For Dan Fogell, the DNR study of the Prairie Rattlesnake will conclude in June. But the information he has collected will serve as a useful tool in maintaining an exclusive snake population in northwest Iowa. Fogell sees the way to preserve all snake populations is to modify a bit of human nature. If we can find a way to live in harmony with these animals, let them come across our lawns once in a while, let them shed their skins in wood piles without freaking out, then there is at least some kind of agreement between the snake and man, so that they can co-exist together. The Prairie Rattlesnake is the only venomous snake in northwest Iowa.
Rattlesnakes can perch coiled for weeks in one spot waiting for their prey.
Although snakes have noses, their sense of smell is derived from their forked tongue and glands in the mouth. Rattlesnakes breed only every two to three years. Once a snake is bred in late summer, the sperm is stored in the female for delayed fertilization. The female will gestate for the entire summer season and give birth in August. Snakes litters number 10-12 with a high infant mortality rate.