They may hibernate underwater in these settings. These areas typically flood in spring with no apparent impact to individuals. Variable across its range. Average home range for adult WI males is about 400 acres and non-gravid adult WI females about 102 acres. Gravid WI females' home range is about 7 acres.
Females are capable of producing young annually, but likely only a portion breeds annually.
Eight to twenty young are live-born, usually in August. Young mature in their third or fourth full year. Once sufficiently warm they often become very difficult to locate as they either begin to forage or continue to bask under filtered cover to avoid overheating. If the management activity is for purpose of recovering, maintaining or improving the grassland, prairie or savanna ecosystem that includes habitat for massasauga rattlesnakes, then incidental take is allowed if these conditions are followed. Since there are no apparently stable massasauga populations in Wisconsin and each individual is deemed critically important to species survival, no incidental take is allowed.