Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake

Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
Squamata
Suborder:
Serpentes
Family:
Viperidae
Subfamily:
Crotalinae
Genus:
Crotalus
Species:
C. catalinensis

Rattlesnakes all breed the same way. All offspring are born alive, like miniature versions of their parents. They are considered ovoviviparous. Since the time of birth, these snakes are pretty much on their own. Only the fittest, I guess you could say, survive. The rattlesnake’s venom is more toxic when they are young. They also are born without rattlers, which might help them sneak up on their prey. This particular breed of rattlesnake also happens to loose its rattler after it has grown and had its first shed.
Since the rattlesnake is not cared for by its parents, I think I will choose the fact that this small rattler has very potent venom when it is young. I would choose their venom because it is more toxic at a younger age, and it would be useful in making antivenoms. I would try to see if there was a way to make the snake produce more venom than normal. I do believe that it would take lost of biochemistry in order to complete this task, if at all possible. If more venom was able to be made by these snakes, then we could have these snakes mate on a large scale, and keep secreting venom for antivenom.
I have come to a stand still in my experiment. I have just realized the potential for a new species. This new species could potentially grow small, short, stubby legs. After trying to find out if this type of snake could yield more venom, we noticed that its gene makeup is very similar to that of certain gecko species. If we could splice their genes together they would probably grow legs, which could make them potentially an even bigger threat to humans, and other species.
I recommend that we proceed with the antivenom experiment, but not the splicing of genes for a new species. This new species, to me, has no usefulness and would probably be better of extracted from society. I do believe it is ethical to proceed with the antivenom experiment. These snakes are very harmful to humans, and antivenom is always useful and sometimes scarce to come across. I recommend we start by December. This will give us plenty of time to collect these rattlesnakes, and potentially have them mate for our first experiments.

http://www.120.it/pet/Food/Reptile/Snake/snake_reproduction.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_catalinensis