Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This was the last snake of the evening for me, it was still warm (73dg) and only 930 but I had to get up early so I split. Snake was just crawling off the road towards the mts., some 1.5 miles distant or so. Habitat was FLAT with creosote/mojave scrub, no rocks anywhere near capture. This is the second time I have found one in the wild, and the second time it was completely unexpected in that it seemed to be the wrong habitat. I guess our little friends dont read the guidebooks as much as we do!LOL.
I have kept most of the species from here but not Lyres does anyone have any tips?
Cheers
Brett

Beautiful animal! That's a terrific contrast in its pattern.

They're hearty captives, just underrated.

Most will take mice. Mine only refuses a meal during shedding. They're superb climbers and readily squeeze into tight spots. They tame down to handling, but still reserve the right to vibrate their tail on a bad day or if you lift their hide without knocking first. Demeanor can vary, but by and large they tend to tolerate their keepers.

Mine seems to prefer cooler temps. The warm end is 85F (under tank heat), the cool end 75F. I use aspen bedding, multiple rock hides, and a plastic fern for color.

Nice cage setup, is your lyre a wc or cb?
I have mine temporarily on the sand with some hides, temps are about the same as yours. I plan on putting together a nicer enclosure that is more naturalistic with a cemented rock pile with crevasses. Its a rather small snake, perhaps a yearling or so but really beautiful, I hope I get it to feed I would love to keep it and perhaps start working more with them. They are just not easy to find for me, or at least I rarely see them when Im out looking. The color is really nice, very light I think.
Cheers
Brett

Thanks Brett. Mine is CB. I'd love to find one in the wild, not to mention one as stunning as yours. But being in the east for now, there's little opportunity to go out hunting for them.

They are typically the last snake out in the wee hours of night (as late as 2-4am in the summer) when others have gone to bed, so the conditions of you finding him are consistent with the script, even if its choice of habitat was off. Try reading Kauffeld to him because he clearly has the whole habitat thing wrong.

His particular coloring is a perfect invisibility cloak for scrub brush. Keeps scouting the area you found him in. That would be quite a variation to breed if you found another. You could be among the first to breed locale lyres!

Mine was already switched over to mice when I got him. He was started on lizards (Utas & banded geckos) as a hatchling, then scented pinkies. He now takes large fuzzies, which seem a bit on the large side for him, but curiously he won't touch anything smaller. This contrasts from my experience with kings, rats and gopher snakes who never seem to pass up a meal for being too small!

Please keep us posted on how he comes along.

Monty

Thanks Monty, and yes from what I have read they are the ones to find late in the evening after everyone else is done for the nite. Since I have never found one at this particular spot before I will be amazed if I find another but I will certainly keep trying, it would be cool to breed locale lyres!
Mine looks VERY similiar to a Sonoran but since Im about 80miles west of the AZ state line it seems out of range but then the taxonomy on these guys is in flux so they could just be same sp. just different color/pattern? At any rate it is a cool snake and Im hopeful that it will take to captivity. I will keep updating as time goes on...
Cheers
Brett

Hey Brett, that is a nice one. I've kept Lyres for a while now and really enjoy them. No breeding yet, but I do know a couple of people that have done so successfully. So far I've been pretty successful switching them over to mice. From my experience, the younger they are the easier (quicker) they take to rodents. I agree with Monty's observations, give them plenty of hides and tight places and they will get very comfortable. What you need to do is come down a little further south, they are seen quite often in the desert areas down here. I've even found coastals several times at my house. Out of all of them, I've only found 1 "out of place", a DOR in the scrub flats. All the others have been seen associated with the typical rocky habitat. And Monty if you read this, your's appears to be a Sonoran Lyre, T. lambda. Here's a couple of mine.

Hey Eimon,
Those are nice! This one was really far from the rocks at least a mile or two, it appears to be a young one so hopefully it will switch over to mice without too much trouble. I am going to keep hitting the spot and see if I can turn up another one this year. I would love to get a pair of them established and try to breed them, they are neat snakes! Thanks for sharing the pics, if you make it up here to Palm Springs we should go do some cruising sometime.
CHeers
Brett

...Yo, nice jpgs, I fd my 1st in several years...very DoR last week [see jpg @ FCF], also FYI..more native opistho.jpgs & discussion over on the SSF..sorta like this..

found a nice hyps about an hour before the lyre..now if I can get my lyre to do that!

Wow! Terrific animals, Eimon. Thanks for sharing!