We woke up this morning to a lovely mountain view (and a kennel of dogs howling – they kept at it all night). We got to processing the DORs and found the stomach of the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) to be loaded with ants (horned lizards are ant specialists, so no real surprise there).

Nice view of some New Mexico mountains

Camp

DOR Texas Horned Lizard loaded with ants

After packing camp, we headed east and saw several pecan orchards (groves? I’m not sure which applies) on our way to Las Cruces.

Pecan trees lining the road

We got to town with plenty of time before road cruising, so we stopped to relax in a park and eat lunch.

A nice park where we rested for the afternoon

Lunch - KFC

After eating, we still had time to spare, so we went back to the park where they had started some live music for a concert series. Lots of people came for the music, but luckily we left before it got to crowded. We picked up subs to eat on our way out to work and realized we were driving straight into a huge thunderstorm. We turned around and cruised a different road for the beginning of the night until the storm had passed. On this road we passed a border patrol checkpoint twice, the officers were really nice (and surprised to see us the second time around). On this road I got to see my first ever badger (Taxidea taxus), although it was a DOR.

Dinner from subway

Our first choice of roads is right under that storm

DOR badger, the first I've ever seen

The same badger, from behind

After the storm passed, we headed to a mountain road where we found two DOR Wandering Garter Snakes (Thamnophis elegans), a couple of DOR American Bullfrogs, and the highlight of the night, Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum, 1 live and 2 DOR).

DOR Wandering Garter Snake

Second DOR Wandering Garter

DOR American Bullfrog

DOR Tiger Salamander

The highlight of the night, a live Tiger Salamander

Stoked about the salamander (and tired), we found a nice, chilly place in the mountains to camp for the night.

We woke up from a decent sleep at our camp in City of Rocks State Park and did a little exploring. We spotted lots of race-runners – we’ve seen them everywhere, they’re fast and tough to catch, so we can’t say for sure which species, but they are in the genus Aspidocelis. There were also a number of Ornate Tree Lizards, Urosaurus ornatus, and a couple of squirrels.

Camp at City of Rocks State Park

A view of the prairie from our campsite

We processed the DORs from lay night and then heated up some ravioli for lunch.

Ravioli for lunch

We got in a final shower before heading to our next site. On the way, we stopped at a nearby park to get cell signal and pass some time.

The park where we stopped to relax

Another shot of the park

Then we drove into town to get some supplies, gas, and refill our ice and water.

Getting ice and water (good deal on ice)

While in town, we stopped four dinner at a Mexican restaurant, El Camino Real, which was very tasty.

Great Mexican food for dinner

After dinner we started road cruising. We stopped almost immediately for a DOR Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer) and took a photo of a nice sunset behind some wind mills.

DOR Gopher Snake

Sunset in New Mexico

Not long after, we found 3 herps in one spot – a DOR Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus), a DOR Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum), and a live Texas Horned Lizard.

DOR Checkered Garter Snake and Texas Horned Lizard

Texas Horned Lizard

A little ways up the road we found a live Gopher Snake.

Me holding a Gopher Snake

The subsequent two hours were dull (the rain had restarted, so it didn’t seem like snakes were moving), so we decided to start looking for a campsite. On our way we found a DOR Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox).

DOR Western Diamondback

We drove to a state park, hoping that were could camp there. Unfortunately, add were pulled up to the entrance, we saw that the gate was locked. As we got closer, we were thrilled to find a live Western Diamondback just outside the park.

Western Diamondback on the road just before the state park

As we continued our search for a campsite, we found another DOR Western Diamondback and several choruses of frogs and toads, including the New Mexican Spadefoot (Spea multiplicata).

Another DOR Western Diamondback

New Mexican Spadefoot

We finally found an available piece of BLM land and set up camp, with a nearby dog kennel howling all night. Hopefully they don’t get turned loose in the morning.

After a chilly night, we quickly woke up when the sun heated or tents. It’s amazing how warm the rainflys are through the nights and how oven-like they make the mornings. The cows mooed throughout the night, and we even had one particularly noisy individual come through our camp. Pulling our great out of the truck, we noticed a huge, red insect that looked like a giant mite. As we processed snakes, the cows stayed nearby, seemingly curious about us.

Camp

One of the cows that kept us up all night

The insect we found at camp

Jason tubing a snake with some cows in the background

Another cow - they stayed around us all morning

Once we finished our morning work, we made lunch (cous cous, chicken, and corn), packed camp, and headed to our next camp site, City of Rocks State Park. Jason picked the site to be near or next road cruising area and because it has showers.

Lunch - cous cous, chicken, and corn

City of Rocks State Park

When we arrived, the park staff were really friendly and excited that we would be tent camping (one woman promised that we’d love it). We selected our camp site (Sagittarius) and headed quickly to the shooters to beat a very windy thunderstorm that was moving in.

Our campsite at City of Rocks State Park

Nice showers

After waiting out the storm (feeling great from the showers), we headed into Silver City and decided to eat at an Asian buffet before heading to road cruise.

Restaurant for dinner in Silver City

Dinner, round 1

On our way, we noticed that we had passed the 9000-mile mark for the trip.

Over 9000 miles so far

Road cruising was difficult, because we found a DOR Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer) and a DOR Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus, a new species for the trip) early in the evening, a DOR Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans) about midway through the night, and no other snakes for the rest of the night. It was a stormy night, and had been raining for much of the day, so that may have influenced the snakes’ movements.

DOR Gopher Snake

DOR Ring-necked Snake

DOR Glossy Snake

While we didn’t find more snakes, the night wasn’t without excitement. We passed through a highway patrol sobriety checkpoint where the officers were concerned about the date on our registration, but since we are driving a state vehicle, the registration never expires. They were very nice and eventually let us through, but it’s always nerve-racking when the police have to convene to discuss what to do. We also found American Bullfrogs, New Mexican Spadefoots, Great Plains Toads, cottontail and jack rabbits, and a new species of tarantula for us (we think).

American Bullfrog

New Mexican Spadefoot

DOR cottontail

Possibly a different tarantula species that the usual brown tarantula that we tend to see - this is much smaller and has thinner legs

A closer look at the same tarantula

We settled into camp for a rainy, windy night.

7/25 – We woke up to an overcast, cool morning and got to work processing the snakes. While we were working, a millipede walked into camp. We have seen tons of these millipedes since we got here, and while generally harmless, they can exude a toxic chemical cocktail that includes cyanide so nothing seems to eat them.

First camp in New Mexico

Black-tailed Rattlesnake

Milking the Black-tail from above

A millipede

The DOR Mojave Rattlesnake and Nightsnake both had lizard parts in their stomachs when we dissected them.

DOR Nightsnake after we dissected it for tissue - the lizard from its stomach is in the top left

After we finished processing, wee took photos of the Black-tailed Rattlesnake and then made lunch (cous cous, chicken, and black beans).

Cooking lunch

Lunch - cous cous, chicken, and black beans

We packed up camp and headed towards a town to get gas and post the blog. On our way we spotted our fourth species of horned lizard this trip, the Roundtail Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma modestum).

Roundtail Horned Lizard

Once we fueled up, made a few phone calls, and posted yesterday’s blog, we started on our way to our next road. We got there early enough to have dinner, watch a dust/thunder storm blow through, and listen to some stand-up comedy (we were lucky enough to have 3G in our roadside ditch) before cruising for the evening. While we waited we also saw two huge semis towing/pushing a huge machine down the road.

Jason cleaning once of the rattlesnake containers with a storm in the background

A Western Diamondback that we took out to clean its enclosure

Dinner

A dust storm in front of a thunder storm

Two semis moving a huge piece of equipment - one was pushing and the other was pulling

Shortly after we started cruising, we saw a cloud that was shaped like Yoda (from Star Wars) which reminded us of Mike.

Yoda cloud - we miss you Mike

We had chosen this road for Weston Diamondbacks, but unfortunately we found no rattlesnakes the whole night. Instead we found several Green Toads (Anaxyrus debilis), one DOR and one live Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus), and one DOR and one live Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula).

Green Toad

The same Green Toad from above so you can see how green its back is

DOR Checkered Garter Snake

Common Kingsnake

Checkered Garter Snake

DOR Common Kingsnake

When we got too tired to keep searching, we headed north to find a campsite. Jason picked a great spot on some BLM land, but as soon as we got the tents up, a herd of cattle started mooing – hopefully they quiet down so we can get some rest.