The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

[betplom]

Only one venomous snake in Ontario - Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake.



The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, Sistrurus catenatus, is the only venomous snake still found in Ontario. Although the venom is potent, this snake's small size and retiring habits make it a minor risk to humans.

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Massasaugas once had a wider range and were far more common in southern Ontario near the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Huron. Rattlesnakes were common in the Windsor area fifty years ago but their population has seriously declined with development and urbanization of the area. They are still relatively common on the Bruce Peninsula and the eastern shoreline of Georgian Bay. Ojibway and the Wainfleet Bog near Port Colburne support small populations.

[betplom]

The range of the Eastern Massasauga closely coincides with the range of tallgrass prairie in the United States. Less than one percent of the original prairie remains in North America and the Massasauga has declined over much of its range. These attractive grey and black reptiles were once killed indiscriminately because of a perceived danger of being bitten. In Wisconsin this rattlesnake was considered a nuisance up to 1975 and bounties were paid for dead snakes. It is now considered endangered in Wisconsin and Massasaugas are protected in eight of the ten states where it is found.

[betplom]

Due to the rapidly disappearing habitat and declining population, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake has been officially designated as threatened and is protected from harassment or killing under Ontario's Wildlife Conservation Act and the new Ontario Endangered Species Act . They are quite timid and pose no threat if they are left alone.

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In 1990, a regulation of the Game and Fish Act of Ontario protected the Massasauga rattlesnake and a number of other snakes commonly mistaken for the Massasauga. In 199l, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed the Massasauga rattlesnake as threatened. Continued monitoring has demonstrated a significant decline in their range over the past decade. The main factors responsible for their decline include killing by people and the loss of habitat through expanding development and the draining of wetlands. The Massasauga will not survive relocation, it will live at the new location until the weather deteriorates and then succumb. The timber rattlesnake has not been recorded in the Niagara Gorge region since 1941 and is probably extinct in Canada.

[Mudcat]

Oooh. Massasauga Rattlesnake.

As a lifelong resident of Ontario whose family did a lot of camping in areas that overlap the Massasauga's habitat, we were warned many times as kids about them. It became a big thing in our minds. Massasauga Rattlesnake. We did not want to encounter them. It was almost a mythology - except they are very real!!

This thread brings it all back and makes me say, "Oooh. Massasauga Rattlesnake."

[betplom]

This thread brings it all back and makes me say, "Oooh. Massasauga Rattlesnake."

Would you believe I had you in mind when I thought of this topic?

I didn't, but go ahead and believe it anyway.