Rattle snakes and cicadas

[Lawyer Daggit]

I was listening to a snake rattle the other day on a wild life site. It sounded just like a cicada.

How do you tell them apart- or do you just C$%! yourself everytime you hear a cicada?

[AJMD429]

The sound that some of the rat-snake and milk-snake family makes by rapidly vibrating their tail can sound just like a Timber Rattler if it is in the right kind of dry leaves, too...

Definitely makes you look twice.

[Wind]

Hey there Shyster! -- The sound is similar, but when you're in snake country, that sound definitely will catch your attention. They have a way of undulating the speed and volume which makes it somewhat distinctive also. The thing that bothers me is that sometimes you can hear them at twenty feet and other times you can barely hear them at five. Around here I keep the Ruger Single Six charged with CCI Mini-Mag shot shells and do a lot of looking and a little kickin' before reaching into the wood pile! Best regards. Wind

[dkmlever]

22 mag shot shellls....NAH, I carry 44 mag shot shells, I just don't like snakes! I guess I really don't like surprises!

[bdhold]

cicadas are much louder

[J Miller]

I have tinnitus ........

Picture in your minds eye a tree full of screeching cicadas ....
Now picture in your minds eye yourself standing under that tree ...
THAT .... is what I hear 24-7-365.

However there is no question in my mind when I hear a rattle snake. It's a sound that is unquestionable when you hear it.

Joe

[rangerider7]

Believe me, you will know the difference when you here it!

[fisheadgib]

Personally, I agree that a small rattler sounds just like a cicada. I've stumbled on many of them in the seven or so years that I lived in Texas. I've always seen cicadas on trees or the side of structures and I've always seen the rattlers on the ground. My general rule of thumb is that if the bush or rock crevice sounds like a cicada, back away!

[gak]

+1 You will definitely know the difference!

[Buck Elliott]

My hearing loss must be VERY selective, as I can usually hear rattlers (if they bother to buzz) but am totally deaf to the song of the cicada... I do remember the time when I could hear the little chirping insects, but that all ended many, many years ago...

[Lawyer Daggit]

Buck's remarks suggest a snake can choose whether to rattle or not- is this so, or is it an automatic alarm response.

[BigSky56]

unless your deaf you can tell the difference, they can strike without buzzing, I killed a big timber rattler when he was shedding his skin and he was blind my horse saw or sensed him I stepped down and picked up a limb and killed him the whole time he was striking but not buzzing still have his hide. danny

[kimwcook]

unless your deaf you can tell the difference, they can strike without buzzing, I killed a big timber rattler when he was shedding his skin and he was blind my horse saw or sensed him I stepped down and picked up a limb and killed him the whole time he was striking but not buzzing still have his hide. danny

Yep, they won't necessarily rattle. They also won't necessarily invenomate when they bite. Just depends, on what I don't know. The perceived threat I guess.