The Los Angeles Zoo announced that it has successfully bred the New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi obscurus).
The Los Angeles Zoo announced that it has successfully bred the New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi obscurus). The zoo announced that a litter of five were born August 18 and a single neonate was born on August 28. The zoo noted that this is the first litter born in the Project Obscurus recovery program for the species. Project Obscurus was formed in 2024 and builds on three decades of research and conservation efforts for the New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake.
Members of Project Obscurus includes the zoo, The Rattlesnake Conservancy, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, San Antonio Zoo, researchers, wildlife agencies, and other partners in conservation in New Mexico and Arizona.
“This incredible breeding success is a testament to our animal care team’s deep expertise in managing delicate montane pit vipers,” Byron Wusstig, curator of Ectotherms at Los Angeles Zoo said in a statement released to the media. “Being the first of the program partners to welcome these litters of New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnakes proves that our collaborative, science-based approach is working well. These two litters represent a tangible lifeline for a species whose numbers have drastically declined in the U.S.”
The six neonates and any potential offspring from these venomous snakes will be cared for by zoo staff and will eventually be released into their native Arizona or New Mexico as they mature and reach certain benchmarks, zoo officials said.
New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake mother and neonate. Photo by Luc Myers/courtesy L.A. Zoo
The New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake is considered the rarest rattlesnake in the United States and is listed as Threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is a small, pale gray to gray-brown pit viper that is shy. Its name, ridge-nosed is named after its upturned snout. It is limited to montane habitats between 5,000 and 8,000 feet (1,500 to 2,500 meters) in elevation. It is restricted to a small and fragmented area and lives in humid woodlands and grassy slopes. It reaches lengths of about 26 inches and feeds on lizards, small mammals, birds and invertebrates such as scorpions, and centipedes. A livebearer that gives birth to 1 to 9 young at a time, the snake is considered a “sky island” species in that it lives in isolated mountain ranges that are surrounded by hotter and drier lowlands in the Animas and Peloncillo Mountains of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona as well as in northern Mexico’s Sierra San Luis Mountains. The USFWS reports that in some localities where the snake is known to inhabit, it can take more than 800 hours to find a single snake.
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