Sunday, June 19, 2011

Herping Las Vegas

Vegas behaved for us this time around and produced some decent herps. Banded geckos were in no short supply perched on the roadways at night.
We probably saw between 20-30 banded geckos.


After seeing a DOR patch-nosed snake and a DOR black-headed snake, our first live specimen was a fair-sized gopher snake.


Being happy with a gopher snake.

Saw him again on the road on the way back, even though we had taken him off the road for his safety.


Our second snake was a small glossy snake. Unfortunately, we also saw a very large, live glossy snake, but after pulling over to the side of the road, a car behind us sped past and killed it before we could get to it.


Giant desert hairy scorpion sitting on the road.




Armed and dangerous.


Our third live snake was a little sidewinder making his way across the road.





Chuckwallas were out in full force around Vegas.


Closeup of the chuck we pulled from a crevice.





Desert horned lizard.





Trying to stay unseen.





Lyre snake.




A second lyre snake was found on the road, and a third DOR lyre was also found.



Sidewinder found about during daylight amongst the soft sand.













Having a look around.






Taking a closer look at the sidewinder.We also managed to find a nice-looking speckled rattlesnake.
Photo shoot with the spec.
Speckled rattlesnake in all its glory!