Sidewinder

Crotalus cerastes · The sidewinder is a small venomous pit viper, a type of rattlesnake, that lives in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.

Also called Horned rattlesnake, Sidewinder rattlesnake.

Sidewinder
Photo: Andrew Cattoir (Lake Mead National Recreation Area), Public domain
Sidewinder
Photo: Rstanton13, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sidewinder
Photo: National Park Service Digital Image Archives, Public domain

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyViperidae
GenusCrotalus
SpeciesCrotalus cerastes

Where it lives

Sandy deserts of the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico.

Fun facts

  • Unlike other United States rattlesnakes, female sidewinders grow larger than the males.
  • Young sidewinders wiggle their tails like a moth or a caterpillar to lure lizards close enough to catch.
  • Newborn sidewinders huddle together to plug their burrow entrance, and as a group they keep a steady temperature that would be deadly hot for one baby alone.
  • A sidewinder leaves J-shaped marks in loose sand as it moves, with the hook pointing the way it is travelling.

Play it

The Sidewinder was the creature in a regional daily on October 29, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).