What do rattlesnakes eat ?

Rattlesnakes, living in captivity, refuse to eat for a long time. There are cases when the rattlesnakes starved for more than a year and did not even pay attention to the rats and mice running next to each other. In natural conditions, it eats once a week, eating food weighing half its own weight. Consumes small mammals, amphibians and birds. Hunts them at night, attacking with an ambush.

Quite often rattlesnakes themselves become food for mammals, birds and even fish. Ferrets, martens, caresses, eagles, peacocks, crows eat snakes, since their poison acts very weakly on them. Also in the media, information was heard, as one Californian fisherman caught trout, in the stomach of which was a rattlesnake 60 cm long.

Domestic pigs are also not afraid of rattlesnake bites. A thick layer of subcutaneous fat protects the blood vessels, and the venom of the snake can not get into the blood. And the pigs themselves also do not mind eating a rattlesnake. This feature is used by farmers and produces a herd of pigs on the field before it is plowed.

It will be interesting to see a small video, which was shot by eyewitnesses who accidentally met a rattlesnake on their way to a mountainous area. From a safe distance, the snake does not look aggressive, but the loud hiss presses on the psyche and discourages people.