Photo credit:

Joshua Jones

Common name

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

Scientific name

Sistrurus catenatus

Conservation Status

Threatened

Federal and State Protections

Federal protection through endangered species act. Protection through the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk in Canada. State protections include forbidding the collection and killing of this species and minimizing loss and degradation of their habitats due to agriculture, dredging, and stream channelization.

New York Status: Endangered

Illinois Status: Endangered

Iowa Status: Endangered

Missouri Status: Endangered; Species of Conservation Concern

Wisconsin Status: Endangered

Indiana Status: Endangered

Michigan Status: Species of Concern

Ohio Status: Endangered

Pennsylvania Status: Endangered

Minnesota Status: Endangered

Ontario Status: Threatened (Great Lakes - St. Lawrence population); Endangered (Carolinian population).

Countries of Occurrence

United States of America and Canada

States or Providence 

New York, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ontario

Counties

New York: Onondaga and Genesee.

Illinois: Madison, Fayette, Clinton, Piatt, Warren, Knox, DuPage, Lake, Cook, and Will.

Iowa: Pottawattamie, Chickasaw, Bremer, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Clinton, Scott, Muscatine, and Louisa.

Missouri: Chariton, Lynn, Livingston, and Holt.

Wisconsin: Pipin, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, Clark, Wood, Portage, La Crosse, Monroe, Juneau, Adams, Saulk, Green Lake Columbia, Crawford, Madison/Dane, Green, Rock, Walworth, and Kenosha.

Indiana: Lake, Porter, La Porte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Lagrange, Steuben, Jasper, Starke, Pulaski, Marshall, Fulton, Kosciusko, Walbash, Noble, Whitley, Allen, Wells, Cass, Carroll, Fountain, Montgomery, Hendricks, Hamilton, Delaware.

Michigan: Oakland, Livingston,
Jackson, Washtenaw, Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo and Van
Buren, Alcona, Alpena, Crawford, Kalkaska, Montmorency, and Presque Isle.

Ohio: Ashtabula, Trumbull, Erie, Wayne, Wyandot, Licking, Fairfield, Champaign, Clark, Greene, Montgomery, and Warren.

Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Lawrence, Mercer and Venango.

Minnesota: Goodhue, Wabasha, Winona, and Houston.

Ontario: Eastern shore of Georgian Bay, the northern Bruce Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula, and near the city of Windsor.

Adult size

47-100 cm
18.5-39.37 in
Average: 61 cm; 2 feet

Species Description

This small rattlesnake can be found in the Midwestern and Northern United States and Ontario. They live in shallow wetlands and adjacent uplands. This rattlesnake usually gives live birth to 5 to 20 young at a time annually to biennually, and they primarily feed on small mammals.

Fact: This is one of two federally threatened species of rattlesnake in the United States. The population of the Eastern massasauga is still in decline primarily due to habitat loss. Fragmentation of habitat due to roads, farmland, and urban sprawl is a large factor in habitat decline. Conservation of rattlesnakes is important to prevent further population decline. This is something we are helping to slow and reverse!