AnimalsDesert
Rattlesnake Fun facts for kids
Crotalus atrox
The rattlesnake lives in deserts in the USA and Mexico and eats rats, mice and rabbits.
- Where it lives
- in deserts in the USA and Mexico
- What it eats
- rats, mice and rabbits
- How big it is
- as long as a tall grown-up
Fun facts about the rattlesnake
The ones Sammy likes best. She tells them in the game, too.
Its rattle is made of the same stuff as your fingernails, and it can shake it 50 times every second!
It has two tiny pits between its eyes and nose that feel the warmth of a mouse in total darkness.
It has no eyelids and no outside ears, so it mostly hears by feeling the ground shake.
Its fangs fold back against the roof of its mouth when not in use, and new ones replace worn ones.
Baby rattlesnakes are born with just a silent button on their tail, so they can't rattle yet.
Rattlesnakes can swim across rivers, holding their rattle up out of the water.
It can go weeks or even months without eating a single meal.
Unlike most snakes, a mother rattlesnake doesn't lay eggs, she gives birth to live babies.
Riddle
Can a friend guess it?
Read the clues to someone, one at a time, without saying the animal. How many clues do they need? Fewer is better, just like in the game.
I live in dry, rocky deserts in the USA and Mexico, and I hunt rats and mice.
I have no eyelids and no outside ears, so I hear by feeling the ground shake.
Two tiny pits between my eyes and nose feel the warmth of a mouse in total darkness.
My long, hollow fangs fold back against the roof of my mouth when I don't need them.
When I'm scared, I shake the tip of my tail and it makes a loud buzzing warning.
Sammy might be thinking of a rattlesnake.
In Thought Zoo, Sammy picks an animal and you ask her yes-or-no questions to find it. You'll find the rattlesnake in the Desert adventure.
Play the DesertComing to iPad, iPhone and Android on 12 January 2027
