A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake out basking in early Spring at its den. An hour later, this animal was out on the crawl looking for females to court, and make sure rival males stick to their own rocks.

Western Pygmy Rattlesnake, Sistrurus miliarius streckeri – the first I have seen. This was actually a pretty big one! At around 18″-20″, it was much larger than the majority of Sistrurus sp. I’ve seen elsewhere, and about twice the size of the others found in subsequent days. This leaves one last subspecies of rattlesnake for […]

If you’re anywhere in the western US, these lizards are familiar. The Common Side-blotched Lizard lives throughout even the most urbanized areas of Phoenix and Tucson, running up and down the block and stucco approximation of natural habitat. This one is particularly colorful, giving me side-eye while I took a few photos.

Only a half mile from camp into a night hike in the Peruvian Amazon, I saw this Fer-de-lance moving to an elevated position on a meter-high buttress … right in the middle of the trail. These snakes can be anywhere at any time.

A pink Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake resting in rocks near the Rattlesnake Solutions office in the first morning sun, This snake uses the same area each year, showing up around June and leaving once aestivation is no longer necessary during the monsoon. Where it goes in the cooler months is unknown, but the tight site fidelity […]

A Speckled Rattlesnake on a small, ridiculously hot Mexican island. In the sparse vegetation littered with bones of cetaceans and fish, these small rattlesnakes survive.

A large Tiger Rattlesnake in a loose ambush coil near a series of rodent nests. This one was found just after sunup in a heavily urbanized area. Not all hunting postures for rattlesnakes are simple coils. Rattlesnakes may actively track, then settle in for a relatively short period, then move and set up again. I […]

Several Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes moving around their winter den on a cloudy, warm Spring day near Tucson. These snakes move daily on the surface like this, mostly avoiding detection, for a few weeks during their transition from hibernation to spring hunting. During that time, a lot of social activity takes place.

A Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii) we found in Baja California several years ago, doing its thing in exposed basalt and sand.

A Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake waiting for an unlucky animal to come along in Phoenix. These locations are carefully selected, often after tracking a scent trail for some distance to find an ideal ambush situation.