One of several Bamboo Vipers found on steep hillsides in Karnataka, India, a couple of years back.

A large Regal Ringnecked Snake greeted me in my driveway as I headed out for the night to look for snakes. Ironically, this was the species I was hoping to see when I set out. This one was about 20″ long, which is large for a ringneck, though not so much so in Arizona. I […]

A Blacktailed Rattlesnake from southeastern Arizona. They are large, common rattlesnakes in the mountainous regions of much of the state, where they are often misidentified over generations as Mojave Rattlesnakes due to a misunderstanding of the color green in rattlesnakes.

A Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake making it difficult to tell where snake ends and rock begins.

A young Sonoran Desert Tortoise making its way down a hillside in the early spring. About a month later, fire tore through the area. While it can’t be known if this tortoise, or the Gila Monster resting a few meters away, survived, a return visit to the area later in the season makes it doubtful. […]

An Arizona Black Rattlesnake resting in partial cover after an exceptionally rainy few days. In this area, along the eastern edge of their range in Arizona, the species can look a bit different. The light bands on this individual, for instance, are wide, in some cases as wide as the darker blotches they surround, and […]

A good-sized Costa Rican Coralsnake we saw in the grass on a family vacation. These are very different than the coralsnakes we have back in Arizona. It’s much larger and willing to strike, which it did repeatedly. These snakes are a handful to get photos of, but we managed and let it disappear back into […]

A Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake resting in the shade outside its summer aestivation den. It’s one of a handful that gather here each year to hide from the heat and gestate.

We found this tiny young Sonoran Desert Tortoise cruising around the base of a basalt mountain in the harsh, remote desert of southwestern Arizona. This little one had likely just started its springtime wandering, looking to take in as many blossoms and young green leaves as possible before the heat forces it underground for a […]

A young Mojave Rattlesnake at rest, lifted just off the surface of the warm sand to get a little air flow. Thermoregulation is far from just “sunning” – much of the activity of reptiles in the desert during the summer is about getting cooler, rather than warmer.