Quote Originally Posted by RedSidedSPR View Post
I've seen racers do that... Not rat snakes though... Man when they do that, you know it's gonna hurt whenyou grab him
pretty much every species of rat snake I have ever kept does the tail rattling. Even the asian king rats. I believe it's actually a defense mechanism common among many snakes from all over, but the rattle snake took it to the next level. It's not that snakes are trying to mimic the rattle snake, it's that a lot of snakes have always done the tail rattling and the rattlesnake took it a step further.