Western Sagebrush Lizard

The western sagebrush lizard is found in portions of central (including the Sierras) and northern California and southwestern Oregon. It is very similar to the southern sagebrush lizard that I've already blogged on. The one below was photographed near Shaver Lake in the Sierras. Note the white strips on each side of the back.

A closer view of the back. The scales of this particular lizard are very dull.

Southern Sagebrush Lizard

The southern sagebrush lizard is located in the transverse (San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains) and peninsular ranges (Santa Ana, San Jacinto and Laguna Mountains) of Southern California and a small area of Baja California. It resembles the Great Basin fence lizard but is smaller and the scales are not as keeled. It is gray or brown above and usually has blotches or crossbars and light stripes on the upper sides. It usually has a bar of black on the shoulder. The one below was photographed in Mission Creek Canyon in the San Bernardino Mountains.

A closer view of the back scalses.

Long-Tailed Brush Lizard

The long-tailed brush lizard is found in southeastern Southern California, the southern tip of Nevada and eastern and southeastern Arizona. It has a long, thin tail, up to twice the length of the body, and it has larger keeled scales down the middle of the back. It is grayish, light brown or beige, with dark irregular crossbars down the back. It can quickly change from a dark phase to a light phase, or vice versa, to match its habitat. They are tolerant of high heat and can live in areas with sparse vegetation. I took the photo below of this lizard in Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills, relatively near the Salton Sea. It is an area of very little vegetation.

The quality of this picture is not good enough to see the enlarged scales on the back, but you can see the dark crossbars.

Long-Nosed Snake

The long-nosed snake is found throughout Southern California, portions of central and northern California, most of Nevada, western Utah, most of Arizona, except the northeastern portion, south into Mexico, both Baja and the mainland, and even further east into New Mexico, Texas and small portions of several other states. I have found a number of them over the years, but all have been out in the Palm Springs vicinity while driving roads at night. The one below was found in Whitewater Canyon. Their ground color is white, with alternating speckles of red and black forming saddles that do not ring the body. The amount of red can vary tremendously. I've seen pictures of specimans that have heavy red saddles and others of specimans with no red at all. The one below has only faint red speckling.

The long-nosed snake below was captured near Verbenia Road. It has more red, but also black speckling interspersed with the red speckling. It is distinctively different.

Here the two snakes are side by side which helps to see the contrast even better.

The snake below was captured in the flat sand and sagebrush section between Hwy 111 and Whitewater Canyon. It has even more pronounced red.

Finally, another long-nosed captured near Verbenia.

They have a long, pointed snout with a countersunk lower jaw.

This makes them good burrowers and they spend much of their time underground. They primarily eat lizards, especially whiptails, small snakes, small mammals, nesting birds and insects. I've tried to keep several as pets, but I've never been able to get them to eat mice, so I have to let them go.

The following pictures give an even closer up view of various long-nosed snake patterns and color variations: Whitewater -

Verbenia -

and the area between Hwy 111 and Whitewater Canyon -

They are very mellow and would make a great pet if you could get one to eat. It would either take one that would take to mice, or you would probably have greater success if you had ready access to lizards.

House Gecko

The house gecko, or common house gecko, was introduced to Hawaii about the time of World War II. I lived in Hawaii from 1975 to 1976, both in my parents home on the Pali Highway, and in the dorms at BYU-Hawaii. My mother loved the little geckos that would be found on the walls and ceilings of their home in the evenings. As she pointed out, they didn't harm anyone and they ate insects and spiders. In October 1993, I had an opportunity to go back to Hawaii with my family. My parents were back in Hawaii, this time in a home on the beach in Hauula, near Laie. We stayed with them several days and Judy and the children got introduced to the cute little geckos. I got photos of a couple of them.

I would love to spend some more time in Hawaii to see them again (and just be in Hawaii again).

Mottled Snake-Eyed Skink

The mottled snake-eyed skink, also known as the oceanic snake-eyed skink, is found on various islands, including Western Samoa, French Polynesia, Easter Islands, Society Islands, Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands and the Hawaiian Islands. The ones I found were on Goat Island, off the island of Oahu, near Laie. They were climbing on trees and roots about 20 feet from the ocean on the edge of a beach. There were several of them and they were chasing each other.

I have not been able to find much information about them, other than to identify them, by picture and location.

They get their common name from the lack of movable eyelids.

We saw these skinks while visiting my parents in Hawaii in the fall of 1993.

Mountain Garter Snake

The mountain garter snake is a subspecies of the western terrestrial garter snake. It is found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, northern California, except the outer coast ranges, and into southern Oregon. There is also an isolated population in the San Bernardino Mountains, which is where I found the one below. I found it under a log near the Heart Bar Campground.

One of the distinguishing characteristics is three well defined stripes that are either yellow, orange or white: one down the middle and one down each side. The closeup, below, shows the three stripes. This particular snake had yellow stripes. Between the stripes they are black to dark gray-brown and also often checkered with scattered white flecks.

As with most garter snakes I've caught, they will often strike and empty their cloacal contents.

Another close-up giving a better view of the three stripes.

They have a very wide appetite and will eat amphibians, lizards, snakes, fish, mice, snails, worms, leeches and slugs. Garter snakes are among my least favorite snakes, perhaps because they do empty the cloacal contents when caught, tend to bite, and also like a wet habitat.