» Habitat

We have a new website, reptile-photos.com.

JDM — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:24:03 +0000

We have recently built, and are still building, a new photography and artwork website for reptile art, called reptile-photos.com. The idea is to share our reptile photography and artwork with the public. You are free to browse and enjoy the images, share them via the links with friends, and even purchase prints for yourself or for others. We hope you enjoy!

Reptile-photos.com

Arizona Sky Islands 2010

JDM — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:35:59 +0000

We had a great trip to the southern Arizona sky islands this year. Our last trip to the area was in 2008 and we were glad to get back to the southern parts of our great State. It was very cool out for the time of year that we went, so temperatures got too cold very early at night, usually by 9 PM. Here are some of the photographs of the area, truly beautiful. We ran into Border Patrol and were only pulled over one time this year.

We had the chance to meet up with a few herpers from Phoenix and had an all around great time!

Banded Rock Rattlesnake

Banded Rock Rattlesnake

Longnose Snake

Glossy Snake

Diamondback Rattlesnake

Blacktailed Rattlesnake

Tiger Rattlesnake

Blacktailed Rattlesnake

Trip to White Mountains, Arizona

JDM — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:39:06 +0000

It was a slow year for me for herping this past season. I didn’t get a chance to get out much. I did make a few trips to the White Mountains and here are a couple of photos. Not much but gartersnakes, although it was not really a herping trip, but a family fishing trip. Here are a few photos:

First Wandering Garter Snake

Second Wandering Garter Snake

Beautiful Cactus with Red Flowers

Sun Valley Parkway…. The passing of an era.

JDM — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 03:32:44 +0000

I just received word that the land along Sun Valley Parkway, west of the White Tank Mountains in central Arizona is now scheduled for development. The area is a vast expanse of open desert land in central Arizona west of Phoenix. The road, Sun Valley Parkway was a favorite local herping spot for Phoenix residents for years. It is now being developed with new subdivisions and thousands of new homes.

I personally have always avoided the area since I knew that this would inevitably happen. The White Tank Mountains will now be completely surrounded by development and the habitat will be lost.

The area was home to many desert reptiles including Gila Monsters, Desert Tortoises, California Kingsnakes, and many others. All of these reptiles and other plants and wildlife will be gone.

This reminds me of another issue. Why doesn’t the Arizona Game and Fish Department do something about this? While they cannot do anything to stop the developement, they could at least make some use of this situation. Gila Monsters and Desert Tortoises are both protected in the state of Arizona. You cannot legally collect these animals from the wild. They are thought by some to be in danger of over collection and have been protected from take by the Arizona Game and Fish for quite some time. Why can’t these animals that are certainly facing extermination be collected by Arizona residents? Why is there no special procedure or permit to allow for this? If these animals are so endangered, why not allow animals from this population whose days are numbered to be legally collected by those who care about these animals and would like to be able to legally possess them?

Hopefully wildlife laws will someday make sense and actually serve both humans and wildlife both. I wish there were something that could be done. I apologize in advance for such a sad post to this blog.