Pygmy Rattlesnake, finding camouflage in dangerous place.

Hi, new to the forum and Canon. With all the great photos here I'm hesitant to post my beginner shots.. but I will learn tons from you all I'm sure.

Came across this Anerythristic Pygmy Rattlesnake in the Panhandle of Florida. We spend lots of time cruising for critters in the evening. This was by far one of the most difficult to spot. Shot with my old Olympus E-510 and 35mm Macro.

damn thats well hidden in no 1 well spotted

Cool animal and nice shot.

That's an excellent shot Mike!
I'm a fairly avid herper, or at least I was, and you were lucky to find that "the easy way". Welcome to the forum.

Nice capture!

Great looking snake. What a place to hide!

Jason

Nice shots. How close were you?

Thanks for the replies.

CamFan, in the summers 95% of our herping is done road cruising. Once the temps drop the 'easy way' takes a back seat to good old fashion hiking/biking.

Cucamonga Al, I was probably a foot or so away. Not as dangerous as it sounds lol. I wish I had something to reference it's size, it was probably a yearling and about 8 or 9 inches long. Usually when they're found thermoregulating like that they are very approachable and almost unaware of their surroundings. The 'pits' know we're there pretty darn quick where as the non-vipers could go the whole 'photo shoot' without realizing we are there. We do though move them off the road in hopes they at least won't get hit that day/night.

I don't want to overstep my boundaries being new, but I'll gradually add some more shots from our herping/outdoor travels.

Thanks agian,

Mike

Now that's what I call Camo! Man-o-man watch where you step...yikes.

Great shots.

wow, it's be easy to step on that one, it blends in too well. nice shots. never seen one before.

Nice Pygmy! I can't wait for it to warm up here in Houston a little more so I can get out and look for some myself. Welcome to the forum!

mike, is that color mutation common where you live?

bigcountry,

That was found up in the panhandle (of FL), a bit north of my neck of the woods. I've heard of a few being found up that way but never seen one with no brown/maroon at all. Definitely the most beautiful Pygmy I've ever come across.

Wish I would have taken a few better shots but we weren't able to pull the car off the road so we hurried a few shots and went on our way. Hindsight LOL.

I've got that stretch of road etched in my mind for this summer. We'll spend some time hiking around the area for sure in hopes that there might be a small population occuring there.

Mike

Great looking snake..nice shots!