A Black-necked Gartersnake we found while hiking a high-elevation stream in Greenlee County, Arizona. This one had lost its pattern entirely, becoming solid grey animal with stripes and its characteristic black patches behind the head.
A Regal Ringnecked Snake we found in central Arizona many years ago. These are venomous, but harmless, eating a wide variety of prey from invertebrates to other snakes. The red color under the tail, which is shown here in defensive display, is just a hint at the bright colors that run the length of the belly.
A Tiger Rattlesnake found in a very heavily visited park. This old snake is one of just a handful of Tiger Rattlesnakes that are known to remain in the park, and likely is very good at evading detection by hikers. This deconstructed, purple-ish tone look is typical for the species in the area. It now carries a PIT tag that will confirm its identity on future sightings.
A young Grand Canyon Rattlesnake I found near its namesake a little over a decade ago. As this snake matures, the clean pattern of its head and body will fade and degrade to a series of dark splotches and smudges against a simple background.
We saw this Western Diamondback Rattlesnake resting high on a ledge, just below a crevice where at least one other was resting.
Arizona Ridgnosed Rattlesnakes are common in a few mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona, but not found in the desert environments where most people live. They are usually seen by hikers and wildlife observers in the daytime, but often found moving at night as well.
A Banded Sandsnake from my own backyard. These are tiny, even as adults. This one is a bit shorter than a pencil, and likely won’t get any bigger. They eat invertebrates, don’t bite, and are completely harmless to people and pets. They’re also very often mistaken for Western Groundsnakes, which look superficially similar.
A neonate Western Diamondback Rattlesnake was spotted coiled near the rodent burrow it has been hiding out in during its first weeks of life. This was in July of last year, so it had to have been born pretty early in the season, relatively, to be by itself at that point.
Sonoran Sidewinders are common snakes found in flat, sandy areas of southern Arizona. They used to inhabit nearly the entirety of the Phoenix metro valley, with records below Camelback Mountain and throughout Scottsdale. Of the rattlesnake species in the region, however, they are the first to die out as soon as an area is closed in by roads. This one was found near Phoenix in an area where they are still common, but future development will change that dramatically, soon.
A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake I found in ambush on a late-night hike in a desert canyon. When it’s hot, these snakes are mostly nocturnal, only seeing daylight shortly after sunup for much of the summer.
