III.

Diet

Rodents, including mice, rats, and chipmunks, make up the bulk of the rattlesnake’s diet. Large snakes may also prey on larger animals, including squirrels, prairie dogs, rabbits, and young groundhogs, as well as ground-nesting birds, bird eggs, and occasionally, frogs and toads. Some small rattlesnakes rely on lizards as a dietary staple.

Rattlesnakes are sit-and-wait predators. They remain coiled next to a regularly used animal path, often for days at a time, and wait silently for prey to come within striking distance. After stunning their prey with venom, they swallow the animal, and then move to another favored ambush site. Feeding ceases when winter approaches; these cold-blooded animals cannot digest food when it is cold, so rattlesnakes retreat into deep dens to hibernate until the following spring.