ELLIS COUNTY – Although many Ellis County residents are all too familiar with the western diamondback rattlesnake, for academic purposes, Crotalus atrox did not exist in Ellis County.
That is, until Ellis County Commissioner Paul D. Perry and noted conservation scientist Raymond C. Telfair II, Ph.D., of Ennis teamed up to verify the presence of the species and describe their habitat and range.
For many years, Perry collected rattlesnake specimens from around the county, and for many years, he and Telfair attempted to have their documentation of C. atrox in Ellis County published.
Recently, the Texas Herpetological Society (THS) published the men’s research in abbreviated form.
“Our family property in Midlothian was actually called Rattlesnake Hill; before we purchased the place, a big den was dynamited there in the ’50s,” said Perry, who was raised in Midlothian, but now lives in the Milford area.
He also remembers dodging rattlesnakes while hauling square hay bales as a high schooler in Midlothian.
Academic publications have verified the existence of the western diamondback rattlesnake in Dallas and Tarrant counties to the north, and in Johnson and Hill counties to the west.
However, those official publications showed that the western diamondback’s range stopped short of Ellis County.
After a local Ellis County newspaper published an article regarding the removal of a rattlesnake by animal control officer James Fabby, Perry and Telfair set out on a mission to update the academic.
Perry gathered specimens and began collecting data. Telfair, a retired conservation scientist formerly with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, guided the academic details of the paper.
A portion of their documentation now appears in the Winter 2022 edition of the THS newsletter.
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