Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw practically the SAME stuff as last weekend. It had an unnerving deja vu factor if you know what I mean; many utas, MANY MORE desert iguanas, an adult desert horned lizard, MORE large zebra-tailed lizards and four speckled rattlesnakes, including the same two mitchelli that were mating the week before. Again, this couple was half in, half out of the same fissure on the cut. The third mitchelli was on the paved road at about 1 pm, and the last was on a dirt road thru some flats (but surrounded by hills) at about 7:30 pm (this one was collected for a friend). I wanted to do some Texas-style walking next to the series of road cuts where I saw the mitchelli mating, so I did a few passes with my vehicle, then parked it. I didn't walk but 50 feet before I saw this little guy in the grass at the base of one of the cuts. It's considered an alterna-like find here in AZ. LOL.

Robert

Beautiful!

Yep, it has a certain "je ne se qua" about it.

In one of my emails this morning I got to thinking about your "situation" in Texas. Here I was, frolicking in the xeric desert mountains just east of Quartzsite (that are as lush as I've ever seen them from all the winter rains), running down zebra-tailed lizards and desert iguanas, road cruising paved and dirt roads, walking canyons and right-of-ways with a flashlight and everything I did was lawful. I had a ball. If I had performed the same activities and done exactly the same thing in Texas, I would have been shot for trespassing and fined multiple times for violations of wildlife laws. LOL.

Robert