Talk:Crotalus cerberus

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The picture on the article itself, while not showing the snake very prominently, does show the color accurately of darker Arizona Black Rattlesnakes.

In 1971 near Roosevelt and Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, we came across a green with yellow one which may have been a lighter one, yet without a picture of lighter snakes I can't tell if that one was an Arizona Black or not. A week later one was killed on SR 88 (now 188) at 'Stewart's Cove', halfway between Roosevelt and the SRP housing area, by a car after it came to warm itself on the pavement. That one was not melanistic, although the area around the diamonds was gray, so it may have been one of this species as well.

We killed one in the Roosevelt Dam Salt River Project housing camp by the second house from the SE on the bottom row of houses (visible in Google Maps) shortly thereafter, and this one was as black as they get. That one had also come out to get warmth from the pavement.

One was killed at a summer camp for the disabled on Mingus Mountain that same year, I was there when camp personnel came across the snake. This one was as dark as the one at the SRP housing camp. This gives credence to the 'type location' for these snakes, although my description of the area I've seen them in was southeast of that by some distance.

None of these had the 'coontail' markings we saw on other brownish/tan snakes in the area, came across a pale rose-colored snake with that tail marking several miles west of the dam, so this may have been a significant concentration of the black ones at the time that we saw several from. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.57.84.205 (talk) 04:17, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Better image; despite the greatly appreciated origin story.

I supplied a much more clear image of an Arizona Black Rattlesnake, which has both clarity in color, and clarity in appearance. Pictured is very clearly a wide-headed rattlesnake, at the far right side of the image the rattler is visible peering slightly above the torso of the snake; this rattler has been cropped or broken by someone or something at one point in the snakes life, leaving about an inch and a half of usable rattle as opposed to the typical 2 or so inches I've come across. The snake's pattern is comprised of evenly spaced patchy lines, and it's scale shape is the same as the Arizona Diamondback Rattlesnake, that is to say: diamond, or "shield" shaped. His stomach scales were quite thick, and evenly spaced; having a single row of scales from neck to anal plate. This snake did not rattle, or demonstrate discomfort: quickly instead he retreated into the cracked rock behind him in response to a slowly gathering crowd, whereupon I snapped another photo of his rattler, and got a better view of his stomach. The photo was taken at the Windy Point Vista on Mount Lemmon, the exact location is easily accessible by foot from the parking spots on the road. Typically it wouldn't be as common to find a snake in this spot due to how highly trafficked it is, but it is entirely possible.

Venom

It would be a nice addition to this article to comment on the venom. Jokem (talk) 04:16, 27 November 2022 (UTC)