Texas Rattlesnake: Lore and Legend
Tales and Roundups of Diamondback Rattlesnakes in Texas
A look at the Texas lore and legend of the Diamondback Rattlesnake, then go on a virtual Texas rattlesnake hunt and experience the creature up close and personal.
A Texas cowboy, with a very fine pair of embroidered and silvered boots, was bitten by a rattlesnake when courting a lovely young frontier miss. He dies and leaves the treasured boots to a friend who then falls in love with the same girl. One day, he pulled on the beautiful boots in order to impress the lady. He immediately sickens and falls dead, leaving the boots, yet again, to a third cowboy. In time, this fellow also falls for the young girl and decides to wear the ill-fated boots to go courting. The end result is the same, the cowboy falls over dead. Just as folks begin to suspect the girl of having some strange fatal effect on her suitors, one of the boots is discovered to have a rattlesnake fang still embedded inside.
This tale has a number of different versions, and is only one of countless stories through the years that has given the notorious rattlesnake a reputation that has truly become almost bigger than life. It seems that just about anyone who has ever eye-balled one of these creatures has a tale to tell. J. Frank Dobie, perhaps the Southwest's greatest chronicler of folklore and history, devoted an entire book to such accounts, including everything from Indian legends to plain ole "Texas hearsay" regarding the behavior and misconceptions surrounding rattlesnakes.
As with most respectable Texas tales, the cowboy story mentioned above does have a hint of truth to it. The Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus altrox) has one of the most serious bites with the highest fatality rate in North America. It is also the longest, most venomous, and most commonly encountered rattler in southern and western Texas. In addition, the fangs of this snake are like shark's teeth, and are continually being replaced with new fangs about every two months. They are long and hollow with the poison being sent out through them when the snake bites its victim. So, the idea of a poisoned fang being embedded in the leather of a cowboy boot may not be such a stretch after all.
One of the biggest curiosities is how big these varmints can become. Historically, it is impossible to determine the largest rattlesnake every killed in Texas simply because so many were killed without documentation. There are estimates of anywhere between three to eight feet when you look at most of the research. During a study conducted by Texas Parks and Wildlife in South Texas between 1996-2000, the largest snake taken was almost 5 feet long. If you look at the tales recorded by Dobie from the 1920's, however, there were a number of oral accounts given of nine and ten foot "monsters" killed in the wild, with one such story of a 10 footer having fifty rattles killed on the Colorado River by settlers.
Throughout history, the rattlesnake has left its indelible mark on Texas legend and lore, but the future of the species remains in question. In the late 1920s people began having rattlesnake "roundups" in Texas (click to go on a virtual Texas rattlesnake roundup). Since their beginning there have been over 123 tons of western diamondback rattlesnakes captured. Thousands of snakes are killed, measured, weighed, beheaded, and skinned during these events. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is currently working to determine whether commercial roundups have an adverse impact on the future of rattlesnake populations in Texas.
Only time will tell if the western diamondback rattlesnake will continue to have a home on our Texas range, or if it will quietly go the way of the tumbling tumbleweed and the infamous Texas horned Lizard, eventually to become lost in the pages of Texas history.
