TIMMERMAN: CROTALUSADAMANTEUS ON ORDWAY PRESERVE


for stable populations through time (Dodd et al. 1988). The survival of these
snakes will rest in the hands of preserve managers and government agencies that
manage large tracts of land as wild areas become less common and as undeveloped
tracts of land shrink in size. Resource managers will need information concerning
home range, habitat use, movements, and denning activities in order to make
effective management decisions. I conducted this study to collect information that
will contribute to our knowledge of one of these important reptiles and will assist
in developing management plans for conservation areas. This is the first study of
free-ranging eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in Florida sandhills.
 The main objectives of this study on C. adamanteus were: (1) to determine
its home range; (2) to identify the habitats used by them in north-central Florida
sandhills; (3) to delineate their overwintering and activity seasons; and (4) to
determine whether unique sites are critical to them as overwintering refuges.

 Background.- The eastern diamondback (Serpentes: Crotalidae) is the
world's largest rattlesnake, averaging 130 cm in total length, with the largest
reported at 244 cm (Conant and Collins 1991). It ranges along the coastal
lowlands from southeastern North Carolina to eastern Louisiana, including all of
Florida and its keys. Until recently, the diamondback was very common
throughout most of Florida but, although it is still occasionally seen, does not
appear to be as abundant. Herpetologists have noticed a decline in the numbers of
large individuals (those attaining lengths of around 170 cm) over the past 20 years
(S.R. Telford, Jr., and F.W. King, pers. comm.). The principal cause of their
decline is habitat destruction, which results in fragmentation of populations, and
highway mortality. In addition, there remains in the South, as elsewhere, a
lingering prejudice against rattlesnakes which continues to lead to their
destruction. This was made evident to me by the fact that a Putnam County,
Florida, reptile-skin business was able to purchase over 8,000 eastern diamondback
rattlesnakes that had been killed by north Florida and south Georgia residents in
1988 alone (J. A. Smith pers. comm.).
 The little that has been published on the diamondback is largely anecdotal.
Carr (1940) noted that the diamondback was "widely distributed; most abundant in
palmetto flatwoods" and that they fed on "rats (Sigmodon hispidus) and mice
(Peromyscus spp.)." Conant and Collins (1991) stated that they were "at home in
the palmetto flatwoods and dry pinelands" and that they "frequently...take refuge in
burrows of gopher tortoises, in holes beneath stumps, etc. Rabbits, rodents and
birds are eaten." Klauber (1972) related that "it is said to live in almost any
available type of habitat, except in especially wet places" and that "in most areas
the Florida and eastern cottontails (Sylvilagusf floridanus and S. f mallurus) and
the marsh rabbits (S. p. palustris and S. p. paludicola) are the mainstays of the
adult diamondbacks." Allen (1961), a naturalist with probably more experience
with this species than anyone, said that "it lives in all sorts of country: on the
sandhills, in the "hammocks" (hardwood stands), in salt marsh, in flatwoods, and