This species of rattlesnake is relatively rare in Texas (and inasmuch as it is considered threatened, is protected from sport hunting and collecting in the state: per comments received by Brandon McHenry, of the TPWD, the reader is invited to review the material posted by Texas Parks & Wildlife on this serpent), but is more common in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. It inhabits lowland forests, hilly woodlands near water courses, ponds, and lakes, and canebrakes across the eastern Texas gulf coast. [...]