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Western Diamondback or Mojave?

D

David Pinter

New member
I was out hiking yesterday and came across this snake sleeping in the sand by the trail.

Can anyone one determine if it's a WDB or a Mojave.

Sorry the photo isn't that great, didn't want to get too close.

David
 

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I don't know for certain, but living in California I can tell you the Mojave is usually going to look more green than the Western. The diamond pattern fades are you get close to the tail on the Mojave (can't see in this picture) while on the Western it's pretty consistent throughout with minor fading.
 
From the looks of the head scalation, that's an atrox (WDB).

Hearts-a-Glow said:
I don't know for certain, but living in California I can tell you the Mojave is usually going to look more green than the Western. The diamond pattern fades are you get close to the tail on the Mojave (can't see in this picture) while on the Western it's pretty consistent throughout with minor fading.
Click to expand...

Head scalation (enlarged between the supraoculars in mohaves) and tail banding (white and black bands are approx. 50/50 in atrox, with the white 2x wider than the black in mohaves) are the most reliable methods of identification between atrox and scutulatus. Some examples that contradict fading for IDing:

CrAt7-30-07.jpg


CrAt10-10-06.jpg


CrAt-7-3-2010.jpg


CrSc9-1-2008.jpg


CrSc7-7-2007.jpg
 
id say atrox. you can tell them apart by the eye stripe. On the westerns the eye stripe is for more forward and on the mojaves it starts further back.
 
Really David. Why wouldn't you want to get too close? Great shot. They look wicked.
 
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