Does a rattlesnake stay in one area or move from place to place?
Rattlesnakes have home ranges, but they do not defend them as a territory. Generally, a home range is the area that an animal will spend most of its time acquiring resources and seeking mates. Rattlesnakes will not stand guard over them and fight other rattlesnakes for the control of an area. A rattlesnake will use a hole, or other refuge, as a place to rest, but when the resources are reduced (the rodents are eaten up) it will move on to greener and more rodent-filled pastures (but, within its home range). Because the density of rattlesnakes is dependent on the resources (how many hiding places and how many rodents), there generally aren’t a whole lot of them in any one area. A countermeasure against rattlesnakes is to remove their food source and hiding places (exterminate the rodents from your yard and remove the hiding places, such as wood piles). If you live adjacent to a wilderness area, please leave the habitat untouched. The rattlesnakes are serving as nature’s own way of contr
