Herpetofauna: One Life's List
Crotalus scutellatus scutellatus
Mojave Rattlesnake
near Sasabe, Arizona.
August 2nd 2000
The Sasabe Road runs down from the north between mountain ranges - the Coyote and Baboquivari ranges to the west, and the Sierritas to the east. It runs straight for long distances, and the land here is either flat or slightly rolling. We headed south at dusk and night fell as we went along, tarantulas and scorpions in the headlights providing distraction until this juvenile Mojave came into view. It had just eaten a lizard or a small 'roo rat as we came up on it, for it was still swallowing a lump and re-hinging its jaws. What a cutie!
We found several more juveniles on the road that night. It is said that 'Scutes prefer the low desert habitat, and either side of the Sasabe Road provided plenty of that.
The bottom photo was taken several days later. This Mojave was found on the desert floor just west of the Chiricahua mountains. Like all of the Mojaves we saw on this trip, it neither rattled nor struck, doing its best instead to crawl away from us.
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