A thin Western Diamondback Rattlesnake stopped for a moment while crossing a dirt road. Often, this behavior is misinterpreted as “sunning”. While snakes may stop to bask like this, in many cases, it’s just that the snake saw the observer first and stopped moving in hopes the perceived predator will not notice it. They don’t […]

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake on the move late at night in Phoenix. These snakes are the most commonly encountered snake on many trails in the area. For the reasons you can see here, and others, these snakes are quite often misidentified as Tiger Rattlesnakes when people see them. At popular trails like Piestewa (not where this […]

Sonoran Lyresnake from the southwestern corner of Arizona. These snakes are common in the right habitat, but most lifelong Arizona residents will never see one. The large eyes indicate one of the reasons: they’re primarily nocturnal, often moving late at night long after temperatures have cooled enough to have stopped most other snake activity.

An Arizona Black Rattlesnake from the far-eastern end of their range. This species’ appearance can vary from entirely black to light shades of grey and purple and change color from day to day. Many grow into adults that aren’t black at all. From some areas, they may look strange. But, this may be only bias […]

Translucent cave millipedes were everywhere as we descended deep into a Slovenian cave, searching for an Olm.

I spotted this Northern Blacktailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus molossus) resting about 4′ up in a tree on a hike in Yuma County, Arizona. Being up there can serve many purposes, from getting some cooler air on the belly to better hunting opportunities. This snake was likely hunting, waiting for one of the small birds and […]

One of several Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes drinking water from its hydrophobic scales after a surprise June rain a few years ago. These snakes group up, often alongside other species, to wait out the hottest, driest times of year. When a rare rain event does come, everyone comes out to soak and drink all they can. […]

A young Great Basin Rattlesnake found in the Arizona strip – an expansive, relatively isolated region between the Grand Canyon and Utah. In the transition to Great Basin desert grassland, this species is the only rattlesnake all the way north into Idaho, and West into Oregon and northern California. This young snake will fade with […]

An adult New Mexico Ridgenosed Rattlesnake from a few years back. Within the United States, climate change is quickly transforming its remaining habitat into hot, dry desert mountains under constant threat of fire.

A large Mexican Pygmy Rattlesnake from southern Mexico several years ago.