Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Enjoy...
Lat

Hey Lat...Nice find..

Classic beauty...

Al
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Save a Rattlesnake...Skin a Sweetwater Resident!

Thanks Al, it was a nice animal after the shot I scooted it off road. Less than 5 minutes later and a couple hundred yards down the road I found a nice blue mitchelli, funny thing was the nearest rock outcrop was a mile away.
Cheers
Lat

Lat:

One thing I learn at the BOR Symposium was that Atrox & Scuts don't associate with rock outcrops..the Mitchelli...that's strange but Male RS's can have up to a 21 km range.

Al
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Save a Rattlesnake...Skin a Sweetwater Resident!

Yes, both atrox and scuts are found in flat open areas, though I believe atrox is much more likely to go into the rocky upland areas as I have found many going through the mts of AZ. In CA. scuts are strictly flatlanders IME and atrox, again, are found on the flats and in the canyon/mts. That mitchelli was a puzzle, though its possible he was returning to a densite from the flat area I found him in, it was late fall.
Cheers
Lat

Harolds talk about the crotes in Joshua Tree N/P where six species have to share the same acreage but occupy different niches. But there are many places in atrox range where it doesn't have to compete with mitchelli and is very common in rocky areas, using outcrops not only for hibernation but also summer foraging. And of course it becomes less common again in rocky areas where it has to compete with molossus. Each place you go will have it's own scenario.

Rich

Actually no, Ive been an ardent student of the best teacher of all, mother nature. I didnt get a chance to go to the symposium though friends did attend. I look forwards to seeing another as I would have liked speaking with one or two folks that did go.
Cheers
Brett

that atrox and scuts don't venture into rocky areas.

No worries, I wish I could have gone to that symposium it really irritated me that I had to miss it. There were some folks I wanted to meet up with. oh well maybe next time.
Cheers
Brett

How about that! I suggest thats the first Ca atrox to enter cyberspace! Very pretty one too! I ran the quiry thru the CDFG Spps occurance database & they state (like several of you) that theyre fairly widespread in the Colorado desert, guess I've just missed em. In light of their proximity to one another then...I suppose then ruber & atrox are "sibling spps" [share an immediate common ancestor], odd that their attitudes are so typically polar!

Cheers, RxR