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Although Bane (adult male Arizona black rattlesnake) didn’t enter our radio-telemetry study until 5 August 2012, we first met him during last year’s Spring Snake Count. I had led a group of Snake Counters to Secret Springs, a warm-spring-fed pond that was formerly a cattle tank. One of the Snake Counters encountered Bane on the far side of the pond, where he was drinking.
Bane, 20 May 2012
Since we began tracking Bane with radio-telemetry in August, he has not returned to Secret Springs. He spent most of this spring near the Nature Trail, making him the perfect snake to track with preserve visitors. Anyone who wanted to track a rattlesnake this spring April has met Bane.
Save the Frogs Day attendees checking out Bane, 27 April 2013.
Snake Count weekend was no different. We visited Bane two or three times with Snake Counters, who got to meet Muleshoe’s largest Arizona black rattlesnake. As usual, he was just off the Nature Trail on Friday and Saturday. Sunday afternoon (19 May), Bane’s signal was erratic, as if he was moving. And he was. He had crossed Hot Springs Wash and was cruising alongside the Nature Trail toward Secret Springs!
It’s May in Arizona, which means it’s hot and dry. Guess Bane is thirsty again 🙂
Snake Count is almost here! This week we countdown to Snake Count with a post each day featuring a snake we found during last spring’s Snake Count. We hope you’ll join us at Muleshoe for Snake Count, but if you can’t, find a way to participate in your area by clicking on the graphic below.
I’m going to start with Arizona black rattlesnakes (Crotalus cerberus), because even among rattlesnakes they’re extra cool. In case you missed it, our SocialSnakes blog featured a special post for Mother’s Day all about parental care in Arizona blacks.
Rattlesnakes take care of their kids?You bet they do and not just Arizona black rattlesnakes. But we have lots of stories, photos, and videos of Arizona black rattlesnake families, so check them out.
Eve and kids (likely not all hers) – aren’t they adorable?
Arizona black rattlesnakes are highly social snakes, which is another topic covered extensively at SocialSnakes. But in brief, they often den in groups and within these groups have friends (snake they preferentially associate with) and enemies (snakes they avoid).
If those behaviors aren’t enough for ya, Arizona black rattlesnakes also change color. While lizards are more famous for their color-changing abilities, a handful of snakes can dramatically shift their color too. It is fairly common for young snakes to look completely different than adults (ontogenetic color change).
Adult male (left) with newborn (right) Arizona black rattlesnake.
But, Arizona black rattlesnakes can also rapidly change their color (physiological color change) from black to light gray within minutes.
Watch carefully and see Boyett change color in this timelapse video:
I’ll end with Cat edhibiting another characteristic Arizona black rattlesnake behavior: looking absolutely gorgeous.
First, it rained last night! Not much (0.02 in), but since ANY rain in May is rare, even a tiny bit is exciting.
There are many reasons to love Bane (male Arizona black rattlesnake). When he was first sighted during last year’s Snake Count as he was drinking from Secret Springs, a behavior rarely seen in wild snakes (but see here). After measuring (he is the largest Arizona black we’ve seen at Muleshoe) and marking his rattle with beautiful orange paint, we sent him on his way. But a few months later when we were in the market for new snakes to put transmitters in, Bane came back to us.
We were sitting in Hot Springs Wash, watching and filming a couple black-tailed rattlesnakes in combat, when Bane cruised up alongside us. You might call Bane bold 🙂
This spring Bane was quickly out of his den and back to his old turf near the Nature Trail. He has been a great show and tell snake; any guest at Muleshoe who wants to track a rattlesnake gets to visit Bane. He is a short hike away, usually visible, and doesn’t seem terribly bothered by all the attention.
Save the Frogs Day participants visit Bane
Also, isn’t he gorgeous?
Would you like to meet Bane? Join us May 17-19 for Snake Count! Check out our Events page for more details (casitas are still available).
At a certain time of year, a male snake focuses his efforts on breeding. He moves long distances in search of potential mates (a video of this behavior, scent-trailing, can be seen here). However, finding a female is only the first step; now he must convince her to mate with him.
A pair of black-tailed rattlesnakes: Jaydin (male, left) and Persephone (female, right).
Rattlesnakes are great romantics. Males may spend a week or more courting one female to convince her of his worth. How he does this is the subject of today’s post.
A male may sit nearby, next to, or even stacked on top of a female, presumably to guard her from other suitors.
Male western diamond-backed rattlesnake stacked on top of a female. Can you see her face?
If another male comes to call, they may engage in combat over the prized female. We will discuss combat in more detail in a future post, but for now let’s look at courtship through our favorite snake, Jaydin (male black-tailed rattlesnake).
On 18 July, we were excited to see Jaydin with a beautiful female, who we now know as Persephone.
Persephone (left) and Jaydin (right).
We set up a timelapse camera to better observe their courtship. Here’s a clip from their third day together:
Jaydin crawls out of their shelter first and coils at the bottom left of the screen. Persephone emerges shortly thereafter. Jaydin immediately goes to Persephone and begins chin-rubbing her, which is exactly what it sounds like: he rubs her body with his chin to express his intent. This behavior starts about five seconds in and continues throughout. Much more vigorous chin-rubbing can be seen in the following videos.
Perhaps to show she’s not ready, a female may quickly flip her tail at the male. We never observed Persephone doing this, but we have seen it in Arizona black rattlesnakes:
At ~eight seconds in, the female Arizona black rattlesnake literally smacks the male in his face with her tail. Does this mean “no” or “not yet”? We also don’t know how much rejection a male will take before he gives up or how much chin-rubbing a female needs to acquiesce.
While Persephone didn’t smack Jaydin away, neither did they appear to mate. And indeed they were still together:
…the next day
…and two days after that.
The fourth evening (21 July) Jaydin moved and we assumed that courtship was over. His signal was again coming from overhead, which seemed an unlikely place for courtship. But Persephone likes to climb as much as Jaydin does.
Jaydin & Persephone overhead in a tree, 21 July 2012.
Jaydin & Persephone as seen from a nearby tree, 21 July 2012.
After three more days, they were still together at a new spot on the ground. Again we set up our camera here to record their behavior.
A week-long courtship ends in mating! Sometimes it is difficult to tell, but Jaydin was never camera-shy, so he made it very obvious for us 🙂 (Check out the video at ~55 seconds).
When we next tracked Jaydin, he was ~15 yards away and there was no sign of Persephone. When we took the camera down, we found another male black-tailed rattlesnake! Perhaps he was after Persephone too…
As you may have guessed, this is not the last you’ll see of Persephone, Jaydin and Persephone, or the new male. Stay tuned for more!
melissa & jeff
For a very different story of snake courtship and combat, check out Ménage à trois, a story of three gophersnakes.
Wow, it has been awhile, but I won’t bore you with the details of why we’ve been absent. What’s important is that WE’RE BACK! We (and the snakes) had a busy summer and even though the snakes will be headed to their dens soon, we’ll have plenty of stories to share all winter long while they’re waiting for the spring.
When we started this project one year ago, we implanted radio transmitters with one-year batteries into seven rattlesnakes. So we made the somewhat difficult decision recently to remove those transmitters and give most of those guys a break. They deserve it, but we’ll miss them. We said goodbye to: Henry (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake), Stuart (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake), Boyett (male Arizona black rattlesnake), Glendy (male Arizona black rattlesnake), and Barney (male Arizona black rattlesnake).
Wait a minute, Barney? Who’s that? We lost Barney last October, but he appeared like magic this September, pretty much right where we originally encountered him. Where did he go? Who knows, but at least we know he’s OK.
We (OK, mostly me) couldn’t bear to let Jaydin (male black-tailed rattlesnake) go, so he is still with us.
Henry (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake) spends most of his time near the preserve headquarters, so we continue to see him pretty regularly:
Henry (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake) at the head of the Nature Trail, 5 October 2012 (Henry, bottom left; Jeff’s foot, top right).
Now let’s meet the new guys (and gals!!!).
Persephone
female black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) We can’t take credit for finding this beautiful girl, Jaydin led us to her. The full story deserves (and will get) its own blog post, but the short version is that Jaydin courted Persephone for about a week this summer. She is named for the Greek goddess Persephone, queen of the underworld.
Bane
male Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus) Bane was originally encountered during Snake Count Spring 2012, when he was spotted drinking from Secret Springs. At that time we measured, marked (painted his rattle) him, and set him free. He re-entered our lives in August while we were sitting in the wash, recording data and taking photos of Jaydin. Along comes Bane, cruising through the leaves a few yards from where we sat; it’s almost like he volunteered for the study. Bane was named for the main villain in The Dark Knight Rises, which may seem a little odd given that we’re trying to improve rattlesnakes’ reputation. Bane certainly caused a lot of trouble for Gotham, but we appreciate his ‘for the people’ attitude and his soft side, which I won’t elaborate on in case you haven’t seen the movie (SEE IT!).
Cathy
female Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus) We again hosted the field biology class from Bangor University this fall. Whilst discussing social rattlesnake behavior in the Commons, Cathy crawled onto the patio just outside the door (another volunteer?). She is named for one of the professors leading the class.
Help us name this snake!
female Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus) Jeff came across this little lady while tracking Glendy in August. Like Glendy, she has a fondness for the mesquite forest and only recently traveled to Hot Springs Wash, probably on her way to her den. She was the first female Arizona black rattlesnake we found in Hot Springs and she is a young adult. Please help us name this snake! Email us your suggestions; we’ll pick the top 3-5 and have a poll on our facebook page to choose the winner!
melissa
Update: We have a winner! Luna was the name chosen by our facebook fans.
Though we had a few tantalizing sprinkles in June, the monsoon officially arrived last night. We got about a half inch of rain at headquarters and the 4th of July has started out cloudy and cool.
About 8:30 am, 4 July 2012
For the first time in weeks, every snake we checked on this morning was visible on the surface.
Henry (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake) was sitting out next to the twin lakes this morning in the mud. While we were recording data, he left his favorite crater and moved into the grass.
Henry, coiled in his usual crater, 4 July 2012.
Henry in his new spot in the grass, 4 July 2012.
We next checked on our other western diamond-backed, Stuart, whom we haven’t seen in a couple weeks. He’s been in a burrow at the base of a mesquite tree, where we assumed he was preparing to shed his skin. This morning he had moved into the wash and was coiled on the surface, freshly shed.
Stuart, male western diamond-backed rattlesnake, 4 July 2012.
We then tracked Glendy (male Arizona black rattlesnake), who was just upstream from Stuart. Glendy appeared to have been out last night in the rain, as he was splattered with mud.
Glendy, looking a little dirty after the storm, ,4 July 2012.
Because it was still cloudy and cool, we decided to take the long way back and look for snakes on the road. And we were rewarded with this little beauty:
Mohave rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus), coiled next to the road, 4 July 2012.
Mohave rattlesnakes are extremely rare here. Although we frequently (almost daily) see western diamond-backed, Arizona blacks, and black-tailed rattlesnakes, we have never seen a Mohave on the preserve. We’re told they show up once or twice a year, usually after it starts raining. As you can see above, Mohave and western diamond-backed rattlesnakes look very similar. The easiest way to distinguish the two species is by examining their tail bands:
Mohaves have relatively more white than black (left photo), while western diamond-backeds have fairly equal amounts of both (right photo).
Of course this snake was sitting on her tail, so we had to give her a nudge to get a good look at it:
Mohave rattlesnake, unhappily showing her tail in the bottom right.
The lizards and ants have been very active all day (enjoying the clouds and humidity), but we haven’t seen any more snakes… yet. As I finish this up, I hear distant thunder and its getting dark again. Hopefully we’ll luck into some more rain (and snakes!) tonight.
As I mentioned in my last post, we are in the midst of the hottest, driest part of the year in Arizona. Temperatures keep rising (over 110F in some parts of Arizona today) and the relief of the monsoon is a long way off. Or is it?
Saturday afternoon started clouding up and thunderheads formed. I was still skeptical that it would rain, but the clouds and light breeze felt really nice regardless. Then, around 2:30pm, it happened:
Normally a desert rattlesnake would take advantage of a little storm like this to get a drink. But Henry (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake) has been hanging around the “twin lakes” and hunting in that crater for about a week, so he’s had plenty of chances to quench his thirst.
Can you find Henry’s crater?
Here it is circled in red.
Henry wasn’t the only one enjoying the weird weather. Even before the storm arrived, the humidity was up, which seemed to bring out the reptiles. This little girl was hanging out behind our house, maybe hoping for a drink?
Regal horned lizard (Phrynosoma solare)
And a little later we spotted a very large Sonoran whipsnake ‘periscoping’ through the footbridge leading to the visitor’s center:
Sonoran whipsnake (Coluber bilineatus)
Literally minutes after the first drops of rain hit the ground, we saw a ring-necked snake crawling into our yard:
Ring-necked snake (Diadophis punctatus)
After the rain stopped, Porter (male black-tailed rattlesnake originally encountered during Snake Count) crossed the road toward the visitor’s center. He went up the stairs to a part of the building used for storage, smelling intently before coiling up on top of a wall. We set up some cameras on him and walked away.
Porter (male black-tailed rattlesnake) under surveillance.
That evening was cool and humid. It felt like perfect snake weather to Jeff and me, so we took a short hike in nearby Bass Canyon. We were rewarded with this adorable little lady:
Female Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus)
While there wasn’t enough rain to measure, the spike in humidity encouraged snakes to come out. Like me, the animals also appear to be ready for the monsoon to begin.
In 2011, the Center for Snake Conservation started a twice yearly Snake Count “to map and track snake distributions across North America.” Additionally, the goal of Snake Count is to get everyone (not just scientists) to take an interest in the snakes they see and get involved in conservation.
In Arizona, May is typically hot and dry. This year we are coming off an unusually dry winter, so we weren’t sure how successful counting snakes would be. We invited the best local snake finders to Muleshoe Ranch to see what we could scrap together for our first snake count here. And, wow, are we pleased with the results:
The whole weekend was a ton of fun, but a few finds really stand out. The snake counters arrived at Muleshoe ~10am Friday morning, started their search at ~11am, and almost immediately were rewarded by this little cutie, a juvenile Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus).
This juvenile Arizona black rattlesnake was originally found beneath this slab of wood.
That evening we turned up a large gophersnake, and as we followed the snake, snapping pictures, it climbed into the grapevine over our heads:
Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer) climbing in the grapevine.
We also found a black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus), two Sonoran whipsnakes (Coluber bilineatus), and a couple western diamond-backed rattlesnakes:
Male western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)
Saturday evening everyone (except me) took off for nearby Bass Canyon, which Jeff and I always thought looked perfect for Arizona black rattlesnakes (it’s very wet and thickly vegetated). Bass didn’t disappoint. Within a few minutes, the group found TWO Arizona black rattlesnakes, our first two females on the preserve! Both girls were small, but old (judging by their long rattles) and looked like they had given birth last year. An hour later, they found an adult male coiled in a hunting posture, and he was the real stunner – biggest one we’ve caught here and jet black. We named him Johnny Depp and you will hear more about him in the future…
Although this was officially a snake count, we kicked off our long-term reptile monitoring project, with not one, but THREE Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum). Gila monsters have been protected in Arizona longer than any other reptile, so we have permits to capture, measure, and photograph (for identification) them at the ranch.
Snake Counters admire a Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum)
Does this sound like fun? Join us for the Fall Snake Count (15-23 September 2012), when we will host a public event at Muleshoe Ranch that will include activities such as:
naturalist led hikes to find snakes
presentations on snake behavior
chances to get up close and personal with our captive snakes
observe and assist biologists capturing and measuring snakes
Stay tuned here or follow us on facebook for more details as we get closer to the big event!
More animals found during Snake Count:
Black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus)
Western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)
Regal horned lizard (Phrynosoma solare)
Black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus)
Western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)
Black-necked gartersnake (Thamnophis cyrtopsis)
Western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)
It is with a heavy heart that I report the death of one of our snakes, Chris (male Arizona black rattlesnake). While I love all of the rattlesnakes at Muleshoe, Chris has a special place in my heart because he was the first Arizona black rattlesnake I found here (from The Arizona black rattlesnakes trickle in…):
One week to go and we haven’t found any Arizona black rattlesnakes yet (remember, we wanted six). The clock is ticking.
On the afternoon of 26 September, I hiked downstream in hot springs wash and didn’t see another snake for hours. This is such a beautiful place, it is difficult to be disappointed by not seeing any snakes.
At about 5pm, it was time to turn around and head back in defeat. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a jet black little disk under a fallen log. Finally, our first Arizona black!
First encounter with Chris, 26 September 2011.
Since coming out of his den in early April, Chris has been a busy bee. He headed straight for hot springs wash and was in a new spot nearly every time we tracked him. He crossed the wash at least three times and that behavior may be what killed him. Moving is dangerous business for snakes as it makes them easier for predators to see (think about your encounters with wild snakes, were those snakes more often moving or sitting in cover? Also see Bonnet et al. 1998).
Monday (21 May) morning Jeff tracked Chris into a thickly vegetated area adjacent to hot springs wash. As he was carefully trying to locate Chris without getting too close, Jeff spotted red, and knew we had lost him. Only a little bit of bone and his radio transmitter were left. Nature doesn’t waste and every bit of Chris had been eaten by his predator or scavengers that came along after. No one wants to see that, so here are some of my favorite photos of Chris:
October 2011: his favorite habitat along hot springs wash.
OK, I (melissa) am the only one who has been gone, but that meant no blog updates. I’ve spent the last month finishing up fieldwork at our other project in central Arizona. And my how things changed at Muleshoe while I was gone! When I left, snakes were just starting to come out; now things are really hopping.
Kay, a female black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus), crawled into our lives at the end of March. Last fall we really wanted to find two black-tailed rattlesnakes for our study and would have REALLY loved to have a big, beautiful girl like Kay. But, Jaydin was the only one we encountered last year. Kay was crawling very near to where Jaydin was hanging out at the time, so maybe we’ll see the two of them together someday!
Now on to the usual suspects…
Henry, male western diamond-backed rattlesnake, 16 May 2012.
It took me a full week to locate Henry (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake). When Jeff last tracked him a few days before I got back, Henry was underneath a storage shed less than 100 feet from our house. He climbed up and over the hill behind Muleshoe Ranch Headquarters, only a 10 minute walk, but far enough to not be picked up by our telemetry gear. Sigh. At least we know where he is now.
Stuart, male western diamond-backed rattlesnake, 13 May 2012.
Stuart (male western diamond-backed rattlesnake) has been hanging out in the mesquite bosque near the horse barn. And he visited the barn (and the horses) a little while ago:
Ripley (horse) with Stuart at his feet (photo by Jeff Smith).
Jaydin, male black-tailed rattlesnake, 11 May 2012.
When I tracked Jaydin (male black-tailed rattlesnake) earlier this week, he was hanging out in Hot Springs wash in the forest. This seemed like really easy tracking for Jaydin, so of course it didn’t last. He has since moved back toward his den, up into the scrubby hills.
Chris, Arizona black rattlesnake, 11 May 2012.
Chris (male Arizona black rattlesnake) has been moving around a lot, but sticking to Hot Springs wash or very near. When I last tracked him, he was cruising through some thick vegetation on the wash – mesquite bosque boundary.
Boyett, Arizona black rattlesnake, 12 May 2012
Boyett (male Arizona black rattlesnake) is the one snake who has not yet made it back to the area where we found him last fall. Instead he is using a drainage near Secret Springs (where he was found). The night I tracked him he was coiled in the open, sticking out like a sore thumb (pictured above).
Glendy, male Arizona black rattlesnake, 10 May 2012.
Glendy (male Arizona black rattlesnake) is back to the mesquite bosque nearest to Headquarters. The first night I tracked him (pictured above) he had found a great hunting spot in a bunch of mammal burrows near an old trash dump. Should be lots of food there for him! He has since moved a little upstream and I wanted to post an additional photo of him so get an idea of how much (and often) these rattlesnakes can change color
Glendy, male Arizona black rattlesnake, 17 May 2012.
Both photos of Glendy have been corrected for differences in lighting, so the differences you see in color are real. This is a topic Jeff and I have been investigating for some time and hopefully we’ll have more to report on that here in the future.
This week is the Center for Snake Conservation’s Snake Count. We have been keeping track of all the free-ranging snakes (everyone that doesn’t have a radio transmitter) encountered at Muleshoe and the next post will likely be a wrap-up of what we’ve found. If you read this before 20 May – GET OUT AND COUNT SNAKES! Everyone can help! Visit the Snake Count website for more information.
Rattlesnake Research at Muleshoe Ranch 