This couple of female Arizona Black Rattlesnakes was hanging out at the entrance of a den a few summers ago. While these sites are more densely populated during the winter, they’ll also be used by gravid (pregnant) females during the summer, where they can be seen basking in preparation of the little ones during the […]

A morning flight out of Costa Rica gave me one extra evening near the airport in Liberia, Costa Rica, to end a family vacation. I went into the coastal thornscrub to see what there was to see, and found a few of these large Central American Lyresnakes. They seem thicker and less likely to bite […]

A Sonoran Lyresnake (Trimorphodon lambda) from border area of Arizona/Mexico earlier in the year. These are among the least often seen species of snakes in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, despite being quite common in the right habitat.

A Speckled Racer cruising through the undergrowth in extreme southern Texas. These snakes just barely enter the United States at this point, and can be found throughout tropical Central America and northern South America. Prior-Magee, J. S., & McKerrow, A. (2018). Speckled Racer (Drymobius margaritiferus) rSPRAx_CONUS_2001v1 Habitat Map. U.S. Geological Survey.

I saw this Tiger Rattlesnake moving along a rocky drainage on a hot summer morning. The wash was full of deep caves and access to cooler temperatures that it needed to survive the hottest time of year. She was also gravid, and in time she gave birth in these same caves.

I saw this big Blacktailed Rattlesnake crossing a roadway in the mountains southeast of Tucson. It had made most of its way across, and then did what cost many snakes their lives … it froze. These animals’ primary defense is not the famous rattle or a venomous bite, but camouflage. In most cases, that pattern […]

This pair of Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes were found at a den in central Arizona near the edge of the species range in the area. With at least fifty observable individuals, this is a large den for these snakes in the state, which is also shares with Blacktailed Rattlesnakes and Arizona Black Rattlesnakes. With multiple large […]

An Arizona Ridgnosed Rattlesnake from Cochise County, Arizona. This is a small rattlesnake that is found in a handful of mountainous areas in the southeastern corner of the state. A hiker may encounter one if they are in the Santa Rita, Patagonia, Huachuca, Canelo, or Whetstone ranges. Interestingly, every rancher and long-term resident of those […]

A brilliantly colored Speckled Rattlesnake from central Arizona. The rock in this particular spot doesn’t look very much like the snakes, but the occasional oxidized rock breaks off from higher and tumbles to the ground. When that orange rock sits under a bush or random location against the other grey and browns, it’s just part […]

This Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake, at the time this photo was taken, was very gravid (pregnant). She was in a cool area with higher ambient moisture, which is a special place during the heat of the summer in Arizona. She’s still there this year, though at the time I saw her, she was not notably gravid.