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| Oregon rattlesnakes, via Wikipedia |
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| Photo by RobandUrsula Garrwald |
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| Note that the baby rattlers are so young their eyes are still cloudy |
One of my favorite docent activities is assisting at Reptile Ramble, the “snake show” that we offer at Tohono Chul Park on Fridays in warm weather. Our two herpetologists and a few lucky docents demonstrate and talk about snakes, lizards, turtles, amphibians (such as frogs) and other local herps. (Herpetology, the study of these creatures, comes from the Greek for “things that creep.”)
Arizona is herp heaven. We have around 50 snake species, and are the rattlesnake capital of the US, with 13 species. We also have around 50 lizards, 25 frogs and toads, and one salamander. I have always been interested in snakes, because they have such an unusual lifestyle and anatomy. Many of the organs we have two of, they have only one of (or only one that functions), to save space. Other anatomical adaptations allow most snakes to swallow prey bigger than their heads.
The animals we show at the Ramble generally include: gopher snake (called bull snake in some parts of the country); coach whip; mountain kingsnake; common kingsnake (my favorite); long-nosed snake; and rattlesnake, safely displayed behind a small barrier. We also usually show a box turtle, a Sonoran mud turtle, and a Gila monster, the largest (and only venomous) lizard in the United States. Sometimes we also have a Sonoran Toad, an amphibian that lies dormant most of the year, then emerges to mate when the monsoon begins.
We show our audience how to tell the difference between venomous and nonvenomous snakes, and explain why it's a very good thing to have a king snake or gopher snake in your back yard (they eat pack rats and other undesirable creatures). We also demonstrate why you should not fear rattlesnakes, as long as you respect them and use common sense.
A lot of people are afraid of snakes, but after attending a session with us, many lose their fear and begin to regard snakes with respect and fascination; even awe. I love watching an adult's face turn from revulsion to smiles the first time he or she actually touches a snake.
Children love the show, and usually leave with a fascination for reptiles. I like to think that through reptile ramble we have saved the lives of hundreds—maybe thousands--of snakes over the years. Come visit us sometime!
How much do you know about the Sonoran Desert? Take this quiz and find out.
1. What is this?
2. Can you tell the age of this snake?
3. How about these snakes?
4. What kind of flower is this?
5. What is this handsome red-eyed bird?
ANSWERS:
1. This is the nest of a leaf-cutter ant colony. For more information on these insects, see the post of December 17, 2010.
2. This is a trick question. Contrary to popular myth, you can’t tell a rattlesnake’s age by the number of rattles on its tail. Rattlers grow a new rattle segment each time they molt, which can be more often than once a year. Also, the rattle segments are often broken off.
3. Not exactly a trick question, but these are baby rattlers, only a few days old. They are born with what is called a “button,” which is the first segment of their rattle. The first time they molt, they add another segment to the rattle and their eyes become clear.
4. This is the seldom-seen flower of the jumping cholla (also called chain-fruit cholla), which appears only at dusk and at night in early summer.
5. This beautiful bird is a phainopepla. Though often called a “black cardinal,” it is actually the only North American member of the silky flycatcher family, and can often be found in and around desert mistletoe. Along with its slate-colored mate, the phainopepla can be seen in the Tucson area throughout the year, though in summer many of them head up to the mountains where it’s cooler.
SCORE: 1-2 correct, you think desert is something sweet served after the first course. 3-4 correct, you’re a snowbird. 5 correct, you are a true desert rat!
One of the things a docent does at Tohono Chul Park is rove, which I do on Monday mornings. I like to get an idea what birds might be in the Park on weeks when I’m leading a bird walk, and I also just like to look around and see what’s new or different or interesting.
I try to cover all the main trails, including the Saguaro Discovery Trail, which is seldom used by visitors on very hot or very cold days. Whenever I head out for that part of my rove, I always say I’m going on a Condor Walk.
A Condor Walk? Yes, I say, you never know what might appear on the trails. I could even see an Andean Condor. This majestic bird, which has a wing span of up to 10 1/2 feet, is found only in western South America, but so what? My position is that anything can happen out in nature, and if an Andean Condor should decide to visit Arizona and alight on top of a saguaro, I don’t want to miss seeing it.
Among the wonderful things I have seen on my Condor Walks are jackrabbits, road runners, Lucy’s warblers, and other fairly common denizens of the Park. More than once I’ve also come across the beautiful but seldom-seen longnosed snake…
…and the supposedly nocturnal nightsnake, eating a zebra-tail lizard. This last event was so unusual that I was asked to write it up as a nature note for the Sonoran Herpetologist, a scientific publication.
I’ll write more about some of the unusual behaviors I’ve witnessed in birds, reptiles, and mammals.. I wouldn’t have seen any of these things, though, if I didn’t go out looking for Andean condors on a regular basis.
Leo, the beautiful kingsnake in my guest room, needs to be fed two mice once every two weeks. His owner, the herpetologist who brings Leo to the reptile show at Tohono Chul Park, feeds him live mice, but correctly assumed I would not want to do that, so he left me a plastic bag of frozen mice. I thaw two out, wait till they reach room temperature, and place them in Leo’s cage. He will not eat in my presence, however.
Here is a video of my attempt to capture the very interesting process by which a snake swallows something larger than its head. I explained this and have a video showing it in a small way in my post on the nightsnake eating a lizard.
This poorly-lit video still gives you a sense of how terrifying it must be to be a mouse when a snake is approaching. Leo was obviously interested in the mouse, but kept backing off because I was there. I left him alone, and when I came back, the mouse was gone, and Leo had a bulge in his body just above the bulge of the previous mouse.
The next time I checked the cage, Leo was curling up in his water dish. The first time I fed him he soaked for eight hours; this time he was only in there for about three.
Look who I found on my back porch when I was watering this morning!
Juvenile Common Kingsnake
This little beauty is about eighteen inches long and has strikingly beautiful markings. He does not, however, like to be watered.
I feel so fortunate—I have Leo, the big kingsnake, in my guest room, and now this little guy hanging out in the backyard, at least for a while. Here’s a video of him trying to escape the photographer. He also sidewinded a little, but I didn’t get it on pixels.
On Fridays at Tohono Chul Park, we offer a reptile show, Reptile Ramble, in which two herpetologists talk about and demonstrate a number of local reptiles, assisted by docents. I always feel incredibly fortunate when I get to be one of those docents, because I consider that show one of the most important things we do at the Park. It educates visitors about how to tell one snake from another, and why they shouldn’t fear or harm any snakes, even rattlesnakes.
I also love the show because I have fallen in love with the snake I demonstrate most often, the beautiful, beautiful Common Kingsnake. The snake’s owner is going away for July and August, and this year he asked me if I’d take care of “Leo” (the king) for him while he’s gone. I jumped at the chance, and yesterday Leo moved into our guest room. Here are a couple of pictures of Leo from Reptile Ramble, showing his incredible beauty:
And here is Leo’s cage, with just a glimpse of Leo hiding in his little rock cave. I’ve been in to say hello a few times today, and he is no longer retreating the second I show up. Perhaps soon I can get a picture of him more relaxed and stretched out. In a future post I’ll tell you more about this remarkable species.
Leo’s glass-sided cage
It was curlicued alongside the path, with its head just resting at the edge of a large rodent hole. It was so quiet at first I thought it might have been dead, but then I saw its tongue flick, as it smelled its breakfast-to-be. 
The lizard at TCP is much brighter yellow. Quite a good-looking reptile. And speaking of yellow, on our bird walk Monday, my colleague Marcia and I saw a mystery flycatcher. I think it was a brown-crested, because of the size of its bill and the very yellow appearance of its belly, but it might have been an ash-throated. Those guys drive me crazy. Take a look. What do YOU think?
