{"id":876,"date":"2020-08-20T08:41:49","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T15:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/?p=876"},"modified":"2020-08-23T09:18:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T16:18:02","slug":"yes-rattlesnakes-can-climb-trees-this-is-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/arizona-snakes\/yes-rattlesnakes-can-climb-trees-this-is-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, rattlesnakes can climb trees\u2013this is normal."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An article has been going around showing a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake sitting high in a tree, prompting many emails and messages asking about its validity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This is normal behavior: rattlesnakes can and do climb trees, though it is not commonly observed.<\/strong> There is no reason to think that the series of photos was faked, staged, shopped, or anything but a totally natural observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fspraz\/posts\/3600263903319680\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"690\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-20-at-8.25.36-AM-690x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-880\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-20-at-8.25.36-AM-690x1024.png 690w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-20-at-8.25.36-AM-359x533.png 359w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-20-at-8.25.36-AM-768x1140.png 768w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-20-at-8.25.36-AM-1035x1536.png 1035w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-20-at-8.25.36-AM.png 1110w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Despite many comments saying this is a giant rattlesnake, and\/or photoshopped &#8230; it&#8217;s not.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>How do we know that? We see rattlesnakes in trees sometimes. A variety of species in very different areas all find some need to occasionally wander up the bark of a tree. Over the years, I have personally seen Blacktailed Rattlesnakeds, Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, Speckled Rattlesnakes, Tiger Rattlesnakes, and Banded Rock Rattlesnakes in branches over my head. Additionally, Timber Rattlesnakes and other east-coast species have been repeatedly seen high in the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An example: here&#8217;s a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake I saw just last night. It was disturbed by my flashlight and fled into the bushes &#8230; where it suddenly started to climb. It went higher and higher, and was still up there when I passed through the area again hours later. This snake decided the best escape route was: up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rattlesnake Climbing a Tree\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TgjI-KPMpdQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a Blacktailed Rattlesnake seen on a job site by Jeff Martineau, one of our field team, as it ascended a tree. Blacktails are known to climb like this, possibly to hunt birds and squirrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" src=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/molo-1024x819.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-881\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/molo-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/molo-666x533.jpg 666w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/molo-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/molo.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Going up! <em>Photo by Jeff Martineau<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s another Blacktail, which I saw from the edge of a road high in a tree, clearly not photoshopped \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rattlesnake climbing a tree\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9TDsCh4dtQI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1814\" src=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Crotalus-atrox_O4A9662-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-888\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Crotalus-atrox_O4A9662-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Crotalus-atrox_O4A9662-752x533.jpg 752w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why do rattlesnakes climb trees?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are probably a variety of reasons why a rattlesnake would climb a tree, but in most cases, I would assume that it&#8217;s to access prey. If you&#8217;re able to get off the ground, a lot of potential prey items, like birds and squirrels. They may also climb to escape predators, to stay cool, or to escape potential flood water during the monsoon season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are rattlesnakes going to drop out of the trees?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost certainly not. I suppose a snake could happen to make a mistake and fall out, and if you&#8217;re walking by right at that second you could possibly have a rattlesnake falling out of a tree onto you. But that&#8217;s an extremely remote, chance circumstance that isn&#8217;t worth worrying about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may have heard friends from the east claim that water moccasins routinely jump from trees into the canoe, too &#8230; but we&#8217;ll just gently say that they are completely full of it.  Sure, it&#8217;s possible that someone scared a snake at the right time but and there are likely a handful of &#8220;lightning strike&#8221; type scenarios where this has possibly happened, but it&#8217;s not what they &#8220;do&#8221;. It&#8217;s like saying that the handful of dogs each year who accidentally disengage a parking brake and end up rolling the car down the street qualify the statement of &#8220;dogs drive cars&#8221;. Just think it through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does this mean they can climb the wall and get into my yard?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Not at all. Rattlesnakes can climb if there are sufficient rough surfaces to grip, which excludes your block wall or <a href=\"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/keep-snakes-away\/snake-fence.php\">rattlesnake fence (if it&#8217;s installed properly)<\/a> While they clearly can and do climb, they&#8217;re not nearly as good at it as a snake like a Gophersnake, Kingsnake, or Coachwhip, which are built for the task. If you&#8217;ve got a secured yard without &#8220;footholds&#8221; for lack of a better term, you should not expect rattlesnakes in the yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a video explaining how rattlesnakes climb &#8230; or don&#8217;t &#8230; smooth surfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How high should a snake fence be?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z6FWrE10xps?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>How high can a rattlesnake climb on a smooth surface? Not very far, it seems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To close: a note to those on social media who like to shout answers on topics they don&#8217;t know much about: stop it \ud83d\ude42 A simple google search in advance would have shown you how often rattlesnakes are actually found in trees, and that it&#8217;s totally normal. Here are some other videos of this behavior that I&#8217;ve found out there:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tree Climbing Rattlesnake\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D9TIVGW0aZk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Speckled Rattlesnake going up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rattlesnake Climbs Tree with $1,000 GPS on Rattle\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zsJeaxhLu8Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Timber Rattlesnake - Part 3 of 7 - Large Timber in Tree\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y0cwsMAsmDI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rattlesnake In Tree\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/86AHHXlpIlA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Blacktailed rattlesnake hanging out on a tree!\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GmIXCZJ3ANs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An article has been going around showing a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake sitting high in a tree, prompting many emails and messages asking about its validity. This is normal behavior: rattlesnakes can and do climb trees, though it is not commonly observed. There is no reason to think that the series of photos was faked, staged, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-education","category-arizona-snakes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rattlesnakesolutions.com\/snakeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}