In October 2005 me and Sheri went on a roadtrip from minneapolis, minnesota down to Arizona and then up to Canada.



Map over Arizona



In Colorado we was greeted by snow.. not something you wanna see! First stop was the Rattlesnake Museum in Albaquerque, New Mexico




The museum had a impressive collection of rattler parapanalia and also, of course, a very nice collection of live rattlesnake. From top right: A beautiful red colored western Diamondback, Crotalus atrox. Next to the left: Twin-spotted rattlesnake, Crotalus pricei and a Crotalus tigris, Tiger rattlesnake juvenile.



From Albaquerque we headed towards Arizona and drove through Flagstaff over the mountains. at a pit stop I did some herping and managed to spot a Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis pyromelana



I could not believe my luck!




We flipped some rocks in the area and managed to find a few Scolopendra polymorpha and glimses of a small lizard, I believe a Urosaurus ornata.





We headed to Wickensburg and later to Phoenix were we visitied Brandon which took us to Mount Ord, a good spot for Arizona Black rattlesnake, C. oreganus cerberus. We didnt find any rattlers but managed to spot a Aphonopelma behlei male on the road. The only rattler we saw was found dead on the road, a juvenile atrox




At night we went out in the desert and found this adult Aphonopelma sp. male and a female but she disappeared down the burrow. The next day we joined Dave and headed towards Organ Pipe area in the Sonoran desert.



Classic desert with alot of large cacti, such as Jumping Cholla, Cylindopuntia fulgida, and Organ Pipe cactus, Stenocereus thurberi



The first snake was crossing the road, Sonoran Gopher snake, Pituophis catenifer affinis
At a abandoned farm we flipped boards and found a beautiful little juvenile female Banded gecko, Coleonyx variegatus.




The invertebrates was also present. Arizona hairy scorpion, Hadrurus arizonensis, and barkscorpion, Centruroides exicaudata. A few black widows was also found under boards. One snake was found in the area, a Western patch-nosed snake, Salvadora hexalepis




Allthough the rattlers avoided us we kept on searching. We found alot of lizards such as Common Side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana, which Dave catched with his lizard snare. Tried to lure a chuckwalla, Sauromalus ater, out from a crevice but it was jammed in tight. Other sauropods was Ornate tree lizard, Urosaurus ornata and Long-nosed leopard lizard, Gambelia wislizenii. No rattlers though but Dave was now determined to find rattlers.



We headed towards Ajo and on a gravel road there we found a diamondback - dead. But after a little while the first Arizona rattler was found - a western diamondback, Crotalus atrox.




Dave was of course relieved. Shortly after the first we found another one.
We also found tarantula burrows and decided to try to get one out, and after some digging out came a gorgeous Aphonopelma sp.



We headed to a road known for sidewinders but all we saw was dead on the road.
And more DOR was to come. A weird looking shape was laying on the road and neither of us could figure out what it was - and it must have been very late since no one was getting out. Finally we realized we had doors on the car and got out to see a dead gravid Mexican rosy boa, Lichanura trivirgata, on the road. Not a pleasant sight.



I wanna thank Tom for his hospitality, also thanks to Brandon and Dave for showing us around in AZ. See you soon!