gettin' creepy up in AZ!

Greenjewls

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 10, 2008
Messages
388
The most disturbing thing is that rattlesnakes (at least in this area) don't rattle at night. They lie, coiled up with the rattle buried under all the coils. They will strike if you step too close without rattling! also they (in periphery) resemble the common cow-pie. When scorpion hunting I usually have someone with a white light on snake spotting duty because they are impossible to see with a UV light. Hope you enjoy the video, please comment
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,044
Shades of the past come back to haunt me. Tourists and horses in a high rattler density area. Just think Ripley and Aliens. Every bush a potential ambush and no telling if an area is safe.
I strongly recommend high top heavy leather engineer boots but even those aren't 100%. My tag was a youngster that fired nearly straight up. One fang hit the edge of the boot, the other got my shin.
I recommend searches in mid afternoon. They are warmed up and faster but at least they usually let loose with the warning.
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
Shades of the past come back to haunt me. Tourists and horses in a high rattler density area. Just think Ripley and Aliens. Every bush a potential ambush and no telling if an area is safe.
I strongly recommend high top heavy leather engineer boots but even those aren't 100%. My tag was a youngster that fired nearly straight up. One fang hit the edge of the boot, the other got my shin.
I recommend searches in mid afternoon. They are warmed up and faster but at least they usually let loose with the warning.
The only problem with mid-afternoon searches is that all the things you're searching for are hiding in their burrows! And those black lights for scorpion-hunting are not terribly effective under full sun. ;)

Actually, I think I've only ever come across a couple of rattlesnakes while out hunting/hiking at night. The majority of the rattlers I've encountered have been in the middle of the day.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,044
The only problem with mid-afternoon searches is that all the things you're searching for are hiding in their burrows! And those black lights for scorpion-hunting are not terribly effective under full sun. ;)

Actually, I think I've only ever come across a couple of rattlesnakes while out hunting/hiking at night. The majority of the rattlers I've encountered have been in the middle of the day.
Yups. They are basically solar powered with a limited battery capacity. Come sundown they are fully charged but the half life is only a couple hours long. The most hazardous time I've encountered is around 16:00. Fully charged they go lurk in the shade, ready to tag anything that comes into radar range.
 

RTTB

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
1,771
There are indeed hazards to searching at night.
 

InvertAdict

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
19
I was in phoenix for a few days and found 16 bark scorpions in about 3 hours!
(6 in someone's yard, 12 in a park, and 4 more in the same park the next night!)
There were also 5 that got away! That's a lot of scorpions for a place that sprays pesticides!
 
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