… continued from part 1, 2 and 3.

In the morning we went to see the caves. I’ll keep this post separate, since it’s a lot of cave pictures, and this site isn’t called caveexplorer.com.

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

If you want to see more, I uploaded the full set to my Flickr account.

That’s it for this one! I have a few more posts to go.

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… continued from part 1 and part 2.

We eventually arrived at my parent’s house in Carlsbad mid-morning. After relaxing a bit, we went out to an area near town to see what there is to see. I brought my parents with me as well.

Here’s my mom holding a Red-Spotted Toad (Anaxyrus punctatus formerly Bufu punctatus), followed by another picture of him.

Mom and Red-Spotted Toad

Anaxyrus punctatus

Then we found my favorite of the desert toads, a female Couch’s Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus couchii) out and about. They look so weird, with the huge eyes and bony spurs of a true desert specialist. I was glad to find one and show my parents some of the cooler stuff that lives out here.

Scaphiopus couchii

Then we found the first vinegaroon I’ve ever seen in the wild. We ended up seeing a few others, but didn’t stop. The body was a few inches long … bigger than I thought they’d be. Completely harmless, other than his looks and smells.

vinegaroon

If you try and touch them, they get pissed quickly.

vinegaroon

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… continued from part 1.

We crossed into New Mexico about a half hour after dark and headed East. We found another young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) pretty quickly. It had a pretty minimal pattern on it, and had more pink coloration than I’m used to seeing in the Phoenix area.

Crotalus atrox

Then we found another Desert Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula splendida), this one a good deal larger than the last one. The first picture is Kelly holding him up.

Kelly with a Kingsnake

Desert Kingsnake

Desert Kingsnake

Next we found a pinkish-looking Western Diamondback Rattlesnake with a very washed out, light pattern.

Diamondback

The last snake of the evening was another nice, clean Diamondback.

Crotalus atrox

… and that’s that for this one! I’ve got a few more posts yet to make of this trip.

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We left at about 2 in the afternoon to take the long route to the border, and then use some backroads to get to El Paso for the night.

The area along the Arizona/New Mexico border was just finished being pounded by monsoonal rain. The air was in the upper 70’s, which is a little on the cool side for late July. Everything was washed in glowing orange as the sun set, so we stopped to get some dramatic pictures of the rocks and road before the rain started in again.

Sun-lit rocks in Arizona

Sun-lit rocks in Arizona

Just Northeast of Douglas, Arizona

Just Northeast of Douglas, Arizona

It didn’t take long to find a Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox) with the decently clean pattern we usually find in that area.

Crotalus atrox from Eastern Arizona

Crotalus atrox from Eastern Arizona

Then we found a nice yellow Desert Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula splendida). I didn’t really get a good picture of him though because I didn’t see the pile of fire ants that I was standing on. One made it up my pant leg and stung me a good dozen or so times on the knee before I was able to kill it. Fire ants suck. When I’m done posting this I’m going to see if Amazon has any specials on magnifying glasses. Anyway, I got a decent picture of the snake before being driven back to the truck.

Desert Kingsnake

Desert Kingsnake

We were expecting the giant storm to our East to end our herping early, but it fell apart after it got dark, leaving smooth skies and lightning here and there in the distance.

With my entire leg throbbing from fire ant venom, we found a neonate Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) out trying not to be eaten in his first few days of life.

Crotalus scutulatus

Crotalus scutulatus

Here’s a second picture zoomed out a little so you can see how tiny this little guy was. Coiled, he was about the diameter of a beer can.

Crotalus scutulatus

Crotalus scutulatus

That’s it for now; Chinese food should be here soon. I’ll post the rest from the trip in coming days, as I am able to work through the thousand or so photos I took in the last week.

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Here’s a picture of a Red-Spotted toad (Bufo punctatus) I took a few years ago. Just cleaning out some old stuff in the sort folder. In October, these guys can be found in great masses in the hills and mountains surrounding Phoenix, Arizona. This one is from the Superstition Mountains, where every overturned rock will produce 4-5 young toads when the time is right.

Red-Spotted Toad

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