Long-tailed weasels (Neogale frenata) and timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) prey on each other. During the summer rattlesnakes will kill and consume weasels which are no bigger than rats–a common item in their diet. However, during winter when rattlesnakes are dormant, weasels enter their dens, drag them into the cold, and eat them. Mark Lotterhand, a naturalist who publishes videos on youtube, has documented the latter behavior. He frequently sets up trail cams next to rattlesnake dens, also known as hibernaculums. Reptiles don’t hibernate like mammals, but they do brumate–a lethargic state. Brumating rattlesnakes are too sluggish to defend themselves from warm-blooded quick weasels. These fierce little mammals often hunt for white-footed mice in rattlesnake dens, and they likely learned to exploit the snakes when they have trouble moving. Mr. Lotterhand doesn’t think this behavior threatens the meta population, but areas with low scattered populations of rattlesnakes could be more impacted.
Video and screenshot of the video showing weasels preying on rattlesnakes. From Mark Lotterhand’s YouTube channel. The range map is bullshit. I’m unaware of any scientific study that did a county-by-county survey of weasels. I’m certain the actual range map would be much patchier.
Long-tailed weasels prefer forest and forest edge habitat and don’t live where industrial scale farming has converted the land into huge grain fields. They depend upon rocky crevices and old growth den trees for habitat, and this may explain why I’ve never seen a weasel in or near Augusta, Georgia where I live. Until about 100 years ago, much of the Augusta area was surrounded by extensive cotton fields. (The boll weevil put an end to that.) In Richmond County there are few rocky areas and no old growth forests. Skunks are rare too. The only weasel I’ve ever seen in Georgia was during 1976 in Athens, Georgia when a young lady brought a baby weasel on the school bus to show to everybody. She’d found it in the woods and adopted the small animal. There are boulder fields in the piedmont region where Athens is located. The rocky crevices and chipmunks that live in them attract weasels. Range maps indicating weasels live with a continuous distribution over most of the U.S. are bullshit. I’m unaware of any county-by-county survey of weasels in the scientific literature, and I’m sure their distribution is much patchier.
Timber rattlesnakes do occur in the Augusta, Georgia area, and my neighbors hate and fear them. On one occasion, a former neighbor killed 2, and he was furious at me because I let the grass in my yard get tall. To me, they are just an interesting part of nature. One early 18th century expedition through the wilds of Kentucky constantly encountered rattlesnakes. (See: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/excerpts-from-the-journal-of-an-expedition-to-kentucky-in-1750/ )It was ideal habitat for rattlesnakes–lots of rocky woods, mostly uninhabited by people.
Long-tailed weasels have lived in North America for at least 500,000 years. They are well adapted for hunting small mammals. Their small shape and size allow them to enter rodent barrows and travel under snow. Pleistocene weasel remains have been found at 8 sites in Florida. At the Ladds fossil site in Bartow County, Georgia specimens (a cheekbone and a few teeth) that compared favorably to long-tailed weasel were found in 1966. (Google AI was ignorant of this fact. Maybe after I publish this article that information will be found on a google search.) Until 2021 the scientific name for this species was Mustela frenata, but it was changed to Neogale frenata.
Reference:
Mark Lotterhand’s youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@lotterhand
Patterson, B.; et al
“On the Nomenclature of the American clade of Weasels (Carnivora Mustelidae)”
Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (2) 2021
GeorgiaBeforePeople 