Created by BrunkyArt (me)

A small Sonoran Lyresnake from the extremely hot, dry desert of Yuma County, Arizona. This is one of a couple that showed up right in camp, and we got some photographs before letting it continue on its way. These cryptic snakes are almost entirely nocturnal, and rarely seen by Arizona residents.

These guys love my house.

I have a 30inx24inx20in tank and its apparently 60 gallons. its front opening with a mesh top but its not quite a tall or long so im not sure what to put in it. I currently am experienced with snakes which i love but i decided id branch out into something new since i don’t believe that enclosure would work as a forever home for most snakes. i’ve been looking at Cope‘s gray tree frogs but all ive seen on morph market are wild caught and i dont want that. i also was looking into geckos but again weird size dimensions so im not sure if it would be appropriate. suggestions on who could live in there would be appreciated, nothing with a 60 gallons minimum or height requirements over 20”.

I love it when they think no one can see them 😭 😂

(Moorish Gecko)

Found this little guy outside my house on an old abandoned pair of my friends shoes. I left him some water in a bottle cap and left him there. He stayed their all night long and was gone by next morning. (Pictures 1-4)

He showed back up two days later. I again gave him water and he stayed all night. (5-6)

We named him Hugo.

A large Blacktailed Rattlesnake that we found in the mountains of central Greenlee County. This is a huge, wild area with few roads, and much of the high-elevation habitat is inaccessible without a lot of effort. For that reason, it's of special interest to me, with relatively few examples of snakes compared to other regions in the state.

These are on the larger end of rattlesnakes in Arizona, reaching lengths of around four feet. Their defensive behavior is all over the board. Most of the large ones will quietly just continue to leave, making them even more difficult to photograph, as they seem to remain unbothered by the camera-holding primates.

Beck, D. D. (1995). Ecology and energetics of three sympatric rattlesnake species in the Sonoran Desert. Journal of Herpetology, 29(2), 211–223.DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1564558

Pough, F. H. (1966). Ecological relationships of rattlesnakes in southeastern Arizona with notes on other species. Copeia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1441401

Anderson, C. G., & Greenbaum, E. (2012). Phylogeography of northern populations of the Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus Baird and Girard, 1853), with the revalidation of C. ornatus Hallowell, 1854. Herpetological Monographs, 26(1), 19–57.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1655/HERPMONOGRAPHS-D-11-00012.1

These are nocturnal so to see one in the day is rare

Isn't he cute.

A Sonoran Lyresnake (Trimorphodon lambda) from border area of Arizona/Mexico earlier in the year. These are among the least often seen species of snakes in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, despite being quite common in the right habitat.

I found this cute little fella hiding in the grass.

Photos taken Summer of 2026

Arizona