Eastern massasauga rattlesnake gives birth at University of Michigan botanical gardens

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Congratulations are in order for Michigan's only brand of venomous snake — a threatened species — and the staff at the University of Michigan's busy botanical gardens, as it turns out.
An Eastern massasauga rattlesnake later dubbed 'Gertrude' or 'Gertie' slithered into an open drainpipe at the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor Township earlier this summer.
She liked it so much, she gave birth there.
Roughly 12 baby snakes were spotted around the end of July and early August with the Massasauga mom in the drain tile in the Great Lakes Gardens of the property, said Steven Parrish, natural areas specialist for the gardens, Nichols Arboretum and two other properties.
A staff chat was abuzz with photos, heart emojis and exclamations with the news of Gertie, Parrish said.
'It's a really good opportunity to show visitors and staff the magic of nature — of the elusive creature you can still witness,' Parrish said.
Michigan is the last stronghold for the threatened rattlesnake, and Washtenaw County — where the gardens and arboretum are located — is a stronghold in and of itself, Parrish said.
More: Do any venomous snakes live in Michigan? What to know as snakes come out from hibernation
The botanical gardens have signs about the snakes and the gardens' website notes a commitment to restoring and protecting their habitat.
It's a rough estimate but Parrish believes there are about 50 such snakes in their neck of the woods at any given time. However, he's only seen two snakes together at once during his more than a decade at the botanical gardens.
That makes seeing so many together notable.
A video posted on the gardens' Instagram gave proof of the scaly, slithering clan. It also showed staff went back and forth about the adult snake's name, tossing out 'Petunia' and 'Al' before the births.
Viewing the birth of the threatened snake is a 'one in a million shot,' in the eyes of Thomas Goniea, a fisheries biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. His department deals with permitting related to amphibians and reptiles.
'When you have an encounter with something rare, it gets people excited,' he said.
The snakes aren't aggressive and given their size — roughly 24 inches on average — don't deliver much venom when they do bite, said Goniea. They also can't strike very far, and more often are just hoping people walk past them without any notice or interaction.
While someone would need to go to a hospital after a bite, there are relatively few bites every year and no fatalities have been reported in 75 years, Goniea said.
The last bites recorded at the botanical gardens were about 10 years ago, to Parrish's memory.
One involved a woman going into grasses without proper shoes on, officials reported at the time.
The level of excitement from the public shows a bit of the changing tides of public perception for these wetland snakes, Goniea said. It's been persecuted.
Parrish said the births show that maybe there is still hope, even with so much of the natural world under threat, he said.
'The snake is so feared,' he said. 'From my observations: people witnessing the snake, at first, they're really scared but then if you just sit there quietly and observe it, you can see that it's not a creature full of malice ... and that it is in fact something to behold.
'Something that is ancient and full of reverence, I would say.'
Staff put up cones and signs to alert people to the snakes' presence while Gertie made the drain tile her home. As it goes, she and her babies have since slithered away.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Eastern massasauga rattlesnake gives birth at Matthaei Botanical Gardens
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