Another successful night!

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Deng09
Posts: 47
Joined: June 7th, 2015, 9:21 pm

Another successful night!

Post by Deng09 »

Went night cruising again the other night and found a couple rattlers, a long nose snake, I believe a baby glossy snake (maybe someone can ID for sure), and a couple of desert horned lizards, one dead and one alive.

Is it normal for the desert horned lizards to be out at night? I didn't think it was but I found a crushed one on the road and a few hundred yards down found a second one just kind of laying there.

Also, hopefully you can see in the picture but the first rattle snake, which I believe might be a Mojave rattlesnake, was very fat with scales near its rattle that appeared to be very stretched out. Was this a gravid female? Maybe it just ate a large meal? The scales at the base of the tail were faded in color and appeared stretched. Also very fat in that area. I'm a newbie here so not sure what that was exactly. Also for ID purposes, I read that if the white bands near the rattle in the tail are much bigger than the black bands, that meant it was a mojave rattlesnake as opposed to a diamondback. Is this true?

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MarcLinsalata
Posts: 562
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:50 pm
Location: Los Angeles / New Jersey

Re: Another successful night!

Post by MarcLinsalata »

That girl is about to pop!!!!!!!!!!
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MarcLinsalata
Posts: 562
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:50 pm
Location: Los Angeles / New Jersey

Re: Another successful night!

Post by MarcLinsalata »

I've found it pretty common to find horned lizards (and many others) to be pressed against the asphalt at random times at night but especially right after dark............. :thumb:
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KichiMark
Posts: 137
Joined: December 16th, 2011, 5:56 pm
Location: SFV, Los Angeles County

Re: Another successful night!

Post by KichiMark »

Very cool finds. That crote does look like she is ready to explode isn't she? :o . I have seen horned lizards o the sides of roads when the sun is going down. Never would have thought they would stay there during the whole night. I wonder if it were to stay warm during the night? Was it getting chilly out?
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ricrabt
Posts: 762
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:55 am
Location: Santa Clarita

Re: Another successful night!

Post by ricrabt »

The first one is a glossy...I find many species of lizards at night. Sometimes they seem to have just hunkered down. I ve seen everything from leopards and desert igys to side blotched and fences. Oh and yes it does appear to be a gravid scute....
Deng09
Posts: 47
Joined: June 7th, 2015, 9:21 pm

Re: Another successful night!

Post by Deng09 »

KichiMark wrote:Very cool finds. That crote does look like she is ready to explode isn't she? :o . I have seen horned lizards o the sides of roads when the sun is going down. Never would have thought they would stay there during the whole night. I wonder if it were to stay warm during the night? Was it getting chilly out?
It was probably about 10pm I found the horned lizard. Still in the mid 80's in terms of temperature.
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