethane resin cast. Known as Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
C. atrox Rattlesnake is a rattlesnake species and member of the viper family, found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Like all other rattlesnakes and all other vipers, it is venomous.
It lives in elevations from below sea level up to 6,500 feet. This species ranges throughout the Southwestern United States and northern half of Mexico.
Currently, C. atrox Rattlesnake or Western diamondback rattlesnakes are not threatened or endangered.
The C. atrox snake color pattern generally consists of a dusty-looking gray-brown ground color, but it may also be pinkish-brown, brick red, yellowish, pinkish, or chalky white.
This ground color is overlaid dorsally with a series of 23-45 (mean, 36) dorsal body blotches that are dark gray-brown to brown in color.
The first of these may be a pair of short stripes that extend backwards to eventually merge. Some of the first few blotches may be somewhat rectangular, but then become more hexagonal and eventually take on a distinctive diamond shape, hence the name “diamondback rattlesnake”.
The C. atrox snake tail has two to eight (usually four to six) black bands separated by ash white or pale gray interspaces; this led to the nickname of “coon tail”.
Its postocular stripe is smoky gray or dark gray-brown and extends diagonally from the lower edge of the eye across the side of the head.
This stripe is usually bordered below by a white stripe running from the upper preocular scale down to the supralabial scales just below and behind the eye.
The C. atrox snake off-white belly is usually unmarked, its anal scale is undivided, and its dorsal scales are extremely keeled, often in rows of 25 to 27 near the midbody.
