heres a pic of AN ORIGINAL pyro stack.
About stacks, The term "retes stack" was coined in 1991 and published in both the Vivaium and Reptiles mags a few years later.
I started testing and using them in the early seventies. After seeing many events like this picture.
This pic was taken two years ago in an area close to me. I have watched these animals over twenty years.
These gilas were actually mating in this wide crack. I have seen them copulate in the open once and in this crack once. Over a very long period of time. They must copulate underground most of the time.
Heres a pic of a pair that I saw copulating out. There are three pair within meters of eachother.
Heres a giant lyresnake. I estimate shes around five feet or more. I have never seen one that large before. And yes, there is a pair of gaint individuals working this spot.
The above individual has the weirdest pattern I have ever seen on a lyresnake.
Its mate is very large, and of normal pattern
To put their size in a little perspective, the crack is over an inch wide.
I have have thousands of more pics of this thermoregulation behavior in free ranging reptiles. But you get the picture. In most of these cases, there are steps. That is, there are connecting areas that have a range of temps. In most cases, when its warm out. They are down in the cooler areas, and when its very cool out, they come to the upper areas. They only come in the open on very rare circumstances when there is extreme need and extra cold mass conditions. I have many many pics of them deep in holes and cracks as well.
I have studied the gila site and the same individuals, in some cases, for over 30 years. With touching them, observation only. My rarest photo is of a female gila ovulating. Cheers
