Weekend in Arizona

The two of us decided to drop down into Arizona for a weekend to meet up with our friend Keegan and see what kind of herps we could round up. Phoenix was the first stop, so we decided to take a look around South Mountain.

Several chuckwallas were seen moving in and out of crevices, but we didn't glimpse any of the talked about carrot-tail variety.

A desert phase black-tailed rattlesnake was tucked away in a crevice, but we pulled it out for some quick photos.

A huge bulge shows that this guy had just eaten something meaty!

Not having much time to herp, we packed up and headed down to the southeastern part of the state. We pulled off the busy highway when we saw this large western diamondback sitting on the shoulder. Very quick to strike, it was one of the more aggressive rattlesnakes we had witnessed.

Although the southeastern mountains are good places to find new species, we didn't have much time, and it would prove that we didn't have a ton of luck, either, unfortunately.
Yarrow's spiny lizards were seen scurrying around.

A Sonoran whipsnake getting ready to shed was flipped under a stone at the Huachuca Mountains.
A yellow-phase black-tailed rattlesnake was found basking on a rock slide.

We had never seen more gopher snakes than we did on this short trip....maybe almost 10 of them. We stopped taking pictures after a while.

Some desert centipedes, giant desert hairy scorpions, and tarantulas were found moving across the roads.

A lyre snake was stretched out on the road not too far from the Mexican border.

It would not sit still for a photo, despite our best efforts.

Several western diamonbacks were seen on the trip, but only one DOR Mojave rattlesnake and one DOR tiger rattlesnake. The diamondback coiled up for some photos.

As far as amphibians went, we found this little Colorado River toad, as well as a couple canyon treefrogs, some red-spotted toads, and a DOR Couch's spadefoot.