Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Went out on a night drive on the way home from work again as I frequently do every 2-3 weeks throughout the spring/summer and as I usually cruise the road rather late (around 11:30 pm) I don't get to see much of the activity. This year so far, I have in fact only seen one snake as a result of the road cruising, which is worse than most years. With the monsoonal activities lately, especially tonight, the temperature dropped about 10-15 degrees or so cooler than it normally would be, and the cloud cover and humid air brought out many reptiles. Unfortunately, I only got to witness road killed animals tonight. The good news is that the animals are on the move. The bad news is that many will end up like the ones I saw this evening.

Here is the first animal I found:

I found two rattlesnakes, but this was the only one worth showing a photo of:

An lastly, a very sad find:

While it is very sad to see the road killed animals, it does provide valuable information as to their preferred habitats and what sorts of weather patterns increase their activity.
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Jaren
Desert Canyon Reptiles

Sorry about the kills. You say rain has brough the temps down right now? Sounds like a good time to go, Id say you should leave earlier than 11:30 though, most of the snakes I find are crossing just after dusk. Last time I went out at 11:30 all I found were roadkills too.

Every so often I have to work a late shift and dont get off until around 11:00PM or so, so I take the long way home through the desert just to see if anything will turn up. Otherwise, I would herp from about an hour before dark until about 3AM like I do when I go on "real" herping trips.
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Jaren
Desert Canyon Reptiles

Do you take data on the results of your road crusing?
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