How does the western diamondback rattlesnake see?

The western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) is a reptile in the order not recorded. Its eyes belong to the vision type Snake with heat pits: eyes (2-3 cones) plus a separate infrared image from pit organs (simulated from temperature proxies only).

Measured in this species: night vision. Estimated: no vision measurement in this species. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.

Sample scene drawn in code: a face with red lips, a green shirt, red and green apples, flowers and a colour strip, as a person sees it. — The sample scene as a person sees it.

The same sample scene rendered by the See Like Animals engine for the western diamondback rattlesnake's eyes, using the values in the table below. — The same scene rendered for the western diamondback rattlesnake (60° field of view, daylight).

See your photo as the western diamondback rattlesnakeThis species is in the free set of the tool. Your photo stays on your device.

What stands out

It has three colour receptor classes, like most people, but one of them sees ultraviolet.
It stops seeing flicker at 34.6 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.^[9][10]
Activity pattern: cathemeral.

The six dials

Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.

Vision values for the western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), catalogue-v1
Dial	Value	Evidence	Sources
Colour	Colour receptors 3 receptor classes: 368 nm (UVS), 485.5 nm (MWS (green)), 538.5 nm (MWS (green)) median receptor set of 6 measured colubroid snakes (superfamily Colubroidea, which contains Viperidae; no viperid measured in the tables): Arizona elegans, Hypsiglena torquata, Lampropeltis getula, Masticophis…	Group default	^[1]
Colour	Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet	Group default
Sharpness	No value in the catalogue.
Field of view	No value in the catalogue.
Sharp zones (foveas)	Number of foveas 2 mode of species-v1 relatives in class Squamata: Anolis carolinensis, Furcifer pardalis	Group default	^[2][3]
Sharp zones (foveas)	Fovea type central fovea, temporal	Group default	^[2][3]
Night vision	Activity pattern cathemeral mode of 3 rows (of 3 rows): Diurnal; cathemeral	Measured (not re-verified)	^[4][5][6]
	Pupil shape slit (or vertical elliptical)	Estimated	^[7][4]
	Rods vs cones mixed nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated	Derived	^[4][5][6]
Motion (flicker fusion)	Flicker fusion frequency 34.6 Hz median of 15 relatives in class Squamata: Phrynosoma cornutum, Sphaerodactylus inaguae, Anolis cristatellus, Anolis gundlachi, Anolis pulchellus, Iguana iguana	Group default	^{[8][9][10][11]}

Other senses

infrared (pit organs): optional separate overlay (off by default; needs scene temperature, which photos lack); never tints the colour render (Group default)

Related animals

Ball python same vision type
Green anole same order ()
Panther chameleon same order ()
Red-eared slider same order ()
Saltwater crocodile same order ()
Tokay gecko same order ()

More reptiles: all reptiles with measured vision data.

Sources

Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
species_v1:Fleishman et al. 1988 / Makaretz & Levine 1980
species_v1:Ott & Schaeffel 1995
Oskyrko O, Mi C, Meiri S, Du W. 2024. ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11 (doi:10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5). Dataset v1-2 (includes Meiri 2018 lizard traits). doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
Meiri 2024. SquamBase: a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecol Biogeogr (data Zenodo 10602503).. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10602503
Moura et al. 2024. A phylogeny-informed characterisation of global tetrapod traits addresses data gaps and biases. PLoS Biol 22:e3002658. TetrapodTraits v3.0.1.. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22536349
Banks MS, Sprague WW, Schmoll J, Parnell JAQ, Love GD. 2015. Science Advances 1:e1500391. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500391
Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718

Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?