We’ve been to this Ahwatukee home quite a few times over the years, usually for Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes. With the property sitting close to a rocky hillside in the preserve, that’s not particularly surprising.
This one was coiled beneath the north-facing back porch awning, realistically about the best place it could have ended up around the home on a day this hot. The shade there gave it a place to escape the worst of the daytime heat.
Austin captured the snake and hiked it back into the preserve within its estimated home range. He released it into a deep caliche cave where we’ve released other rattlesnakes from this same neighborhood in the past.
