by Joel La Rocque

Created on: April 13, 2009

The desert sidewinder ( Crotalus cerastes ) is a member of the rattlesnake family. In all respects it is much the same as its 29 or so cousins. Its fang structure is the same, its skeletal structure is the same as is its organ system is the same. What sets it aside from the others is its love and ability to exist in an environment that would be fatal to many of its kin. It has the ability to store water is quite remarkable and this gives it the edge needed to live in its environment. The sands temperature gets to so hot a human would have to remove its hand from the surface after a short time of coming into contact with it and the sidewinder too has this problem. It has adapted a form of locomotion where only two points of its body ever come into contact at any one time with the surface while traveling across the hot sand. We call this "side-winding". The snake forms loops with its body and throws them forward landing on one point, the rear is pulled forward and anchored on one point. this leaves marks forming a capital I or a line with a hook on each end. The imprints are 45 degrees to the direction of travel. Other snakes such as the "Peringuey's adder of Africa use this mode of travel.

If you removed the Sidewinder from its desert home and placed it on concrete or grass it would use one of the other three modes of travel. "Linear progression" is normally used by larger snakes, muscles flex and move the snake along in a direct forward motion. A large anaconda or a reticulated python might use such locomotion. "Lateral undulation" is the most common form of movement seen by us. A snake pushes itself from side to side using the pressure of its body against objects on the ground or the ground itself. "Concertina movement" is the inch worm type of movement when on land or climbing a tree. The forward part of the body anchors itself to an object and muscles pull up the rear. This is repeated until the snake reaches its destination. Snakes can and do use various means of propulsion to get from one place to the other, it all depends upon what the snake encounters along the way.

Sidewinders for the most part survive on small lizards and desert mice and rats. Seeing that their prey items are relatively small their venom is rather on the weak side when compared to other rattlesnakes in general. Their bite should be cared for by a health care professional as should all bites but death from a sidewinder bite is all but unheard of even in untreated bites. As for small prey,

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