According to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, “The Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) is a heavy bodied snake with a triangular shaped head. There are two dark diagonal lines on each side of its face running from the eyes to its jaws. It has dark diamond-shaped patterns along is back. The tail has black and white bands just above the rattles.”

Do rattlesnakes hibernate?
This time of year, rattlesnakes are preparing to hibernate but are still active, hanging around shrubbery and rock-like features. When winter temperatures get too cold, snakes typically go underground or into natural shelters, like rockpiles or mammal burrows, to avoid freezing, says Pinal Central. And while they do tend to hibernate, that doesn’t mean we are free from rattlesnake encounters at any time. It is Arizona, after all.