Coachwhips are out and about on even the hottest days, rarely active at night. But they can still be found where they sleep, which is often up in trees high off the ground. We spotted this one doing just that just above eye level on a late night hike. These long, slender snakes are great climbers, and this is a reasonably safe spot for such an animal to evade predators and get off the hot ground.
A Madrean Mountain Kingsnake from the southeastern corner of the state. These colorful snakes can be surprisingly difficult to spot, despite their bright coloration. In the low, dappled light and noisy background of their woodland environment, there’s not a “snake shape” to see, and they’re easy to walk right by.
A Chihuahuan Hooknosed Snake we found in Cochise County, Arizona. These small snakes have a specialized scale on its face that it can use to help it uncover its prey: arachnids and centipedes. Of the snakes that can be found in Arizona, this is one of the least often seen, even by snake enthusiasts.
This one became defensive as it was being photographed, striking repeatedly at the camera with a closed mouth. This is a good example of why the popular saying “if it has a mouth, it can bite” is missing a critical component to be relevant: not just can it bite, but WILL it bite. This little snake says no.
Yellow-Green Cat Snake with Nova Inventa on a trip to the Western Ghats in India, 2023.
Camping and fishing along any waterway along the rim in Arizona, it’s common to see gartersnakes cruising around the vegetation. There are several species of gartersnakes in Arizona, but this may be the most commonly encountered. Wandering Gartersnakes are a subspecies of Western Terrestrial Gartersnake that inhabit a variety of habitat, though are most often spotted in shallow water going after tadpoles and small fish.
A Sonoran Whipsnake from near Phoenix, Arizona. These fast, diurnal animals can be seen on occasion darting across trails or roads, even in the peak heat of the day. Large, forward-facing eyes and a body style made for speed mean that any lizard that ends up in its sight isn’t going to have a good day.
They show up from time to time at homes at the very edges of the city. Based on our records of snake encounters at homes over the last 16 years, they are not as good at adapting to semi-developed areas as other, similar species, like coachwhips.
A few years ago, I saw what would be the only known record of one in the Piestewa Peak preserve area. It was in the middle of the night, resting in loose rocks in front of a spot where several Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes were about to give birth. Sonoran Whipsnakes include rattlesnakes in their diet, and I assumed it was waiting for that opportunity. Unfortunately, I chose to slowly reach for my camera rather than dive into to rocks to grab it, and it escaped without a photo record. So, an observation went into the notes for the night’s field session, but the preserve is still without an official record.
da Frota JG, Sawaya RJ, Spina F. Masticophis bilineatus (Sonoran Whipsnake). Prey. Herpetol Rev. 2003;34(2):149. Available from: https://search.proquest.com/openview/44f1b08a1f0af1087379c71528a42f09/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=3345
Hibbitts TJ. Masticophis bilineatus. Herpetol Rev. 2023;54(1):128. Available from: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&asa=N&AN=171889940
If you walk a stream in much of Arizona right now, there’s a good chance you’ll run into one of these. It’s a Black-necked Gartersnake, getting breath and a break between dives to eat tadpoles. In any of the isolated pools along this drainage, there may be one or two, filling up on these seasonal globs of protein while they can. This particular snake is a very small baby, likely not much different in age than the tadpoles it’s hunting.
A Sonoran Lyresnake seen late at night on a hike in a remote mountain range in extreme southwestern Arizona. These cryptic, nocturnal snakes live in rocky areas, where they take a variety of prey using venom. But, unless you’re a lizard, you have nothing to fear from this snake … if you ever even see one.
A Spotted Leafnosed Snake found late at night a couple of summers ago. While many snakes are tucked away in late May and June to wait for the monsoon, these snakes are very active. The reason: lizard eggs. These are reptile egg specialists, and June is a great time to be out looking for them to eat. The “leaf” on its nose is a kind of shovel, to help push through soil to get to them. They’re small snakes, less than a foot long typically, and entirely harmless. If captured, they may coil and strike repeatedly with a hiss, but if you look closely, their mouth is closed the entire time. It’s sometimes said that “anything with a mouth can bite”, but can and will aren’t the same thing.
A beast of a Lyresnake! These are typically slender snakes, but this has been very successful. At first it looked like a gophersnake, with a chunky build and round face. These are cryptic snakes that few people that live in Arizona, even born here, will ever see.
