No worries about a thorough post--I'm usually the one for which people wish they could find an off switch.

I know that finding enough lizards for a large coachwhip is challenging, but the coachwhips I've had almost always accept dead mice. Some like the mouse wiggled a bit but even then they scoop it up and down it goes. I find that wc coachwhips need a hide spot--I usually use a piece of bark with a bit of a curve to it for a hiding place, and I've had good results with cypress mulch for bedding. Try laying a dead mouse in front of the hide bark and see if the snake eats it. Sometimes, a new snake will eat for a while and then get fussy, so you may need to return to live mice or wiggled mice for a while even if your snake accepts dead food for now. After a coachwhip has been eating steadily for a while, it's not uncommon for it to go off feed for a few weeks or feed sporadically after feeding steadily at first. They just do it to drive us crazy.

The red coachwhip in my photo came from Scottsdale. Just a sidebar for readers who might think that Mesa and Scottsdale areas are some kind of hot spot for red coachwhips, the red phase is in all populations and there are always more browns and blacks in the same locations. It's just the luck of the Fates that there are stories of two red-colored coachwhips from the same general area on the forum at the same time.

Anyway, I do not live in Arizona any more but I was there for over 30 years and found many coachwhips. If I recall correctly, every single one bit me. Ahhhh, Arizona.

I met many other wonderful herps during my time there, some of which can look you right in the eye.

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