Your REALTOR may or may not inform you about our desert critters here in Tucson. We live in a neighborhood called Tucson Estates II, and it is surrounded by Tucson Mountain Park, which in turn abuts Saguaro National Park West, in the Tucson Mountains on Tucson's western flank. Just down Kinney road a couple of miles from us is the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. Google it. It's fantastic.
It doesn't look like it from this photo, but docent making the presentation to an audience of better than 200 people last Saturday night is holding this rattlesnake four feet from his body. If you ask me, that's not enough distance.
I don't think I was the only one in the audience wondering what critter nailed him under the eye, but no one asked. The black and white stripes on the tail just before the rattle identify this as a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. It's four feet long. The longest verified in modern times was just a little more than seven feet long.
Rattlesnakes come in 18 different varieties in Arizona, according to our friend. They're all venomous. And venom doesn't stop with the rattlers. Not even with the snakes. This lizard below is one of two venomous lizards found in Arizona. It's the Gila (hee-la) Monster.
They're not very fast. One and one-half miles per hour is top speed. But when they bite you, they hang on for dear life until they calm down. They're not calm unless they're on terra firma. There's the problem.
One man walked into the ER at St. Mary's hospital here in Tucson with a Gila Monster firmly attached to his chest. Somehow he thought it would be cool if he picked it up and put it in his shirt. I can imagine him saying to his buddy: "Here, hold my beer and don't spill it." "Okay, get a picture of this!"
He survived.
I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.
Think of me as your local expert.
photo copyright Mike in Tucson
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I just posted part one of a series I'm doing on the critters you might find in Sun City Grand. I don't know of anyone who has run across these in SCGrand but I was planning on educating people about the possibilities (probably more so out in Sun City Festival and up in the Trilogy areas.
Mike, interesting post, but I am With Dr. Jones, I HATE SNAKES!
Mike, thank you for the invite to link to my post on the critters you might spot in Sun City Grand. Please feel free to link back to your post here for Tucson too. Whether they like the creepy crawlies or not, people should be informed. My next post will include the lovely bark scorpions I've had to deal with for the last two years. Fortunately these guys tend to be localized and most people never even see them.
Oh yeah. I forgot to add... I would love to have known what got him under the eye. Wish you had asked. :)
We have no snakes in Hawaii just mongoose. I hate snakes! I've seen them on golf courses in Payson and slithering across the street in Flagstaff. When I first moved from Hawaii, a Gila Monster was found in my backyard in Phoenix. I haven't seen any snakes in Surprise, Sun City Grand or Sun City West. I'm always on guard...I hate snakes - Just like Indiana Jones!
Chuck- I am so afraid of rattlesnakes! I have seen plenty camping in CA and Utah. My sons raised and sold pythons here. Now we have a huge problem in the Everglades. Pythons are not native to Florida. They have no predators. People keep them as pets until they can not take care of them any longer, then let them go in the Everglades having no clue of how bad they are on our fragile wetlands eco system. The rangers are trying to get permission to shoot them to kill. They grow to be 25 feet long and this is the perfect tropical climate for them. Should do a post about that!
What a great pair of boots that rattler would make. I'd have to admit tarantulas scare me more than snakes.
Mike,
I'm terrified of snakes....so I could have gotten along very well without the photos. LOL!
Mike,
I must say you have some interesting critters out there.
Dang, Mike, now I have to visit you next time I'm in Green Valley .... I was last at the Museum in I think '97...... yikes... where does the time go??? No hiking, though, please. :-)
AZ Blogging Network looks interesting. Do you 'spose they'd let me in as an very occasional citizen of Green Valley AZ?
Cheryl,
Please consider this your invitation to join the AZ Blogging Network! And please call the next time you're coming to Green Valley!
Don,
Yes, we do!
Cynthia,
Thanks for commenting anyhow; can you type with your eyes closed?
Susie,
With a license from Game and Fish, it's legal to hunt the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake 24 houra a day, 365 days per year. I wonder of Pima Community College has a course on tanning skins? (The biggest tarantula we've seen was only as big as my hand. It was in the middle of the street three houses away, and was very easy to see at that distance.)
Katerina,
I've seen programs on TV about those pythons! Amazing!
Leolinda,
The "dread" of snakes is a learned phenomonon. I guess that it can be unlearned, too. But why?
Kathy,
Thanks for all your comments, and for the link to your post. One night-time event at the Desert Museum is looking for bark scorpions with black lights. The critters glow green.
Darcy,
I do like Dr. Indiana Jones!
Mike in Tucson
Mike - interesting post about snakes. I would never want to get that close to one.
Mike - My first thought when I opened your post was, "What happened to that guy's eye?" I am surprised he didn't talk about it.
I thought you shaved your head and beard. That guy kind of looks like you! I watched many episodes of Venom ER, the TV is as close as I want to get to one of those things.
I love that Museum. Haven't been there in years, though, since we live in Payson now. Personally, I LIKE SNAKES (although not the poisonous ones). I use to teach Biology before RE, and I used to have a menagerie in my classroom.
Hey Mike,
Just one more question, when the Gila Monster bites and hangs on as was the case with the man with the bite to the chest and went to the hospital, what does the doctor do to relax the animal and get its' feet back on terra firma?
Don R.
Don,
They insert a butter knife between the jaws and twist until the animal lets go.
Leslie,
Me too, but don't tell anyone.
Chad,
Maybe if I lost 40 pounds or so... LOL
Jason,
Me, too. I kept waiting for him to say something humorous. He was a great docent.
Sharon,
Be sure to come back. The next time I'll find something you'll like better. This one catches your attention, though, doesn't it?
Mike in Tucson
Hey Mike...have you ever seen the films about that religion where they all mill around holding and "playing" with the venomous snakes? Creepy!!
Joan,
I have seen that, and not too long ago. Some religious types in India do that as well. Welcome to the afterlife!
Mike in Tucson
Mike- I took you up on your invite and came over to visit your "snake" blog. I have deer and wild turkeys, in my backyard. That's adventuresome enough, for me. You can keep the snakes.
Marilyn,
Thanks for commenting. Wild turkeys would have been our national bird, if Ben Franklin had his way.
Mike in Tucson
For a number of years I worked at a software development company, which was cradled in the arms of the Sierra foothills. We had all kinds of critters visit on a regular basis. Deer, mountain lions, raccons, skunks, snakes, and especially rattlers. I recall one rattle snake, which was 5 1/2 feet long, and very fat. We named him "Fluffy."
I'm taken by the position of the head of the rattler in your picture. Whether the handler has it held or not - that head still looks like it could do a whole lot of damage!
Great pictures!
Myrl Jeffcoat
http://www.myrljeffcoat.com
Ok, so I could probably handle the Gila monster, although I didn't know how to pronounce it until you trained us BUT...you have those big hairy nasty spiders.... Tarantulas. You're on your own. I'd rather wrestle aligators! :)
Shannon,
The Tarantulas migrate en masse sometime during the Monsoon season, which is now. I'm hoping to get some good pics, and will post them if I do. You can reciprocate by posting the picture of you wrestling an alligator! LOL
Myrl,
I love it! "Fluffy!" I'm going to have to browse through your blog posts. You're an interesting person! (Which is nothing like a "person of interest.")
Mike in Tucson
Yuck. I don't like snakes or now, Gila Monsters. Pretty sure I need to be more than 4' away from any snake... and that picture is making my knees weak. ha
Jesse,
Hey, old man! I haven't seen you for a month of Sundays. Thanks for stopping by.
Mike in Tucson