BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 38, PT. 1(5)


many other situations. Favorite places include old fields, overgrown with weeds
and broomsedge; the sandhills with plenty of scrubby oaks and longleaf pines; and
stands of good hardwoods such as oaks, hickories, magnolia, and holly. In the hot
summer it may move down into the cool, brushy tangles around the borders of
ponds and lakes."
 Although no field studies of this species have been published, Means (1985,
 1986) outlined its natural history in two unpublished reports of his radio-telemetry
 study at Tall Timbers Research Station (33 km north of Tallahassee, Florida). He
 found that adult diamondbacks have large home ranges--up to 200 ha.
 Rattlesnakes at Tall Timbers are active from late March to early November and
 remain somewhat active on the surface throughout winter if not forced
 underground by cold weather. While Means observed eastern diamondbacks using
 gopher tortoise burrows as overwintering refuges, the snakes also used the stump
 holes of rotted trees or cavities in burned-out pines. Means also stated that
 "courtship and mating in the north-central portion of the geographic range of the
 eastern diamondback rattlesnake takes place between 15 August and 15
 September." This also happens to be the time that female diamondbacks give birth
 to live young (Klauber 1972; Means 1986; Timmerman 1989).


 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


 I would like to thank the Board of Directors of the Katharine Ordway Preserve/Carl S. Swisher
Memorial Sanctuary for the permission to conduct this study. My thesis chairman, John Eisenberg, provided
the guidance, equipment and funds to complete the study. Truman Perry, Richard Franz, Melvin E.
Sunquist, Mark Ludlow, Bert Charest, C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr., Cheri Jones, Leslie HaySmith, Brian Smith,
Marje Voeten, John Thorbjarnarson, and Deborah Wright assisted by capturing, or helping to capture, live
rattlesnakes used in the study. Elliot Jacobson and Paul Moler made helpful recommendations concerning
transmitter implantations. Joan Berish, John Thorbjarnarson, Bert Charest, C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr., Melvin E.
Sunquist, Kent Vliet, Stephen Walsh, and Richard Franz gave assistance during surgeries. Col. Robert
Morris and D.A. Sanders, DVM, kindly allowed use of their properties while I was tracking rattlesnakes.
My colleagues and friends at the Florida Museum of Natural History provided valuable help during the
course of the study, particularly Walter Auffenberg, David Auth, Carter Gilbert, George Burgess, Stephen
Walsh, Barbara Stanton, Rhoda J. Bryant, and Dianna Carver. Karan Newman computed home ranges with
the aid of the McPAAl program. Ian Breheny drew the finished maps from my rough sketches and field
maps. Laurie Wilkins made the identification of prey items from rattlesnake scats and stomach contents.
William Maples took the radiograph of MI after it had eaten the wood rat. My wife, Karen Kupke
Timmerman, has had to endure the usual rigors surrounding the study of large venomous snakes. To all
these people I am indebted. Finally, this study is dedicated to the memory of my friend, the late Ross Allen
(1908-1981), who first introduced me to the eastern diamondback rattlesnake.