Rattlesnakes not rattling because of hogs

I don’t know if true but I’ve been hearing the same for years

they don’t rattle at my place on Matagorda peninsula. Not even the big ones. And there’s plenty of them

also plenty of pigs but it could be coincidental

we put dead rattlesnakes in the hog traps. They don’t last long

I doubt this. It would take many generations of most of the rattling rattlesnakes to get killed off prior to breeding for non-rattling rattle snakes to be predominant.

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So the bottom line is that there is no scientific evidence to back up such claims. Rattlesnakes will rattle (or not rattle) when and where they feel like it, irrespective of the presence of feral hogs.

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It does make sense in the grand scheme of survival of the fittest. In this case it isn’t that the snake that survives is more fit but more so if you rattle you give up your position and will be predated. So if there is a gene that makes you more prone to rattle then that gene would go away because they are more likely to be predated or think of it as less likely to reproduce and get their genes into next generation because they are frankly dead and can’t reproduce

I have heard theories about this with turkeys. Turkeys that are loudmouths are much more likely to be predated (by a four legged or two legged mammalian predator) I have given some thought to it and it does makes but whether or not it’s true may not be able to be proven

Millions of years to evolve to have rattles for a very specific reason...that isn't going to start to reverse in 20-50 years.

I hunt with a friend in woodville. He says the same about rattlesnakes not rattling due to hogs. He was telling me the other day that the hog population has increased and snake sightings have dropped quite a bit in the 35 years he’s been hunting there.

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Turkeys that are loudmouths are much more likely to be predated (by a four legged or two legged mammalian predator) I have given some thought to it and it does makes but whether or not it’s true may not be able to be proven

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The entire reason they gobble is to attract as many mates as possible, so at best it’ll wash out.

Kinda like fish, some are genetically predisposed to aggression and are more likely to be caught on an artificial lure, but those same fish are going to have higher growth rates and likely reproduce more.

Or maybe the hogs just eat a decent size portion of the rattlers so less are seen and therefore less rattle?

Rattling only occurs in certain circumstances, I’ve ran into more than a few that didn’t rattle.

The only way a rattler would learn to not rattle is to be eaten or attacked. As said those genetics aren’t going away in a snake in only a handful of years. It’s more likely just anecdotal evidence in an area with slightly less snakes due to hogs.