Photo credit:
Rob Schell
Common name
Mexican West-Coast Rattlesnake
Scientific name
Crotalus basiliscus
Conservation Status
Least Concern
Federal and State Protections
Range Map
Countries of Occurrence
Mexico
Adult size
31.7in (80.5cm) - 80.3in (204cm)
States or Providence
Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Oaxaca
Counties
Species Description
The Mexican west-coast rattlesnake is a large-bodied snake found between the Gulf of California and the central cordillera. This species typically inhabits dry, lowland thornscrub forests, tropical deciduous forests, and occasionally mixed pine-oak highland forests.
Females of this species give live birth to upwards of 60 young, although the reported average is 33 babies per litter. Infant and juvenile Mexican west-coast rattlesnakes have also been observed climbing into bushes as a means of thermoregulation (controlling their body temperature).
Hybridization with the closely related species, Crotalus molossus, is likely in areas of Sonora where the two species overlap in range.