prairie rattlers battling<\/a>\u00a0to see which could lay claim to the territory and any female rattlesnakes in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Snake-Catch.jpg\")
Prairie rattlesnakes are thriving in Sinks Canyon State Park near Lander in part because of an abundance of food sources. (Emily Martin)\u2018Hey, Don\u2019t Step On Me\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRattlesnakes are really good at going undetected, which can be a double-edged sword,\u201d Martin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On one hand, it keeps trouble from starting if people don\u2019t even know snakes are there most of the time, she said.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the snakes are so well-camouflaged, Martin said that even she has \u201cwalked to within a foot or two of a snake\u201d without realizing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Snakes would rather not bite people if they can help it, she said.<\/p>\n
If they\u2019re alarmed, rattlesnakes will \u201crear up and rattle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a \u2018Hey, don\u2019t step on me\u2019 sort of thing,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u2018You\u2019re Really, Really Unlikely To Die\u2019<\/p>\n
When snakes bite humans, it\u2019s usually because the person got extremely close with a hand or foot. Or, foolishly, tried picking up a snake, she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Martin has never been bitten herself, but victims describe the initial pain as excruciating.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt sucks, but if you can get past that initial shock, that initial pain, typically, you can walk out\u201d and get help, she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0It\u2019s best to get to a hospital with antivenom within about two hours, Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Any longer, and the victim might risk permanent tissue loss or nerve damage.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re really, really unlikely to die\u201d from a rattlesnake bite, she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Prairie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/snake-tube.jpg\")
Prairie rattlesnakes are placed in tubes and knocked out with a gas, allowing tracking transmitters to be implanted. (Emily Martin)\u00a0\u2018Popped Like A Balloon\u2019<\/p>\n
\u00a0The prairie rattlers in Sinks Canyon are \u201crodent specialists\u201d and have a prey base consisting mostly of mice, pack rats, and cottontail rabbits, Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s what their venom is for. They\u2019ll bite a prey animal and just trail it until it dies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Then they\u2019ll swallow their prey whole.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Contrary to popular belief, snakes can\u2019t completely unhinge their jaws, Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Instead, their jaw joints are more \u201cfree-moving\u201d than other species, allowing them to open their mouths incredibly wide, she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0And an adult prairie rattlesnake can swallow a full-sized cottontail rabbit, she added.<\/p>\n
\u00a0She recalled one instance, where a baby rattlesnake tried swallowing a mouse that was just too big for it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cPoor guy just popped like a balloon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Moore said that while prairie rattlesnakes knock down the rodent population in Sinks Canyon, they can in turn be eaten by raptors such as hawks and eagles.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re really at both ends of the food chain, or the food web here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Snake Transmitters<\/p>\n
\u00a0Unlike deer, elk, wolves, bears, and other such critters, snakes can\u2019t be outfitted with tracking collars.<\/p>\n
\u00a0So tracking transmitters have to be implanted in their bodies.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Martin accomplishes that by catching snakes and putting them in tubes, where they\u2019re knocked out with gas.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The transmitter, which is \u201cabout the size of a Mike and Ike candy,\u201d is inserted into the body cavity through an incision.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cI tuck it in underneath the ribcage, with the antenna running under the skin, pointed toward the head,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The incision is \u00a0sewn back up, and the snake is given a dose of painkiller to help with its recovery.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Tracking data indicates that snakes\u2019 movements vary.<\/p>\n
\u00a0One female \u201cspent her entire active season under a rock about the size of a mattress,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0On the other hand, she\u2019s tracked male rattlers roaming a territory of about two square miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Long Lives<\/p>\n
Rattlesnakes can live up to 60 years or longer in the wild, Martin said.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re usually active until sometime in October, when they crawl into their dens and go into a dormant state called brumation, which is similar to hibernation in mammals.<\/p>\n
They might start emerging as early as March and are usually fully active by April.<\/p>\n
With their slow metabolisms, snakes can go a long time without feeding.<\/p>\n
\u201cA female rattlesnake can go a year without eating and still reproduce,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Translocation Might Not Work<\/p>\n
Martin hopes her research will contribute to people being able to coexist with snakes.<\/p>\n
Moore said when snakes are reported in the park, it\u2019s usually because a snake came somewhere such as the parking lot to bask in the heat.<\/p>\n
Park personnel don\u2019t kill rattlesnakes, but instead catch them, put them safely in buckets and move them, she said.<\/p>\n
Moving snakes is a tricky business, Martin said. If they\u2019re not moved far enough, they might just go right back to the spot where people were freaking out.<\/p>\n
If they\u2019re moved too far, into unfamiliar territory, they might not survive, she said.<\/p>\n
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though many visitors might not realize it, Sinks Canyon State Park near Lander is prairie rattlesnake central. \u201cWe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-831283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"VHF](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/snake-transmitter.jpg\")
VHF transmitters are surgically implanted in rattlesnakes to track their movements around Sinks Canyon State Park near Lander. (Emily Martin)Battling Vipers Caught On Video<\/p>\n