14-05-2025
Colorado's Rattlesnake Mega Den Is Active Again and You Can See All 2,000 Snakes at Once
Project RattleCam started a livestream of a rattlesnake "mega den" in 2024, and now the stream is back for 2025
The hundreds of rattlesnakes in the den, located in Colorado, are active again after months of winter hibernation
The livestream allows researchers to monitor the rattlesnakes and gives animal lovers a chance to see the reptiles up RattleCam is back as over 2,000 snakes begin to emerge from hibernation.
The livestream was set up in 2024 through a collaboration between scientists from California Polytechnic State University, Central Coast Snake Services, and Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, according to USA Today.
RattleCam gives viewers a peek at the hundreds of wild rattlesnakes living in a "mega den" at an undisclosed piece of private property in Colorado. After hibernating for several months, the den's snakes are starting to emerge to shed their skins and soak up the sun.
Many of the female rattlesnakes in the Colorado den are believed to be pregnant and will likely spend the warmer months giving birth and tending to their young, according to the Project RattleCam website.
Owen Bachhuber, a California Polytechnic State University graduate student and member of the Project RattleCam team, said researchers expect the mega den's snakes to become active again throughout May.
Bacchhuber told USA Today that the location of the Colorado den will remain undisclosed to protect the snakes.
The mega den's live stream began in Spring 2024 and rapidly gained 2.5 million views, reaching 180,000 viewers a day in some cases.
Bacchhuber and his colleagues use the livestream to study the rattlesnakes and to "show them off to everyone around the world," Bacchhuber told Axios Denver.
The RattleCam team captures the livestream by taking turns manually operating a tripod throughout the day. Donations make the project possible and are needed now more than ever, with "the federal government is cutting science [funding] in every place it can," Bacchhuber added.
Bacchhuber and other researchers keep managing the stream fun by naming dozens of snakes from the mega den. One of the snakes is named Lasagna because of her identifiable characteristic of folding her body "like a big pan of lasagna."
Twitchy is another snake who is considered "a ladies man" because he "love[s] to put on a show" for the females and gets fidgety in their presence.
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The female mega den snakes carry their young for three to four months before delivering between eight and 17 babies. RattleCam will remain active at the den throughout the birthing season, so animal lovers will have a front-row seat to the arrival of all the new mega den members.
Read the original article on People
