Fieldherper.com » Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Arizona Black Rattlesnake with a Fancy Tongue

Bryan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:44:04 +0000

I haven’t seen this before! Bright pink tongue coming out of that dark little venom-filled head.

Crotalus cerberus

Arizona Black Rattlesnake from a New Locale

Bryan — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:24:09 +0000

It feels good being right about stuff, especially after some hard work. I had an idea about new locations to find Arizona Black Rattlesnakes, Crotalus cerberus, and got to work looking at maps. A few days later, here’s the result; a big rattlesnake laying in ambush near a waterhole. It’s a great feeling to see these in general, but it’s especially fun when they prove a theory.

He’s pretty cool looking, too.

Crotalus cerberus

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Unexpected Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Bryan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:00:32 +0000

There’s an area very close to Phoenix where I have been herping for many years, and we found something I never ever expected to see there, an Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Crotalus cerberus.

This species is usually in the 4,000′ and above range, with lower records being about 3,000 or so. This one was at just over 2,300′, making it by far the lowest elevation I’ve ever seen one at, and definitely a rare treat for an area I would never expect to see one. It’s a cool looking snake as well.

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

A Beautiful Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Bryan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:35:24 +0000

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

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

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

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

AZ 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

Black Rattler

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Bryan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:00:53 +0000

After 10 hours of hard hiking and searching in the June heat, I found my target: the Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Crotalus cerberus. This is only the third I’ve ever seen, and the darkest coloration of my experience with them.

Here it is as it was found, sleeping in a rock cut

Crotalus cerberus

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

I left to search further into the canyon, but found nothing. On the way out, as the sun had just gone over the edge of the mountains, I found the same snake in a different location, about 100 feet from the original hideout. It was sleeping in the middle of the wash. I was able to once again sneak a few photos without disturbing the animal, and left without it even knowing I had found it both times.

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Crotalus cerberus