Under the Connecticut Endangered Species Act of 1989 and the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, the killing of the rattlers is prohibited...............Timber rattlers feed primarily on mice............. After studying the snake's eating habits in eastern forests, the University of Maryland biologists found that each timber rattlesnake also consumes 2,500 to 4,500 blacklegged ticks living on the mice it eats each year.................The few Rattlers living in our Northeastern woodlands are to be encouraged to breed and multiply further as they are magnificent mouse eaters, mice being a primary vector of lyme disease...........Habitat loss, roadkills and poaching are the three greatest threats to the timber rattlesnake as is the fact that females have a 3 year reproduction cycle that makes population expansion a slow and tedious process under the best of conditions

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Leave Rattlesnakes Alone, They Eat Ticks

By WILLIAM CONWAY | FRESH TALK

The Hartford Courant

The timber rattlesnake, which is extinct in Rhode Island and Maine, is one of Connecticut's endangered species and is reportedly is losing the battle with humans, a trend that should be reversed.

Timber rattlesnakes find welcoming habitat in central Connecticut's rocky, wooded hills. From April to October, rattlesnakes leave their dens in search of food, which can lead them through people's yards and into woodpiles or stone walls. This past rattlesnake season, 45 sightings of the snake were reported to officials in and around Glastonbury, where there is a major concentration of the state's remaining rattlers.

Unfortunately, officials investigating the 45 reports of rattlesnake sightings found nine of these snakes to be dead. It is paramount that Glastonbury residents, and all co-inhabitants of timber rattlesnake territory statewide, are aware that, under the Connecticut Endangered Species Act of 1989 and the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, the killing of the rattlers is prohibited.

If the threat of legal punishment for the killing of the timber rattlesnake is not enough, perhaps a recent study concerning the ecosystem benefits of the reptiles can convince citizens to spare the snakes' lives.

Humans have vilified the rattlesnake throughout human history. In many cultures, rattlesnakes are symbols of pure evil. A recent study by a team of University of Maryland biologists, however, proves that the timber rattlesnake provides indirect health benefits to humans.

Timber rattlers feed primarily on mice. After studying the snake's eating habits in eastern forests, the University of Maryland biologists found that each timber rattlesnake also consumes 2,500 to 4,500 blacklegged ticks living on the mice it eats each year. If there are any critters more hated than snakes, it just might be ticks.