A young Grand Canyon Rattlesnake found in the rocks alongside the Colorado River. This young male’s will fade considerably as it ages, but will likely not become the nearly unicolor look of mature females.
Young Grand Canyon Rattlesnake
Category: Snakes
Yellow-tailed Cribo
A very impressive animal – an adult Yellow-tailed Cribo found near camp in Peru.
Blacktailed Rattlesnake In New Mexico
A Blacktailed Rattlesnake resting on a log at the base of a massive rock outcrop in the New Mexico bootheel. This was found late in the season, and the snake likely spends the winter in a crevice up above alongside several others.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Resting In Sand
Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes are the most common rattlesnake in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, and likely the most encountered snake overall. This isn’t necessarily due to abundance alone – they’re large, noticeable, and can be noisy. This one, however, thought it wasn’t seen, and remained in this coil in wash sand until after I left.
Lowland Striped Blindsnake
A Lowland Striped Blindsnake from Guatemala. It’s a tiny, entirely harmless invertebrate specialist that doesn’t spend much time on the surface, so we were lucky to see one. Compared to the unicolor blindsnakes (Rena sp.) from the U.S., this one having some pattern and a bright yellow tail spine was very interesting. The thing they have in common with them though: they’re about impossible to photograph, and they smell like hell.
Blunt Headed Tree Snake Eating A Lizard
Crossing a metal bridge on a trail through the Costa Rican rainforest, we were stopped by the sight of a Blunt-headed Tree Snake in the latter stages of eating a small lizard. The lizard was still trying to escape, but the snake was not going to lose this one. These tree snakes, with their huge eyes and comically thin bodies, seem kind of goofy, so it was cool to see one doing what they do, and know that for as silly as they seem to be, to a sleeping anole it is a pretty terrifying animal.
Fer De Lance On The Trail
A Fer De Lance found resting in the center of the trail a short distance from camp in the Peruvian Amazon earlier in the year. The color and chaotic pattern of this snake would make it easy to miss, which could be a fatal mistake in the remote location we were at.
Slender Hognosed Pit Viper
A small viper from the relatively dry tropical forests of Pacific coastal Costa Rica. This Slender Hognosed Pit Viper was found crossing a path late at night. They are common in the area, and in good conditions, dozens can be seen in a single night.
Rainbow Boa in the Amazon
An especially bitey Rainbow Boa was found cruising around in the leaf litter between amazingly large trees in the Amazon. These snakes are popular in the pet trade, for obvious reasons. In the wild, they’re quick to defend themselves, understandably. I got some photos and watched it slide off into the darkness.
Arizona Black Rattlesnake Baby
One of several baby Arizona Black Rattlesnakes laying around outside a winter den earlier in the year. As this snake matures, it will likely darken to mute the contrast shown here and be nearly entirely black, like the other females present in the rocks behind it.
