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Beautiful Blacktail

Bryan — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:08:06 +0000

One of the ways that I’ve decided to take my hobby is to start speaking at events as a local snake ‘expert’. I have a pretty decent collection of native rattlesnakes at home, but it was finally time to go try and pick up a great specimen of my absolute favorite of Arizona rattlesnakes, the Northern Blacktailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus molossus. When it comes to blacktails, there aren’t any more beautiful than as can be found in the Sky Islands region of South East Arizona. I set aside 3 days to head to my favorite range and find my prize.

Success came on the first night, finding two absolutely knockout animals. After careful comparison, I decided that the larger, and higher contrast, of the two would come home with me. Before leaving the area, however, I took this photo of him in the rocks near where he was found, stretched out in the cold rain.

Crotalus molossus

For comparison, here is another blacktail, found in the McDowell mountains earlier in the year. You can clearly see why I looked to find mine in the range that I chose.

Sleepy lady

Blacktailed Rattlesnake Getting Out of the Summer Sun

Bryan — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:19:31 +0000

After a long day of searching without much to show for it, we found this guy sitting out the sunshine 30 steps from the car on the way out on a “let’s just check that shady spot really quick” time-waster. Glad we stopped!

Blacktailed Badass

Baby Blacktail

Bryan — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:26:57 +0000

Here’s the smallest Blacktailed Rattlesnake I’ve ever seen … I see plenty of these guys, so I’m not quite sure why I never see babies. Cute little guy.

C-m-molossus-082910

The Least Expected Rattlesnake Ever

Bryan — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:19:42 +0000

I was out cruising for snakes with my brother in August of 2010 in the sandy flats West of Phoenix and found something I never expected to. Where we were was the land of mojaves, sidewinders, and other flat-land loving sand surfers … quite far from the nearest rocky foothills where speckled rattlesnakes and blacktailed rattlesnakes can be found. Regardless, we found one! Even though it is plainly a C. molossus I was staring at, it was a situation where my brain wouldn’t let me believe it.

He’s missing the usual black eyescale that these guys have, and is a pretty standard desert-phase coloration. He was found crossing the road near a canal, so the best I can figure is that he was crawling between rock piles somewhere off on the horizon and got “stuck” against the uncrossable line, and had followed it here.

Interestingly enough, it’s not the first time I’d found a ‘mountains only’ kind of snake in this spot. The lyresnake (another snake that lives in the hills and mountains) in my collection was found less than a quarter mile from this spot. Strangeness.

Yavapai County Blacktail

Bryan — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:11:06 +0000

Here’s one of a few blacktails I’ve been keeping track of in a mountain range North of Phoenix. These are, at this point I am safe to say, my favorite species of rattlesnake.

My Favorite Species of Rattlesnake

Bryan — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:06:45 +0000

Here’s a really pretty desert phase Blacktailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, from a seldom herped area in Yavapai county. Every molossus I’ve seen in this area is a knock out, and this one is no exception. I was able to get in close for a photo and leave again without it waking up.

Blacktail

Here’s where he was sitting when found:

Crotalus molossus molossus

My First New Mexico Blacktail

Bryan — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:20:01 +0000

After a lot of searching … multiple weeks and hundreds of miles, I finally saw my first blacktailed rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, in Eastern New Mexico.

Crotalus molossus

Baby Blacktail in the New River Mountains

Bryan — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:41:32 +0000

I found this young Black-Tailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, in the New River mountains, in a pretty amazing spot that also is home to a good many Crotalus cerberus. This is also the youngest molossus I’ve ever seen in the wild. For only having two rattle segments, it was surprisingly large.

Crotalus molossus

Blacktail

… and you’ll have to endure my playing with HDR and the RAW format.

HDR version

A Black & Gold Mountain-Phase Blacktail

Bryan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:06:28 +0000

Here’s a beautiful blacktailed rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, we found near the Mexican border with Arizona. The lichen-covered rocks made a really cool background.

molossus

Blacktail

Crotalus molossus

blacktail

molossus

A Night in the Superstition Mountains. Diamondback, Blacktails, and a Lyresnake

Bryan — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:00:47 +0000

My wife and I went on a quick trip to the Superstition Mountains and had a little success. We spent maybe the most productive hiking hour at Tortilla Flats eating hamburgers, which had to be done eventually. I’ve driven past the place more times than I can count, but I’ve always been on my way somewhere … so we stopped and it was well worth it. We got out in time to get to our location for a quick 30 minute hike before it was time to cruise, and it paid off immediately. Only a hundred yards into our hike we found a large Blacktail Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, cruising through a dry wash. It was my wife’s first blacktail, so we spent a lot of time with it and took a lot of pictures.

Crotalus molossus

blacktail rattlesnake

rattlesnake in the superstition moutains

black tail rattlesnake

molossus

We got back to our car just before dark and found this baby Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox, right away. We didn’t take too much care with the pics on this one. Photographed and moved off the road.

Crotalus atrox

Then we found one of my favorite Colubrids, the Sonoran Lyresnake, Trimorphodon lambda. He had kind of a jacked up lower jaw as if he had swallowed part of it, but it looked to be healing, and it had some food in the belly, so it looks like he’ll be fine.

lyresnake

Trimorphodon lambda

popeye face

Sonoran Lyresnake in Arizona

On the way out, we found the last thing I expected, a Couch’s Spadefoot Toad. These are pretty common during the monsoons in the flats, but we were still well within the foothills when we found him. Weird.

Couch's Toad

A Typical Desert-Phase Blacktailed Rattlesnake from Arizona’s Superstition Mountains

Bryan — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:50:58 +0000

This subadult Black-Tailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, is the typical low-contrast brown seen in the Sonoran desertscrub areas of most of Arizona. In many areas this can take a green, orange, or even pinkish tint, but this one is pretty straight brown. Nonetheless, their pattern is one of the best looking, in my opinion, of the large-bodied rattlesnakes in Arizona, and their calm attitude is always welcome, except for being a bit difficult to photograph as they continually try to slide away without a fight.

blacktail rattlesnake in Arizona

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake from the Chiricuahua Mountains

Bryan — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 06:13:51 +0000

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

Blacktail Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

Rattlesnake

Hot & Dry in the South East, Part 3

Bryan — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:48:12 +0000

… continued from Part 1 & Part 2.

We were discussing which other rattlesnakes we could possibly see on a hot, dry evening, and no sooner did the words “there’s no way we’ll see a tiger tonight” leave my mouth did we see a Tiger Rattlesnake, Crotalus tigris. Whoa! Of course I took way too many pictures.

Crotalus tigris

Tiger Rattlesnake

Crotalus tigris

Then we saw an angry young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox.

Crotalus atrox

A big tarantula out looking for a mate or meal:

tarantula

… and then another Black-Tailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus.

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

We were pretty satisfied with this and called it a night after activity seemed to tail off. In the morning we got a couple shots of one of my favorite Arizona lizards on the way out, Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus jarrovi.

Sceloporus jarrovvi

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Sceloporus jarrovvi

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

The last picture for this trip was a very large moth we found doing its best lichen impression.

moth

Hot & Dry in the South East, Part 1

Bryan — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:16:31 +0000

We spent a little time in the Santa Rita mountains South of Tucson in mid July to see what there is to see. The weather actually was pretty horrible for what we were trying to do, but we had to go to Tucson to pick up a few enclosures and thought we might as well make the most of the trip. What we found were 5 rattlesnakes, one of which was the largest rattlesnake I have ever seen in Arizona, as well as a new one for my life list.

The previous night we didn’t see much, except for a pissy Sonoran Gophersnake, Pituophis catenifer affinis, or two.

Sonoran Gophersnake

Pituophis in Arizona

Gophersnake

We also found some Sonora Mud Turtles, Kinsternon sonoriense.

Sonora Mud Turtle

Sonora Mud Turtles

We also found a couple of frogs. The invasive American Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana, and the protected Chiricuahua Leopard Frog, Rana chiricahuensis.

American Bullfrog

Chiricuahua Leopard Frog

The dry and the heat gave us an uneventful first evening and early morning hike, except for this Ring-Necked Snake, Diadophis punctatus. It was the first either of us had ever seen of this snake, despite it being fairly common throughout much of the state.

Ring-Necked Snake

A look at the brilliantly colored underbelly.

Diadophis punctatus

Quality, Not Quantity (Part 6, Crotalus molossus)

Bryan — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:45:18 +0000

Continued from part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5

The ground temperatures eventually got higher and we decided to head back to try another wash that had more cover, where I’d previously seen many of our target species, the Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotaluss molossus). On the way, I jumped up and across a large boulder, setting off a short, barely audible “chk chk chk” in the darkness below which one of my herping partners was able to hear. I jumped off the rock and saw a loop of a large, desert phase Black-Tailed Rattlesnake disappearing into the depths. Finally our target species!

Crotalus molossus

This is my favorite species of the rattlesnakes that I have encountered in Arizona. They’re fairly common, but I never get tired of seeing them and the amazing variety of colors they seem to come in. This one was typical of the greenish, moderately contrasted animals I encounter in the Superstition mountains.

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

It was released back to the boulder where we found it, and we went back to hike the originally planned upon wash, to no result other than another group of perfectly camoflaged canyon treefrogs (Hyla arenicolor).

Hyla arenicolor

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Bryan — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:31:06 +0000

On a slow night, we found a young Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) out and about. I got a few pictures, but the area wasn’t pose-friendly. Oh well … a nice snake regardless.

Crotalus molossus

Ugh (Except for the molossus)

Bryan — Sat, 24 May 2008 04:21:57 +0000

The weekend looked good for a trip up north to see what there is to see. We got a hotel room and headed out and were justified 10 minutes into our hike with a beautiful Black-Tailed Rattlesnake. It was my second in 2 weeks of my favorite rattlesnake, and Kelly’s first experience with one. I probably saved too many photos of it, but oh well. I had fun.

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake in Arizona

The sun set and we left, and found a really aggressive Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) a mile or so away. It was a big contrast from the usual slow, solid demeanor of the molossus.

Crotalus atrox

The rest of the trip wasn’t so much fun. There were a lot of misses … a ground snake, a whipsnake, a few other odds and ends, and maybe the largest Sonoran Gophersnake I’d ever seen. I misjudged the situation and lost him into a hole in the ground. The only other photos I took were of this Zebra-Tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconiodes) the next morning on the way out.

Callisaurus draconiodes

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