# AZ trip, summer 2012--herps, inverts, and mammals



## desertanimal (Aug 13, 2012)

I used to live here, but now it's only that I occasionally have to go to Tucson to do some labwork that I get the opportunity to go desert herping.  I was too busy in the lab to do any herping in Tucson, unfortunately.  So this is all from my drive back up to Phoenix and in the Phoenix area.

Couch's spadefoot






spades!






Longnosed snake






red irises






for scale (pardon the pun)






Not the biggest Colorado river toad I've seen, but big enough.












Enough with the paparazzi!






Jackrabbits are so difficult to photograph.  This was while driving, camera out the window, shooting blind.






Cow's tongue prickly pear.






---------- Post added 08-13-2012 at 10:35 AM ----------

Peter cottontail.






Landscape and my in-laws.






I think maybe this is a yellow ground scorpion?  Vaejovis confusus?  






Cool series.  Taking photos of this guy . . .






. . . and it takes advantage of the insects that are attracted to the lights.  Here's it's grabbing and stinging an insect.






Then it carries it off . . .






. . . and waits.  Presumably for the little wasp to die?






After a little while, it pulls it to its mouth . . .






. . . and gets to eating.






Pretty neat, huh?






---------- Post added 08-13-2012 at 10:46 AM ----------

First tarantula of the night was uncooperative.  _Aphonopelma chalcodes_, I presume.






_Hadrurus arizonensis_. At first, it ran around like crazy and stung my shoe with considerable leverage when I stopped it from running off the trail with my feet.  After a few minutes under a tupperware, it calmed down and then wouldn't move for anything, making it a cooperative photo subject.






My fav scorpion picture of the night.






I was able to stop on this one's door before it got away.






It also took advantage of the insects drawn to the lights.






A lovely little _Crotalus atrox_, western diamondback.






Love its eyes.






It was very cooperative for this stage of photo-taking.






Until I tried to coax its tail out, and then it acted like the apocalypse was upon it.






And hid in a cane cholla.  Deep, deep in a cane cholla.






Look at that nice tail!  You can even see where the last row of caudal scales overlap the basal rattle.






You can't seeeee meeeeeeeeee!






---------- Post added 08-13-2012 at 10:56 AM ----------

Last tarantula of the night.






Another peter cottontail.






Kangaroo rat.






And a sphinx moth.






That's it so far, but I'm going out tonight and tomorrow night, too, so hopefully I'll have some more to add!

Reactions: Like 4


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## syndicate (Aug 13, 2012)

Great photos thanks for sharing!I just visited Arizona for my first time this summer and I loved it!!I really think I could live out there and be quite happy hehe!
-Chris

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## desertanimal (Aug 14, 2012)

Thanks!  Tonight we saw just about nothing but tarantulas.  Tens of tarantulas!  Will post up pics tomorrow.  Off to bed now!

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## Shrike (Aug 14, 2012)

Nice finds!


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## desertanimal (Aug 14, 2012)

Last night we went on a hike we've been on many times before.  But last night, it was covered in tarantulas!  I teased several out, and that was the first time I'd ever tried it.  

Teased this one out






And then put my lens cap over the hole.  "Now where is that door . . ."






"I know I put it around here somewhere . . ."






"I was SURE I left it right here!"






It was a nice little thing.






Another T






Another T






Another T






low angle T






So fluffly and blonde






Little juvenile






This I think may be a dwarf.  It seemed greyer than the _A. chalcodes_, and not really "fluffy" at all.  Plus, once I teased it out and blocked its hole, it was FAST and acted really different from the _A. chalcodes_, which tended to just crumple up and try to hide in plain sight.  This one sprinted two feet every time I touched it.  What do you guys think?






My pinky on the possible dwarf, for scale.  My pinky is 2 and 1/8" on the lateral side.






Eventually teased this little one out.  The spiders were really hungry.






And here it is.  Skinny.






Don't love these guys as much, but you can always find one around a drop toilet.






Classic-looking burrow entrance.






I was very pleased with myself for catching this little bugger without getting nailed by either the cactus or the barbed wire.  But in an effort not to break its tail (as I have accidentally done before with caught kangaroo rats), I was unable to hang onto the little jumpy thing long enough to get a photo in hand.  VERY frustrating to catch him and then lose him before the photo op!






What a cutie.






And finally, screech owl looking for roadkill or k-rats crossing the road.  It didn't hang around once I stopped to cooperate for decent photos, but at least you can see the animal.






Look at those feet!






That was it for the night!

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## sr20det510 (Aug 15, 2012)

Awesome stuff!
Never seen an owl on the road before.


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## desertanimal (Aug 15, 2012)

Interesting.  It's not uncommon to see owls on the road at night.  I've seen both screech owls and Great horned owls on the road.  Also, apparently they can't hear well in the range of the sound of auto engines, and they don't hear to get out of the way as a result.

My last night in PHX was a strange night.  Not much out, then a crazy windstorm and rainstorm.  






Mostly saw millipedes.






Little subadult male gecko who wouldn't let me get an in-focus shot before hiding under a cactus.






Solifugid.






_Centruroides_, I'm guessing _sculpturatus_.






To be honest, I don't think scorpions are that pretty, but under black light, they are beautiful.  Pure form = function.












Found two different irrigation valve covers with old, abandoned beehives in them in different parts of town.






Given that 99% of AZ wild bees are Africanized, one should be careful about lifting irrigation valve box covers in the daytime, and don't touch them if you see any bees going in and out!






Thunderstorm.






Post-storm subadult gopher snake.






Handsome!






What a pretty face!






You can see here, about half of adult size.






Tired of the harassment, heading directly home!






And now, back to Boston, where there are some, but very few herps.

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## Storm76 (Aug 16, 2012)

Very nice pictures in this thread! I really like the Aphonopelma sp. you encountered there


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## desertanimal (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks!  Do you have any opinion about that potential dwarf?


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## BrettG (Aug 17, 2012)

desertanimal said:


> Thanks!  Do you have any opinion about that potential dwarf?


It is a juvenile chalcodes.They go through a couple of funky color changes when they are smaller.


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## desertanimal (Aug 17, 2012)

Thanks, Brett.  I wasn't sure because I saw lots about that size, but none that looked or acted quite like that.  Cheers.


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