Scaley Skins

We were working out in a valley in the Mojave Desert called Johnson Valley. Many people know of it because they ride motorcycles and other ORVs out there. We were there looking for rare plants. When walking, you see a whole other world. The slow side of the desert.

Amongst some rocky outcrops, we saw the rocky-outcrop-dweller, the common chuckwalla (Sauromalus obesus). This one is a male because it lacks dark cross bands on its back. Chuckwallas are a fun lizard. They're big, bold, and curious. Makes for easy viewing.

Next, we found this desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos). Doesn't it look prehistoric?!? In this first photo, we posed the lizard. That way you can get a good look at its head and flat body. The flat, round (pancake-like) body is why they're also called horney toads... but they are reptiles, not amphibians.

The desert horney toads come in a variety of colors, which generally seem to camouflage with their backgrounds. This fellow had a strong red and black coloring to it, which perfectly matched the red and black lava rocks in its immediate locality. Pretty cool! Do you see the lizard in the photo to the right? Yup, right there in the center. This way, predators like roadrunners can't find them as easily.

And finally... my favorite photo of the day - a Mojave green rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus)! And I took this particular photo! (Usually the hubby takes the close up photos of the rattlesnakes.) This is the very first Mojave green I've seen. I've wanted to see them ... I've seen the Pacific rattler, the Panamint rattler, and the sidewinder. Now the Mojave. By the way, this is the most-common rattlesnake to bite, and it has the worst bite of all of them. Seems the juveniles aren't good at biting out the proper dosage and often overdose the victim on venom. Not good! Oh, and, by the way, this particular rattler was a youngster, told by the fact that it wasn't really very green (or so I've been told by those who know).

This leads to my farewell joke. Possibly my favorite within the Redneck genre: You know you're a redneck when your final living words are... ..."Hey guys, watch this!"