Year of the Snake - No.42 Mojave Rattlesnake

Crotalus scutulatus

Mojave rattlesnake (or mohave) in lizard trap of death

When I go hiking in the desert near our house, one of my favorite spots to check for reptiles is the "Lizard Trap of Death," a pipe that comes out of the ground with a metal lid on it.  They go under the lid to get away from the sun, fall into the pipe and can't escape. So I usually check the pipe so I can rescue any lizards trapped there.

Recently, my dad, my friend Jack and I went out to check it. When my friend moved the lid, we heard a buzzing from inside the pipe.

We looked in and there was my first Mojave rattlesnake.

These are my favorite snakes in the world. They are very pretty and some scientists consider them to be the most dangerous snakes in North America. They have a very interesting venom that changes depending on their range. In some places it is neurotoxic (nerve-affecting) venom. In others, it's hemotoxic (blood and tissue-affecting) venom. And in some places, it is a combination of both in the same snake!

This was a pretty young snake. It was old enough to rattle but not very long. He seemed very angry when we first lifted up the lid. But he calmed down later. He was rescued with a snake hook, photographed, and left to be.

Year of the Snake - No. 41 Juvenile Western Diamondback

Crotalus atrox

On September 19, I went out to do my usual rock-flipping patrol -- we have a lot of rocks around the house and I go out to turn them regularly. I hadn't found any snakes under those rocks but I usually find a scorpion or two.

I turned over a rock and saw a tarantula in a cocoon. I knelt down to pick it up. I looked to my left and saw--just 5 inches from knee--this pretty, little diamondback. It was an example that snakes aren't all out to get you, because I was within easy striking range.

We kept checking on him all day. Later, we decided to capture him to show to our homeschool co-op. We kept him for a few days then released him further from the house.

I hope that showing him to the group helped lessen their fears about snakes.

The snake was about 12 inches long. He was a neonate, and could not even rattle yet.

Year of the Snake - No. 40 Juvenile Coachwhip

Masticophis flagellum is a diurnal (day) snake so it has excellent vision, as you can see from its large eyes. It is one of the few snakes you can find out during the day in the middle of the summer.

This is the fourth coachwhip I have seen this year. My sister Clara turned over a rock next to our house and found this one coiled underneath. When we tried to catch him, he reared up and struck many times. Eventually, we caught him and put him in a terrarium.  He is a very young snake, only about 12 inches long. We kept him for a week, then released him. 

I've also seen two adult coachwhips this year, but have not been able to get close enough to catch them. One I saw at a friend's birthday party -- a red streak disappearing into a bush. The other one I spotted from 20 feet away, too far to catch.

If you are interested in handling cobras or mambas, coachwhips are good practice. They are large, fast, and try to bite every time you pick them up.

Year of the Snake - No. 39 Sonoran Coralsnake

Micruroides euryxanthus

My dad and I were out on the back porch one evening about 7 p.m. I was trying to take a picture of lightening since it was the monsoon season. I was concentrating on the horizon when my dad said, "Hey, there's a snake!"

When I looked at it I was shocked to see a Coralsnake. I yelled, "It's a Coral!" I dropped my lens cap and ran inside to grab my small hook. We chased him around for a few minutes before scooping him up into a small plastic container.

This is the first one I have ever seen. I was surprised to see it because I wasn't sure their range came this far north. They are very pretty snakes, and are members of the elapid family (related to cobras, mambas and kraits).

This one was full-grown at about 15 inches. They are long and thin snakes with a very small head. Their venom is supposed to be 10 times as toxic as a king cobra's. But they are very shy, non-aggressive and you are lucky if you ever see one.

We kept him in a terrarium for a few days and showed him to our homeschool co-op. Then released him.

This coralsnake helped me win a dollar from a friend's dad who doubted it was a true coral snake. He has lived in the area for 38 years and this was only the 3rd coralsnake he has seen.

Some mimics of his pattern include Arizona Mountain Kingsnake and Shovel-nosed Snakes.

The Sonoran Shovel-nosed is probably the hardest to tell from it because the popular rhyme ("Red touch black, venom lack) doesn't apply. The Coralsnake has a black snout though. And the Sonoran Shovel-nosed has a very limited range.

Probably, the coolest find of the year. This one is worth 10!

Year of the Snake - No. 29 -38 - Rough Green, Queen & Watersnakes

Opheodrys aestivus

Regina septemvittata

We took a trip to visit our grandparents in Mississippi and our cousins in Tennessee. We found quite a bit.

No. 29 - Rough Green Snake
We found this snake after a very interesting hike at Noxubee Refuge. We had already seen an alligator, anole lizard, 20 toads, a mud turtle, a fence lizard and an unidentified skink.

Robert spotted this snake at eye-level in a bush after we walked past it. It looked completely like a vine. We picked him up and he didn't bite at all.

No. 30 - 33 - Queen Snake
We found several of these in a creek by our cousin's neighborhood in Nashville. On the first day I went out, I turned over a large flat rock and underneath was the Queen Snake and Northern Watersnake. I took them back to the house for photos and released them a few minutes later. When I went to release them, I also saw a big snapping turtle.

Nerodia sipedon will bite and hang on.

No. 34 - 38 - Northern Watersnakes

Unidentified salamander:
Let me know if you know which species this is. 

We found three of these at the same creek in Nashville. A couple were found under the same rocks as Queen Snakes. These are very agressive. When I picked one up, it latched onto my hand and held on. But they are probably some of my favorite snakes. I like their colors and habitat. And they bite, which makes them more exciting to catch.

We also saw several of these at Owl's Hill Nature Sanctuary outside Nashville.

Other Reptiles:
These photos are from the Nashville Zoo and Mississippi Museam of Natural Science in Jackson.

Collared lizard at Nashville Zoo.
I like the blur of the lizard's movement.

Mexican tiger rat snake at the Nashville Zoo.

Eyelash viper at Nashville Zoo.

Crotalus atrox at Misssissippi Museum of Natural Science.

Honorable mention: Groundsnake

This Sonora semiannulata was the biggest groundsnake I had ever seen.

My aunt Julie caught this 10-inch groundsnake in her backyard in Phoenix. Besides being beautiful, she was pregnant. Her body appeared very swollen toward the tail. After we had her for a few days, she laid four eggs. We have had them for a while, and unfortunately they have not hatched.

Earlier this year, our cousins also found a very pretty kingsnake in their yard, which they shared with us.

Although they live in the city, they have great luck finding snakes!

Year of the Snake - No. 27 & 28 Black-necked garter snakes

In early August, we found this juvenile garter snake in the wash on the way back from the creek. My dad also caught an adult on the road one morning.

Thamnophis cyrtopsis

Year of the Snake - No. 21-26 Terrestrial Garters

Aunt Chellie took this photo of Thamnophis elegans.

On a hike at Pumphouse Wash near Flagstaff at the end of June,we found five Wandering Garters (a subspecies of the Terrestrial Garter) in a couple of standing ponds. All were juveniles except for one.

During this hike, we also saw salamander larvae, the salamander's version of a tadpole.                                                                                      

Reptile Camp

At the beginning of June, I went to camp at the Phoenix Herpetelogical Camp. The camp had a little too much classroom work for my liking, but it was a great place to try out my new Nikon D3100.

Common boa

Crotalus horridus (or timber rattlesnake) is from the east coast and contrary to its Latin name it is not horrible. This snake was the first rattlesnake found by the early European settlers in North America, so it got a bad reputation.

Crotalus mitchellii (or speckled rattlesnake) like this are found in Arizona.

American alligator, juvenile.

A rescued Caymen Island Iguana named Tippi. She is missing her front right leg.  (Thank you, Sam, for the info!)

Year of the Snake - No. 20 Ground snake

My sister Clara caught this snake in early June while I was at camp in Phoenix. She was swimming in the creek and this snake came swimming by. The easiest catch ever. It was about 5 inches long, probably a juvenile. We released it back at the creek a week later. These snakes are mildly venomous and eat mostly invertebrates including scorpions.

Sonora semiannulata is immune to scorpion venom.

Year of the Snake - No. 19 Diamondback Rattlesnake

On my second visit, I found this Diamondback Rattlesnake coiled and basking in the sun.
I could still see the bulge from his cottontail dinner.

At the end of May, my dad came across this Diamondback one evening while walking down the wash. (The rest of us were in Flagstaff.)  The snake was stretched out across the wash. It had just struck a cottontail rabbit, which was lying motionless.

Crotalus atrox disappears under a rock.

Back home a couple days later, I decided to take a walk, break in my new camera and try to find that snake. I went to the place my dad said the snake was. I found him coiled up under an overhanging rock. I visited him a few times over the next couple days until he moved on.

The Diamondbacks I have found do not seem as tied to a location as the Arizona Black rattlesnakes. I can usually go back and see them two or three times, but they eventually move on.

Year of the Snake - No. 11,12,13,14,15, 16, 17, 18 Arizona Black Rattlesnakes

Crotalus cerberus (yes, like the three-headed dog of Greek mythology)

Over three weekends (Memorial Day, June 1, & June 22), we spotted eight Arizona Black Rattlesnakes near Flagstaff. We had returned to a place we found last year. These are interesting snakes because they are very attached to a certain location or even rock. They will come back to the same spot year after year. 

What's also interesting is that their color changes from day to night sometimes. Individual snakes can have very different personalities. One snake would sit for hours with me watching. Another time I was walking down a creek bed and one buzzed before I got within 10 feet. 

During the hottest part of the day, the snakes hide in cracks between rocks to stay cool.

A pregnant female keeps her body temperature warm by basking on the rocks.

This male snake rattled when I was 6 feet away and hadn't seen him yet. He was coiled up under some grass. I only saw the tip of his rattle and thought he might be a juvenile. But when I pushed the grass aside with my snake hook, I found he was an almost 3-foot long adult male (large for this species).  He didn't stop rattling and struck at me twice in the 10 minutes I was photographing him. By the way, I was well out of strike range. I think it was a bluff strike. 

Lizards of Note: Spiny Lizard, Fence Lizard, and Whiptail.

Sceloporus magister  shows how he got his name.

I caught this Desert Spiny Lizard trapped in a large round pipe sticking out of the ground near a cattle water tank. The pipe has a lid on it, which can trap lizards and is why I check it every time I am in the area.

These are common lizards here. Sometimes their heads are red and the males can have very blue throats. We found one recently that had a throat and stomach almost entirely blue.

A few weeks after I found a baby Spiny in an metal trash can outside our house.

Baby Spiny

Sceloporus tristichus

I found this Plateau Fence Lizard under some bricks near our house. These are very common around here and I see them almost daily on the trees. They are closely related to the Spiny Lizard, but much smaller. They both have spiny scales.

Fence lizards of various species are found as far east as Tennessee.

Aspidoscelis uniparens

This lizard was first spotted in mom's bedroom. We spied it a couple different places after that and finally caught it in our dining room. This is a Desert Grassland Whiptail. They are very common here. But this is the first I have caught because they are so fast.

These are an interesting lizard because they have one gender -- female. (Note the Latin name uniparens.) They fertilize their own eggs and all are clones of the mother.

Year of the Snake - No. 10 Western Patch-nosed Snake

Salvadora hexalepis 

I found this guy on the road on my way home from hiking. I had to hand carry this snake home because I already had a Spiny Lizard in my bag. (See next post.) I think he bit me 10 times during that walk.

We kept him for a week and then released him near our house.

These snakes have a patch on their nose for digging up the dirt to get at reptile eggs, which are part of their diet.

Year of the Snake - No. 9 California Kingsnake

Lampropeltis getula looks very nice against our 1950s carpet.
He has been released back to the wild.

I found this Kingsnake on May 23. It was in a place on the other side of the creek that we call the "Frog Ponds." He was about 3 feet long, not the longest I have found but very heavy.
His scales had quite a lot of damage, so he has probably been through a lot. I think he was hunting when I found him. He was moving along, putting his head in and out of holes.

Year of the Snake - No. 8 Gopher Snake (Young)

Pituophis catenifer

One evening on our way back from checking on our neighbor's chickens, I found this guy stretched out on the dirt road. He is the first Gopher Snake I have found this year. He is 24 inches long.

Although he was mellow when I first caught him, he sometimes acts aggressively. He coils and strikes, vibrates his tail, opens his mouth wide to try to intimidate. These are supposed to be very common, but I have not found that many.

Year of the Snake - No. 7 California Kingsnake (Adult)

Lampropeltis getula.

We found this California Kingsnake around 5 p.m. on May 5, it was climbing up the side of a wash. He is the biggest Kingsnake I have seen yet -- 4 feet long. We kept him for a week then released back where he was found.

This snake is longer than Sean.

Year of the Snake - No. 6 Diamondback Rattlesnake

Crotalus atrox

Walking the path along the creek on May 1, I spotted this guy stretched out on the trail. He was very large, at least 4 feet long, although I wasn't able to measure him exactly. This is the first rattlesnake I have found this year. This one never rattled at all. He sat coiled for a long time in a stand of bamboo before he moved off down a hole. I must have watched him for more than an hour.

The circular openings below the eyes are the heat-sensitive pits. His nostrils are above the pits and more slit-like.

P.S. The conditions for snakes must have been very good that day. Clara saw another rattlesnake disappear into the bushes before we could photograph it. I also saw a gartersnake in the water and would have caught it if my dog had not jumped right on top of it.

Year of the Snake - No. 5 Smith's Black-headed Snake

Tantilla hobartsmithi

I found this snake under a rock near a wash. I was on my way back from getting sand for the Nightsnake. It was less than an hour after I'd found the Nightsnake. He is really small, only 3.5 inches long, resembles an earthworm and is very fast. These snakes are mildly toxic.

This little snake is so fast we had to put him in a yogurt container to take the photos.