Common Name: 
Pygmy rattlesnake

Scientific Name: 
Sistrurus miliarius

Identification: 12-25 in. Slate gray with a row 
of dark spots down the back and one row on 
each side, black band through eyes; belly gray 
or tan with brown blotches: The head is triangle 
shaped with vertically elliptic pupils and a loreal 
pit between each eye and nostril. Scales keeled.

Habits: Pygmy rattlesnakes occur in wooded 
areas such as pinelands and dry coastlands. 
They avoid swamps.

Distribution: Throughout Louisiana except the Mississippi River Valley and coastal marshes and prairie west of the Atchafalaya Basin.

Comments: This snake is called the ground rattler and is venomous. The pygmy rattlesnake has a small rattle on the tip of its tail, which is not sizeable enough to make a buzzing sound audible beyond a few feet. It is rarely encountered. The harmless backyard brown snake, Storeria dekayi is often mistaken for the pygmy rattlesnake.