With more than 2,000 snakes coming out of hibernation, the RattleCam is back.
Experts from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, Central Coast Snake Services, and California Polytechnic State University worked together to set up the webcast in 2024.
The hundreds of wild rattlesnakes that reside in a “mega den” on an unnamed piece of private property in Colorado are visible to spectators thanks to RattleCam.
The snakes in the den have been sleeping for months, but now they are beginning to come out to shed their skins and enjoy the sun.
According to the Project RattleCam website, several of the female rattlesnakes in the Colorado den are thought to be pregnant and will probably spend the warmer months giving birth and caring for their young.
Researchers anticipate the giant den’s snakes will reactivate throughout the month of May, according to Owen Bachhuber, a PhD student at California Polytechnic State University and a member of the Project RattleCam team.
According to Bacchhuber, the Colorado den’s location will be kept secret in order to safeguard the snakes.
Beginning in the spring of 2024, the mega den’s live feed quickly amassed 2.5 million views, with some viewers surpassing 180,000 per day.
In addition to studying the rattlesnakes, Bacchhuber and his team use the livestream to “show them off to everyone around the world,” he said.
Throughout the day, the RattleCam crew takes turns manually operating a tripod to record the webcast.
Given that “the federal government is cutting science [funding] in every place it can,” donations are more important than ever and enable the study, Bacchhuber continued.
By naming dozens of snakes from the huge den, Bacchhuber and other researchers continue to keep the feed entertaining.
Lasagna is the name given to one of the snakes because of her distinctive ability to fold her body “like a big pan of lasagna.”
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Another snake that is regarded as “a ladies man” is Twitchy, who becomes restless around women and “love[s] to put on a show” for them.
The female giant den snake gives birth to eight to seventeen babies after carrying them for three to four months. Animal lovers will have a front-row seat to the entrance of all the new mega den members because RattleCam will be operational at the den during the birthing season.
