Some users on social media share a photo claiming that a rattlesnake sucks her cubs. The photo is fake. Rattlesnakes do not snake. The photo shows a number of dead snakes arranged on a table. Some viewers may find this disturbing.
A Facebook post with the photo posted here on March 3, 2021 reads: ‘PSA: Spring is the time of year when baby rattlesnakes are born. The moms are very protective, especially when feeding. Be careful out there. ”
Reuters could not determine the original source of the photo. It looks like it shows a decapitated rattlesnake with smaller snakes, possibly young rattlesnakes, next to it.
A reverse search on the photo showed that the image has been spreading on Facebook (here, here) and in blog posts here since at least early March 2016.
Unlike mammals (here), reptiles do not milk their young. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica here, “so far no reptile, living or extinct, has developed specialized skin glands to feed its young”.
Rattlesnakes are ovoviviparous snakes, meaning they do not lay eggs. The female carries them in the body for about three months and gives birth to live young snakes (here). Young rattlesnakes are born (here) with teeth and feed largely on lizards. As they grow, their diet consists mainly of small mammals, including rodents (here).
Colorado’s 9News deducted the same claim in 2017 here. At the time, Tim Trout, a snake expert at Denver Zoo, told 9News: ‘Snakes do not have milk. Rattles do not come out. There is probably very little to no parental care in rattlesnakes. ”
One of the earliest repetitions Reuters found on public groups and Facebook pages, dated March 4, 2016, was posted ‘as a joke’, according to the author of the report.
VERDICT
Failure. Rattlesnakes, like other reptiles, do not have mammary glands and do not nurse their young.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.