I was out on the last day in August with my good herping friend Kris Haas dodging flash floods and racking up the snakes when we found a neonate Mojave Rattlesnake, Crotalus scutulatus, making his way across the road. I slammed on the brakes, dropped my window, and sent us backwards to confirm the snake and park for photos. Before I was able to turn off the car we could hear the familiar “ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhchchchc” way off into the desert to our right; it was another snake. We couldn’t believe it, by the sound of it the snake was qay off in the distance, and it seemed unlikely it could possibly be rattling at us at this distance. Kris went off to catch the little guy, and I went off into the bushes to find the noisy guy.
He was easy to find; I just followed the sound. He was under a tree a good 100′ or more from where we first heard him inside the truck with the engine running. Crazy luck.
Here’s the little guy, followed by the angry noise maker.
Tags: arizona, Crotalus scutulatus, field herping in arizona, herping, maricopa county, rattlesnakes, snake
