Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just want to ask...how do you folks do it????? I just got back from 8 days in Vegas and I'm here to say that any dream that I ever had of settling someday in the southwest is out the window...or should I say down the toilet, 'cause it was way too hot to open any damn windows. Each night was a brisk 93-97F and each day ranged from 112-119F....dry heat my arse! It was like someone was blowing a hair dryer, on high, in my face every time I stepped out of the car, hotel, or casino. Which, by the way, I spent way too much time in, wrestling with the one armed bandit because of the free drinks and AC. I did find it interesting however that I was able to fry an egg in the Hard Rock Hotel parking lot (yup, I did it) and at the same time look at snowy peaks rising above the hellish valley.
That was kinda cool in some twisted way.

I did have a great road trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, where it was a comfortable 100F with a constant breeze(at 6,000 feet elevation), but when I descended back into the lowlands it felt like (what I imagine anyway) the night train to hell would resemble.

Anyway, I salute you guys (and girls). I think I will just stick to summers in the 80s and low 90s and 5 feet of snow every winter here in good ole' Buffalo, NY. Later.

Will

PS - I went road cruisin around Lake Mead a couple of times but saw ony a couple of spiny lizards in the early morning hours. Do you folks actually see many herps out day or night this time of year? Thanks.

*stares at screen while waiting for Keith to tell him its the wrong forum*

I've been here in Arizona for awhile although I do live in higher elevation. The low desert is brutal and every few years we break 100 here in the Prescott area. I've been here now for 15 years and we've only broken the 100 barrier in 4 separate years. We have only been below zero once since I've been here and that was in Dec 1990. The good thing about where I live in the high country is we "usually" get mild winters and mild summers.

But it is HOT right now. And the rains from the monsoon weather pattern are late this year and should be here real soon. The weeks right before that are really hot, even at night. BUT with that said people have been road cruising at night and finding stuff, even in the low desert where the night temps are still in the 90's/80's.

Having lived in Kansas from '74-'86 where we got EXTREME winters and EXTREME summers, I definitely prefer the Arizona mountains.

Arizona is a diverse state both in weather and herps.

We just adjust with the weather.

Kerby...

Here is the far SW corner of AZ in Yuma the heat is very brutal and it's like the hell's kitchen of heat here. The last couple of weeks here it's been 110F plus everyday.

I came here from Oregon and had to get used to it quick working in agriculture. During the summer months while working outside in watermelons and overseeing cotton and sudan grass rotations it wasn't uncommon for me to drink 5 gallons water/day.

This time of year when the humdity kicks up during the monsoon season it's the worst. Basically if you have anything to do outside you try to get it done as early as possible or at night. That includes any herping, if you want to see anything.
It makes up for it here in the wintertime with average temps of 73-78F and sunny when everyone else is getting crappy cold weather.

If you're into field herping Arizona is a great place to be with the diversity of the reptiles found here, at least much better than Oregon ever was in my experience.
Happy Herping,
Uncloudy

Thankyou for noting our hellacious lives...this just goes on & on for weeks at a time & when i find myself groping for a pistol...I just remember...the fridge still has 1 more beer!

Beers/ RxR

That they actually have a venom that can subdue a Kingsnake, and that most Kings appear to be nervous or frightened in the presencse of a Ringneck?

A very experienced herper recently told me that Ringnecks eat Kings, and that it is the one venom category to which Kings are NOT immune. (So what about its effects on Humans? Any studies??)

Your insight?

....as often is the case theres fact & fiction...& I wont type much of what little Ive learned now & here....but... I posted a regal eating a caliking awhile back but that king was actually envenomated & killed by another rearfanged snake [Clelia], I have done that distateful experiment 3x now & have determined getulus will succumb to Clelia venom. I have heard getulus are vulnerable to elapid venoms such as cobras..which are very similar @ the molecular level to the rearfang venoms.

When one considers a king can take a full hit from a mojave w/ little or no effect & then the comparatively miniscule amount of venom that gets chewed in via mastication from a rearfang...dies in x minutes/hours....that venom must be very hot indeed.

Heres the kicker tho...regal ringnecks kill their ophidian prey including mtn kingsnakes, in an incredible [~48X ] the speed w/ which the Mussurana does! Thus I would be derelict not to advise a young herper to consider them as hot as any krait & one should not allow them to chew, should they bite. The good news is I've never heard of one attempting to bite & in captivity they dont seem to snap at the hand that feeds them

Saludos....RxR

Every region has its trade-offs. Everything is relative.

Here in the Pacific NW, we rarely get weather that freezes or is over 90 degrees; very mild climate. Ferns grow outdoors, year-round.

But it's overcast & gloomy here for months at a time. The suicide rate is among the hightest of any region. The "spring" and "autumn" are merely slight variations of the normal weather pattern. It's been years since I've been able to watch the sunset on the longest day of the year, June 21. Usually, it's overcast & gloomy, with highs well under 70 degrees.

It's so bad that during the gloomy weeks of "spring", I follow the weather forcast just to plan a single, nice day for hiking! (This has caused problems for me at work, giving short notice for vacation days.) I also like to head east to the Gorge area where the climate is much sunnier on the other side of the mountains.

I despise the heat, too, but the tradeoff of NV & AZ seems to be that if you can deal with a few weeks of VERY HOT weather in July & August, you can enjoy MONTHS of mild & sunny weather during the other 3 seasons.

Everything is relative. It's also said that:

"In climates with the greatest temperature extremes, the passion of the people is the greatest." Anonomous

Hey Chris....
Down here in South Texas it rarely reaches 100 , but it does hit 100 all summer long in some parts.....Top that off with 80% humidity and the heat index is somewhere around 120F.....Just a guess. I used to work in West Texas were temps hit 116 for a whole week, but the humidity was around 15% or so....When it hit 40% the west Texas locales sweat their butts off....It was more comfortable at 116 F and 40% humidity than down here in South Texas at 100F and 80% humidity.
But here in Texas we have beaches, bays, desert, forest, swampland, hill country, some small mountain ranges and grasslands......It may be because we are the largest state, but there is still mucho diversity. Maybe as diverse as California......but it is what I call home....."The Third Coast"...........
John Lassiter

And with 4 of a kind...all kings! it's all the much better!
Todd hughes

I've only been here 4 years... in the winter it gets cold and I can't remember what it was like to have your skin start to sizzle when you step outdoors... and in the summer I doubt my memory of it being cold!

Of course for me, I get heat exhaustion in about 2 minutes of being in the heat. I can't even DRIVE in this heat. I taught summer school, and we live a 5 minute drive away from school. By the time I got 3/4ths of the way home I would have to look at written directions ... "stop at stopsign" .... "fourth house on right is yours".... just to get home.

I can't stand the heat. Thank GOD for Air Conditioners!
-----
~Sasheena

-enough hot days so you can open your windows and turn off your heat tapes for a while.
-enough cold days to allow for perfect brumating conditions, if that is your thing/methodology.

5'of snow = enough water for you and the frogs, salamanders, snakes,turtles, birds, fish, mammals, invertebrates without draining the aquifer or filing federal lawsuits against neighboring states over water rights.

no place is perfect, but this is "good enough"

Ahhhhh.... Whiteface Mountain. Mt. Mansfield in VT was my home town mountain when I lived up there. Sorry, all this talk about the heat made me think about snowbording, my other passion.lol

....you'd tell all those NY'ers that! They're all coming down here just to tell me "That's how we do it up north!" HA!
:Mark

you know I would never do that!!!! always be a gracious guest!!! however if someone asked...lol

This is the way I explain it to my friends who live outside of the desert.

When you live in Buffalo, you spend as much time as possible indoors in the winter. When you live in Tucson (where I do), you spend as much time as possible indoors in the summer. You learn to walk on the shady side of the street and find shady parking spaces.

I can drive from 2500 feet here in town to 9000 feet in less than an hour and enjoy mountain temps that are 30 degrees cooler. I herp during the day in the mountains looking for montane rattlers, mountain kings, lizards... at night, after the monsoon storms, the road cruising down here in the desert is great. While you are getting 5 feet of snow and below zero temps in the winter, we are sitting in the 60's and 70's. I've been here for 11 years and have lived in the northeast, midwest, southeast. The summers become more tolerable every year, and the excitement of the monsoon season almost makes you look forward to them!

Greg

I'm seriously planning a relocation to the desert this year in what will likely be a better situation for me overall. My only major reservation is the heat - and how I will deal with it after living for years in a very mild climate.

I'm planning & preparing even now, and I think that I will deal with the situation realistically. I look forward to exploring the mountains, canyons, hot springs and herping locales. Oh, and those future monsoon storms!

Your words were like a fresh breeze in July. Nice to hear some encouraging sentiments. Tak.

Well, I live in southern Az. And its not all that hot here. Its only been around 105 to 111F, but we do get lots more humidity.

I find it very funny(you find lots of things funny, when yours heads boiling) when you check the weather and its say, 108F but feels like 119F, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha The other day, it was 107f, but they said it felt like 105F, hahahahahahahahahaha FR