Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes are threatened by commercial collection, indiscriminate killing, traffic, habitat destruction, and natural predators.



EDBs are commercially collected for "rattlesnake roundups."



EDBs are also threatened by indiscriminate killing by unenlightened individuals. This is through hate and misunderstanding the actual value of the animal to the ecosystem.



As more and more roads have criss-crossed EDB habitat, many snakes have lost their lives to traffic.



Habitat destruction is perhaps the biggest threat to the EDB. Less than 2 percent of the original long-leaf pine forest remains in the Southeast. EDBs are forced to adapt to living in areas inhabited by people. This causes confrontations that more often than not ends in the snake's death.



Natural predators for full grown EDBs are rare. Young diamondbacks are often eaten by birds of prey, hogs, other snakes, wild cats, and most any other meat eating animal.