Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband went on a hike a year ago before we had our digital camera and came across 2, very large, solid dark brown rattlesnakes living on Sunrise & Frenchman Mountain just on the outskirt of Las Vegas. They had a home under a boulder and he thinks they were protecting a clutch of eggs. He looked in reptile books, but didn't see anything that looked like them.

Thanks,
Nicole

Did it look like any on this page? http://www.ndow.org/wild/living/snake.shtm
And rattlesnakes are live birth

I can gurantee one thing, they werent protecting eggs LOL, rattlesnakes are live bearers (give birth to live young). I am not all that familiar w/ nevada and am a bit busy to study a map at this time but it was most likely an western diamondback or a prarie rattlesnake. But I am not 100% sure, here is a photo of a western, (not a good photo but a photo none the less) jon

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FREEDOM PEACE UNITY ONE LOVE

Do you like snakes? Or just curious?

I live in Vegas too. Give me an e-mail if you an your husband would like to go out looking. pamgaypokerqueen@hotmail.com
My name is Eugene.

Hi Niki,
If I had to make an educated guess, I would say they were probably Mojave's. As I understand it, the Western Diamondbacks are not typically found in the Las Vegas area and the Speckled's and sidewinders are not generally described as large. Go to that link for the NDOW site provided in a post below and that should help you out. Boy, a photo sure would help. I hope you carry a camera with you from now on

a local subspecies of the Mojave that has adapted to match Sunrise & Frenchmen mountain.

It's cool to know that they are livebearers

My husband and I both like all reptiles and amphibians. There is a certain awe towards looking at rattlesnakes from a safe distance.

We both seen a fat speckled rattlesnake in the Mojave National Preserve last summer. It was hiding under a large rock pile and my husband poked it with a stick, but it refused to show us it's head or tail. We recognized its fat body, scales, and it was definitely rattling.
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-Nicole

2.1.0 collared lizards
2.0.0 side-blotched lizards
1.0.0 desert tarantula
small tropical fishes

Hello again, It is always nice to make the acquaintance of other Nevada herpers.

I am going to bet they were Speckled Rattlesnakes, Crotalus mitchellii. They are common in that area and can be variable in their appearance. They can look fairly dark and brown in coloration. Their appearance sometimes approximates their surroundings. I have had some trouble seeing them while hiking at dusk until I am actually up upon them. I believe the subspecies in that area is the Southwestern Speckled, C m pyrrhus.

The Mojave Greens, C scutulatus scutulatus, are also common there but they do not seem to get that dark, at least not in terms of a brown or a solid appearance. Western Diamondbacks, C atrox have not been recorded in that area. The farthest north for C atrox was around Laughlin. There are Sidewinders, C cerastes, in the area but neither the habitat of your specific site nor your description would suggest that possibility. They were possibly Mojaves but most likely Speckleds. They were defiantly one of the two. I have seen large Speckleds that were the size of Mojaves.
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Randy Hallman