Field Herper.com

Field notes and photography by Bryan D. Hughes
Jan
13th
2010

Does Lime Keep Snakes Away?

No. Lime does not keep snakes away. Although your uncle may swear it does, it doesn’t. I realize a guy at work saw it with his own eyes, but he’s lying to you. There is not a powder or liquid you can pour around your property that will repel snakes.

Snakes come to your property for one of 3 reasons:

  1. They’re just passing through.
  2. They’re looking for food.
  3. They’re looking for shelter.

The first one may be a little tough to prevent, but the latter two are easy. I don’t know how many rattlesnakes I’ve pulled out of drip system flowerpots or from messy piles of yard debris. If you have things in your yard that attract rodents, you will attract snakes. If you have lots of good places to hide, you will attract snakes. Just keep your property free of these and you should not have nearly as much of a problem.

As for whether or not lime keeps snakes away; that’s just silly. It’s a myth, end of story. If you’re truly concerned, contact your local Fish and Game office.


 

Jan
12th
2010

My First Twin-Spotted Rattlesnake

The twin-spotted rattlesnake, Crotalus pricei, was the last of the 3 small montaine species of rattlesnake I have found. I’ve heard they are relatively easy to find if you’re in the right area, and I knew the right area, so I wasn’t in a particular hurry to find one. The day finally came and I decided to try for one. It wasn’t too long before I found it either, buzzing away below me. One more for the life list!

Crotalus pricei
Crotalus pricei
Twin Spot
Twin Spot
Twin Spotted Rattle Snake
Twin Spotted Rattle Snake

I did come back the next day with my sister to find one, but only put in half an ass worth of effort. I did see one, but it made it down into the rocks before I could get to it. Oh well.


 

Jan
8th
2010

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake from the Chiricuahua Mountains

I found this Black-Tailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, while hiking along a streambed with my sister in August of 2009. It was the first she had seen, unless you count the unfortunate roadkill we found near Douglass the night before. I love this species; it completely made our afternoon to find this guy.

Crotalus molossus
Crotalus molossus
Blacktail Rattlesnake
Blacktail Rattlesnake
Crotalus molossus
Crotalus molossus
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnake


 

Jan
5th
2010

A Beautiful Arizona Black Rattlesnake

My friend Diego had never seen an Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Crotalus cerberus, before. I’d only seen a handful myself, and my position just North of Phoenix puts me in a good place to see a lot of them, if I’d just get up there and try it out. We decided to meet up and try a new spot and see what happens. What happened were 4 cerberus in about an hour and a half!

When we first got there, we decided to hike a running creek to see what was out. All we found were Canyon Treefrogs, Hyla arenicolor, and a few thousand crawfish.

Canyon Treefrog
Canyon Treefrog
Hyla arenicolor
Hyla arenicolor

Then we waited for dark. Almost immediately after we started our new search, we found an absolutely amazing-looking male cerberus on the move. We both flipped out. It can’t get any darker than this. Although there is some pattern shown in the photograph, I’ve since seen this snake become pitch-black without a trace of pattern whatsoever. This one came home with me, and is sleeping in an enclosure 5 feet behind me as I type this.

Arizona Black Rattlesnake
Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Here’s a crappy picture of Diego playing “Try not to lose any fingers”.

Diego with cerb
Diego with cerb

About 5 minutes later, we found a second cerberus. This one was a little more typical-looking, with cream colored bands and various other chocolate hues crossing the body.

Crotalus cerberus
Crotalus cerberus
AZ Black Rattlesnake
AZ Black Rattlesnake
Another cool looking black rattlesnake
Another cool looking black rattlesnake

We found 2 more within the next hour, only one of which we photographed due to, uh, technical difficulties. The only 4 snakes we found that night were the ones we were looking for, which is a pretty cool night as far as we were concerned. Crotalus cerberus is quickly becoming one of my favorite Arizona snake.

Crotalus cerberus
Crotalus cerberus
Black Rattler
Black Rattler


 

Dec
29th
2009

Finding the Hopi Rattlesnake, Part 5

Continued from part 1, part 2, part 3 & part 4.

Final pictures of the series, the first Hopi Rattlesnakes, Crotalus viridis viridis, formally Crotalus viridis nuntius, found by Kelly and myself in the summer of 2009.

Crotalus viridis
Crotalus viridis
C. viridis viridis
C. viridis viridis
Hopi Rattlesnake
Hopi Rattlesnake
Dec
22nd
2009

Lubber Grasshoppers

In the Fall of 2008, South Eastern Arizona was absolutely flooded with these huge lubber grasshoppers. I first saw a few crossing a road and thought that they were male tarantulas out and about looking for mates, which is much more common in my experience. By the time I had returned to the area a month later, these were so numerous that there was almost no patch of ground, road, or water that didn’t have a few. I wonder what eats these? 

lubber grasshopper
Dec
18th
2009

Are You Threatening Me?

I respect lizards. Unlike cowardly snakes that try and escape immediately upon discovery, many lizards will go just a few feet and turn around to engage me in the most terrifying aspect of their being: pushups. Oh the humanity.

Here’s a Plateau Fence Lizard, Sceloporous tristichus, upon being discovered.

Plateau Fence Lizard
Plateau Fence Lizard

… and then, halfway around the tree, an attempt to scare me away. It worked; I left.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Dec
15th
2009

Whoops

I win
Dec
11th
2009

My First Desert Patchnose Snake

Here’s the first Desert Patchnose Snake (Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis) I encountered in the wild from several years ago. He appropriately bit the hell out of my finger and escaped up a sheer dirt wall before I could get any better photos. I love these guys; they’re like mini-coachwhips.

Salvadora hexalepis


Dec
8th
2009

Stripe-Tail Scorpion

I know this isn’t a lizard, but I still take pictures of them from time to time when things are slow. It’s (I believe so anyway) a stripe-tail scorpion (Vaejovis spinigeris), one of the more common scorpions I run into when flipping stuff over herping. The sting from these guys is maybe a little painful, but otherwise completely harmless to humans. Keep that in mind next time you see one out there trying to make a living and the douchebag behind you is yelling for its death.

Stripe Tail Scorpion
Dec
4th
2009

Round-Tailed Horned Lizards

Here are a few pictures of one of my favorite Arizona-native lizards, the Round-Tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma modestum). They always look so damn serious, which is even funnier when you meet one in person.

Sorry for the poor photos … these were taken quite awhile ago before I had decided to get into this as a full-on nerd activity.

Yoda
Little dude


 

Dec
1st
2009

Two Toads

Here are a couple of common toads found in abundance when the rain finally comes to the Arizona summer.

This first is a large Red-Spotted Toad, Bufo punctatus, found while looking for hopi rattlesnakes in Central Arizona.

The latter is a young Sonoran Desert Toad, Bufo alvarius, found with a 97 F air temperature and near zero humidity.

Bufo punctatus
Bufo punctatus
Sonoran Desert Toad
Sonoran Desert Toad