We never know what we will run into on our Joshua Tree Adventure Tour. This day we came across two Speckled Rattlesnakes breeding. What a rare sight indeed! Rattlesnakes living in the California deserts reproduce in spring providing winter rains have been adequate. This year we had quite a bit of rain. A male generally locates a female by following her scented trail on the ground. Once located, a male loosely twines his body around the female and inserts one of his two hemipenes into her cloacal opening. Fertilization is internal. Approximately sixteen weeks after mating, the female gives birth to from eight to ten live young. The young rattlers are fully formed and venomous at birth, with only one rattle segment. It may take several months to grow two rattle segments; which will produce a faint buzzing sound. Throughout the ten-to-twenty-year life of the rattlesnake, a new segment appears each time its skin is shed. Skin shedding takes place as often as seven times a year!