Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We spent three hours road hunting in California on May 26 and found eleven snakes - one large Rhinocheilus (clarus phase)- 40 inches, two Panamint rattler juvies, a black-headed snake, a ground snake, a large winder and five Trimorphs. We were surpised to find so many Lyres within such a short space of time. Was this just a fluke, or are there areas like this where the Trimorphs are very abundant? BTW, four of the five were yearlings, and one was large - about 42 inches. Any comments are welcomed.

I have never found that many in one night, you must have hit the "type" locale for them! I just recently found this one, I am looking to pair it up with one upon sexing. Email me to discuss them some more, I love Lyres just dont see them too often. This one is an Orocopia Mts specimen, btw it was found about 1.5 miles from the nearest hill or rockpile crossing a paved road.
Cheers
Brett

Yes, I have read before that some of the Lyres come from habitat that is seemingly void of large rock cuts, piles, or talus slopes. The specimens from Texas are more beautifully marked in my opinion, but unluckily they cannot be collected there due to their protected status. I think the Arizona phase Lyres are nicely marked, too. We caught one in the Chocolate mountains south of Blythe and several others from a locale more than 250 miles away and the specimens from both locales were virtually indistinguishable in terms of coloration and markings.
If yours is a male I think we might be able to arrange for a mating betwen it and the large female we found a few days ago. Please advise.

email me and we can discuss, mine was about halfway between palm springs and blythe.
CHeers
Brett

You can find the Texas Lyres in New Mexico in the south eastern
part of the state, and they are not protected in that state.

I didnt think they made it that far north and west? Are you sure its a Texan? and was it right around Las Cruces.
Cheers
Lat

In the last couple of years a few have been caught and have bred. Also in the field guide it shows there range goes up into south eastern New Mexico. Check it out then go find ones you can have (legal ones).
KC

We lived in El Paso from 87-89. At a local herp meeting one of the locals brought in an adult pair of screamer Trimorphs with dark gray backgrounds and tannish blotches. They were absolutely awesome. The herper told us he found them in the Organ Mountains which are indeed very near to Las Cruces, New Mexico and are almost a continuation of the Franklin Mountains in El Paso, where they have been documented and of course cannot be collected due to their Texas protected status.

I currently live in the Las Cruces NM area. While lyre snakes are one of the more rarely encountered snakes in the area, they are not particularly uncommon. They spend a great deal of time hiding in the rock.
I have personally seen them in the Organ mountains and the Sierra del las Uvas mountains, and according to the 'Reptiles and Amphibians of New Mexico' (Painter) there was 27 (I may be off on the numbers slightly, I don't have the book in front of me) road kills found in one night in the Franklin Mountains. This range is mostly in TX (and is a state park), but it does extend into NM at Anthony Gap.
Although I have not yet seen any this year, I did find a Sonoran Lyre a couple of weeks ago outside of Phoenix which was amazing.
I can't post pictures from work due to the annoying firewall. However, I can email them. If anybody would like to see some photos I would be happy to send them.

Laters,
Donovan

The Lyres that I mentioned having been seen at the El Paso herp meeting - reportedly captured in the Organs - were definitely Texas Trimorphs. From a distance they looked like alterna phase graybanded kings. The markings were more suggestive of bands than blotches, and like I said - what a beautiful morph to behold. The next time we go to west Texas to do the Grayband thing, we may reserve a couple of nights in southern New Mexico to try our luck in the Organs. For those who have never hunted there before, the type of habitat for Lyres that exists in that range should be very recognizable.

Awesome finds! I hear blackheads are hard to find. As for the lyres, the fact that you found many yearlings makes me think it is more of a fluke. I find many yearlings this time of year, then they will vanish, then the babies show up later. Only one adult leads me to think the young ones were just all hungry.