Are baby rattlesnakes really more dangerous than adults?

I stopped dead in my tracks, turned and watched in sheer terror as the father fell into a long-winded sermon about the well-known “fact” that baby venomous snakes are always much more dangerous than their adult forebearers. I wanted to rush forward and scream, “Don't believe it! read more

No. Of course not. I worked at the Atlanta Zoo’s Reptile House in 1969, when it was still called the Grant Park Reptile Institute. The curator was named Howard Hunt and the assistant curator Howard Lawler. They can vouch for this story. I was the keeper of pit-vipers, including the rattlesnakes. read more

Finally, the fourth assumption states that a bite from a young snake that has no control over the amount of venom it injects is more dangerous than a learned adult. But, there are some big snakes out there, and just a fraction of their total venom capacity could be more than 100% of a young snake’s potential venom output. read more