Beautiful Buzztails
I went out to my friend’s house today to look at his albino rattlesnake collection. What a spectacular treat. Some of these are incredibly rare…
Northern Mojave het. albino--Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus
Albino Northern Mojave--Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus
The albino Northern Mojave, above, is 1 of only 6 in existence, including the original wild-caught female. The original albino animal was caught near Ridgecrest, CA in 2001, as a sub-adult. The above animal is one of 5 albino F2 offspring from that female produced in captivity.
Albino Prairie--Crotalus viridis viridis
Western Diamondback--Crotalus atrox
There are several different types of albino in Western Diamondbacks–
Amelanistic--"regular" albino
"Bubblegum" Albino
"Caramel" Albino
There is also a hyper-melanistic morph–
Black Diamondback
And as is par for the course in the world of reptile breeding, they have started to combine these traits-
Caramel + Black
Above is a combination of the Caramel albino gene and the Black gene. These are incredibly rare at this point, I’m told…
Oh…I also managed to get a shot or two of an ACTUAL Panmint Alligator Lizard. A little while back I mis-identified an Alligator Lizard as a panamintina but I was wrong. As luck would have it, a friend of mine caught an actual panamintina and invited me over to get a shot, since I’m likely to never have the chance again-
Panamint Alligator Lizard--Elgaria panamintina
And here it is curled next to a Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata)-
panamintina on the left; multicarinata on the right
ASll in all it was a really fun afternoon. Thanks for taking the time to look!!
Very Rare Lizard
So I get a phonecall today, from an hysterical lady…”There is a lizard in my store! Can you PLEASE come get it out for me?!” I asked her what kind of lizard, and of course she had no idea. So I grabbed a fine-mesh net, and headed over…
There were several customers, mostly curious and a little freaked that a “wild animal” was in the shop. Mind you…we live in the High Desert. Lizards and snakes are literally all around us, and calls for snake removals from a house are fairly common. Needless to say, I wasn’t shocked that a lizard was in the store.
But I was shocked to see this guy…
Panamint Alligator Lizard
This is a Panamint Alligator Lizard, also known as Elgaria panamintina. They are an increasingly rare lizard that only occurs in a small area of eastern California, in Inyo and Mono counties. This is only the second one I have ever seen, and the first…I’m still not positive it was a Panamint. This one…I’m almost positive…
Elgaria panamintina
Now…I’m not a biologist, or a herpetologst, or any kind of ologist to be perfectly honest. I can’t be 100% certain that this is a Panamint Alligator lizard. It could also be a Sierra Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea palmeri), but those don’t typically have distinct banding. This guy also has a distinct, white, rear border against the black bands, which is characteristic of the Panamint.
Regardless, he is a really cool lizard, and I’m stoked to have rescued him!
