Now THIS is blowing my mind,..could it be?...

[Rich G.]

Came home from Texas last night at about 1700. When I walked into my snakeroom I caught a movementin the molossus cage out of the corner of my eye and looked down to to see what I will call baby #1 and baby#2 (I won't say what I think sexes are until I probe them, which I won't do until they are feeding and well established. This is why I am a poor scientist, I always put the snakes first,lol) frozen in what looked like male combat.They were on teh basking rock at the highest point in the cage. They stayed frozen for a few minuted and then just crawled off and coiled up together at the front of the cage. Later at around 2300 I walked in and caught baby#1 and baby#3 in definate combat on top of he rock. Again they froze when they saw me. I managed to get two pics and then they just coiled up together. They were later joined by #2 and #4. I had never heard of newborns fighting. But even more strange is that there seems to be no victor or any animosity, they later coil amicably and they all sleep together. Could they have been PLAYING? Perhaps a snake version of "King of the Hill" that little goats and children are so fond of?My gut instinct is telling me this is the case but even after all I have seen with them it's very mind staggering. Sorry for the poor quality of hte first pic, I was in a hurry to get the camer and I forgot to turn the light on.

[Rich G.]

although the pose isn't as good.

[Donna]

Wow, I find that VERY interesting because (like many ignorant people) I have always thought that snakes were purely based on instinct.

Thank you for sharing all the time, I find your research and observations very interesting.

Donna

[Kerwin Ross]

Well, if they aren't all males, then are they playing "Jack & Jill went up the hill"?? Oh, never mind. That's why I'm not a scientist either LOL

Cool shots. Now that you know they might be doing it again, you can have the camera ready, but I think your shots were good anyways.

Kerby...

[JJFeldner]

Congrats, Rich! That is one hell of an observation and with pics, too! Great!! I have been through a number of search engines looking for "Combat among baby rattlesnakes" and then just "Combat between male rattlesnakes." I checked Google, The SSAR Pubs site and several other herp pub sites for an article. I found 0 on babies. I think you have a valid, excellent observation and I think you should become a bit of a science geek and publish a note along with your pics. Good observation!!

[brandi]

rich, you should definitely try to get some more pics, continue to observe, and serriously you could get a paper out of this. What an awesome observatin! For all our time in the field, it seems like we know so little about the natural history of these animals, especially early post-natal. great job and keep it up!
B~

[Rich G.]

I will continue to observe and photo. Kerby, you were close to hitting the nail on the head on something I left out at first. Based on the previous two litters from these parents, going on coloration, tail length and behaviours, snake #3 should be a female, which would be a further indication that this is "play". Of course you never can be sure with baby crotes until they are probed, which I still won't do for a while in order to continue to keep disturbances minimal. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Speaking of probing, a couple weeks ago I did a small group of neonate mitchelli. I did a visual check first and separated the long thick tails (should be males theoretically) and the short thin tails(females). When probed they proved to be just the opposite. The long thick tails were all female and the short thin tails were all male. Go figure.