Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...road cruised last night outside of Phoenix, AZ.

Crawling away after being moved off-road and into the brush:

A couple other critters seen last night on the road:

-----
Diego

SWCHR

Great Pics....Thanks for sharing....
The Bright White and Black on that king is Awesome!
Great finds....

And....How do you know it was het for nothing? There could be something in there....LOL
-----
John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

Hahaha...I was thinking about that when I typed it and wondered how long it would take for someone to call me out on it!

Guess we'll never know...
-----
Diego

SWCHR

Those are the best. You'd be hard pressed to find a morph to match the natural beauty of that B&W King! Wow! Looks like you had a great night.

reako45

I agree. It was a fun night.
-----
Diego

SWCHR

Nice snake Diego,

Looks an awful lot like this one I found last week in southern Oregon. The range of Cal Kings is amazing.

Greg

Some say their range is actually increasing

They could be friggin' twins!!
-----
Diego

SWCHR

It's in the wild. Always great to see they are still there. Makes me want to run out later and see what's going on.

Diego!,......

Those are some excellent road discoveries, bro!

I believe that's a Mojave "green", correct?, I know there are a BUNCH of different types of Crotalus in that area that can look strikingly similar depending on the given area.

Very cool!

~Doug
-----
"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Right you are, sir. The key to differentiating is in the supra-ocular scales. Mojaves have 2 large scales (the "scutes" in scutulatus) whereas atrox have numerous smaller ones - I can't remember the exact # off the top of my head.

Here's a close up of that ones "scutes":

-----
Diego

SWCHR

Great close-up, Diego!

And thanks for the additional scute info as well!

~Doug
-----
"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Very nice looking king! Was it a juvenile?
-----

Last year's baby, I think. About 10 inches long.
-----
Diego

SWCHR

I know we have all seen billions in cages but if I saw that on the road Id flip Thats really cool
Tom Stevens
-----
TomsSnakes.com
twitter.com/TomsSnakes

Never gets old, man.
-----
Diego

SWCHR

Diego,

great finds and photos to boot. Always a pleasure. Keep it comin'! ANd with that extended fair weather you have in SoCal, you've no excuses. Now grab that snake hook and camera...we'll be waiting.......
-----
Jerry Kruse

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

...I don't know why you always try to place me in SoCal, bro. I am in AZ. And I'm almost done here. In 2 weeks I will start my tour of the east coast and lord only knows where I'll end up.

Keep making those little jewels, my friend. I will need some when the dust settles!!
-----
Diego

SWCHR

...for all the comments and compliments, everyone!
-----
Diego

SWCHR

You deserve them Diego! I am glad I got the chance to herp with you, those snakes are killer!
-----
Todd Hughes

Glad to have done so as well. Wish we could have found these that night!!
-----
Diego

SWCHR

another time, we will! You need to come down my way next, in the winter...beach isn't half bad then, but the water is cold! Flipping is excellent!
-----
Todd Hughes

I'll be there, bro. For sure.
-----
Diego

SWCHR