fangs, folded, when not in use, against the roof of the mouth. In striking, 
the snake rears upward for about six to twelve inches, so that the force of 
the blow is downward. The mouth is kept closed until just before the fangs 
make contact, then they spring erect and inject the poison. 
Rattlers have two types of toxins in their venom. The one toxin breaks 
down the walls of small blood vessels, dissolves cells, and paralyzes nerve 
centers, making breathing difficult and causing congestion, while the other 
prevents the clotting of blood sometimes causing a hemorrhage. Calmette, 
Crimmins, Ditmars, do Amaral and a host of other investigators have studied 
the toxin of the rattlesnake. 
The snake’s “word to the wise,” its rattle, begins as a single button 
appearing after the first skin has been shed. With each shedding an addi¬ 
tional segment appears. Most specimens have rattles composed of from five 
to fifteen segments, the larger number being unusual as they frequently 
break off. The number of rattles or segments is therefore not a reliable 
way to tell the age of the snake. 
Record skins of rattlers exhibited in circuses and sideshows are fre¬ 
quently something less than meets the eye. To be sure, record specimens of 
the large eastern diamond-back rattlesnake really do reach a length of nine 
feet. But in their search for the “colossal” and the “stupendous,” exhibitors 
sometimes stretch the hides to twice their size and add an extra set of 
rattles. 
When first caught, this snake can be kept alive only through forced 
feeding with eggs and viosterol. Nervous and intolerant of handling, it flies 
into defensive tantrums. Later it will eat live rodents but if annoyed during 
the kill it will regurgitate them. 
In August and September the eastern diamond-back gives birth to a 
litter of from eight to twelve young. In this connection Ditmars mentions 
a phenomenon quite unusual with snakes of any type. A mother eastern 
diamond-back, kept at the reptile house of the New York Zoological Park, 
tried to attack its keeper whenever he approached the cage in which she 
lay with her brood. Snakes as a rule forget completely about their young 
from the moment of birth. 
Rattlers play an important part in the religious life of the Hopi Indians. 
During the ceremonial snake dance, live rattlers are handled by young 
boys and tribal priests without apparent harm. Large numbers of the snakes 
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