Andrew DuBois

A coiled Prairie Rattlesnake with a dark gray-brown ground color, indistinct and irregular dark blotches on the back, a piebald rattle, and yellow mottling on the snout. It is resting on sand and gravel.

A coiled Prairie Rattlesnake with a sandy ground color, brown blotches edged in white down the back with lighter brown centers, a yellow-brown rattle, and two white stripes, one before and one behind the eye. Its black tongue is projected forward and down from the mouth, its first third of its body is held upright and ready to strike, and the tail is held perpendicular to the ground to facilitate tail shaking.

A neonate Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) of aberrant color and pattern from Jefferson County vs a more typical specimen from Otero County in Colorado. I've seen hundreds of individuals since moving here in 2015, but this snake's by far the strangest. #snakes #herpetology #wildlife

A brown and tan lizard with intricate lines, ocelli, and transverse blotch patterns on its skin, is seen in profile on a rocky, sandy ground. Its head is slightly raised, and its copper-colored eyes are visible. The lizard's long tail extends behind it.

A male Grey Monitor (Varanus g. griseus) from the Sahara in Morocco. This is the largest lizard species in Morocco. It feeds primarily on lizards and snakes, though it also eats ground-nesting birds and small mammals. #lizards #desertmonitor #greymonitor #wildlifephotography #herpetology #varanus

A close-up shot focuses on the head of a snake with a distinctively elliptical pupil, as it rests on reddish-brown, sandy ground. The snake's scales are a mottled pattern of grays and browns, providing camouflage against the earthy background.

Sahel Egg Eater (Dasypeltis sahelensis) from the Anti-Atlas and Sahara transition zone in Morocco. This slender nocturnal snake has poorly developed teeth and feeds exclusively on bird eggs. #snakes #herpetology #wildlife #dasypeltis #dasypeltissahelensis #wildlifephotography

A desert-dwelling spiny-tailed lizard with a black body and vibrant yellow stripes is captured in a full-length, close-up shot. The lizard is crawling on tan sand, with its head turned slightly to the left. The background is a vast, dry desert landscape with scattered large, flat gray rocks and a clear blue sky.

A Sudan Spiny-tailed Lizard (Uromastyx dispar flavifasciata) from West Sahara. As with other members of the genus, it excavates and dwells in burrows and its diet is dominated by vegetation. #lizards #herpetology #wildlife #Uromastyx #Uromastyxdispar #wildlifephotography

A gray snake with a large head distinct from its body, copper-colored eyes with vertically elliptical black pupils, and a slightly upturned snout rests on soil littered with gravel and small stones. It is robustly built with keeled scales. A dark gray middorsal stripe runs from the neck to the tail, transversed by rounded blotches.

Mountain Viper (Vipera monticola) from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Once considered a subspecies of the Horned Viper (V. latastei), work by Martínez-Freiría et al. (2021) suggested that all north African Vipera populations should be considered V. monticola. #Viperamonticola #snake #wildlife

A robustly built green lizard covered in small, granular scales rests with most of the body in the sun and the tail in the shade of a basalt rock outcrop.

An Ocellated Atlas Lizard (Timon tangitanus) from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. This diurnal species occurs in mountainous regions of north Africa with a Mediterranean climate. It is particularly abundant in wet areas such as meadows and stream banks. #lizards #herpetology #wildlifephotography

The snake's doing all the work I just pushed a button

An adult male Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) from a shortgrass prairie in eastern Colorado. In addition to consuming vast quantities of ants, these squat, spiny critters also function as tiny happiness generators. #lizard #wildlife #wildlifephotography #hornedlizard

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline

Can't recommend it enough, if you get the chance.

I have plenty of unfinished business in CR if you wanna team up

A juvenile Eyelash Viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) of the yellow "oropel" morphotype spotted on a night hike in Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. These small, arboreal and mild-tempered snakes are incredibly variable in color and pattern and are a joy to photograph. #snakes #herpetology #wildlife

A robust but small viper with a short tail and triangular head. Its scales are heavily faired, giving its skin a rough texture. The snout is short and rounded, with medium-sized eyes with vertically elliptical pupils on a yellow-brown iris. The snake is a light sandy color with orange-brown blotches edged in black. Rather than the large antenna-like horns typical of the species, this individual has only a ridge of blunted scales above the eyes. The tail, much narrower than the body, is tipped in black.

A juvenile Horned Viper (Cerastes c. cerastes), of the hornless "mutila" morphotype. We found it on a dark desert highway along the fringe of the Sahara in Morocco. This snake, and other north African treasures, were enjoyed with @somuchpingle.bsky.social. #snakes #photography #wildlife #nature

A gray-black tortoise rests on white-gray sand. Green coastal vegetation frames the bottoms of the photo, while the edge of the tortoise's burrow is barely visible in the top right corner of the frame. The texture of the scutes on the shell is intricately lined with annuli, radiating out from the center of each scute.

An adult male Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) from Sarasota County, Florida, USA. Note the large gular projection of the plastron below the head, used for dueling other males in ramming contests. #herps #turtles #GopherTortoise #HerpPhotography

A red, black, and white-banded snake in a loose coil on sand shot through with small pieces of gravel. Cool green herbaceous vegetation frames the animal. The scales are smooth and shiny. The red bands become reduced at the body's approximate midpoints and disappear entirely on the last quarter of the body such that the tail consists entirely of black and white bands. The small head has a white snout with black reticulations, a broad black mask over the eyes and forehead, and a white collar on the back of the head and beginning of the neck.

Plains Milksnake (Lampropeltis gentilis) from Weld County, Colorado, USA. This species may be locally abundant in some areas and frustratingly difficult to detect in others. #herps #snakes #NaturePhotography

A dark male Wandering Gartersnake coiled atop a piece of plywood. This snake is dark brown with a goldenrod stripe running down the middle of the back from the back of the head until it ends about two-thirds of the way down the body. Two tan-yellow parietal pinpoint spots adorn thr top of the dark brown head. The snake's lips are also brownish-yellow. Four rows of dark spots run the length of the body.

A subadult Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer coiled atop a piece of plywood. The snake's color and pattern are intermediate between the juvenile and adult forms. The color is mostly reddish-brown (the remnants of its juvenile blotches), invaded by greenish-yellow highlights that will eventually form the solid adult pattern. The tail is twisted into a figure eight and held erect. A yellow wash is barely visible on the snake's chin and mandible. The purple-black forked tongue is visible, waving defensively.

A light-colored Bullsnake is perched atop a plywood coverboard. The snake has a golden skin color patterned with black-edged reddish brown blotches. A dark stripe runs below and between the pale yellow eyes. The pattern transitions into black irregular blotches on the pointed tail. The scales are small, shiny, and the keels running down their midlines give the skin a rough appearance. A black iPad used for field data collection rests to the left and behind the snake. A brown and yellow backpack lies in a patch of Oregon grape behind the coverboard. The leaves of the Oregon grape plants are jagged-edged and a vibrant yellow-green. Clusters of small yellow flowers emerge from the leaves on thin stalks. A researcher's knee, clad in dark pants, is visible at the right side of the image, with hand and elbow resting atop the knee.

A brown and tan toad perches on a piece of gray plywood. Its skin is covered in round reddish-brown poison glands. A light cream-colored stripe runs down the middle of the toad's back. Irregular olive-brown blotches and mottling run over the toad's body and form broad vertical bars on the pale upper lip. The toad's eyes are pale yellow, with large black horizontally elliptical pupils. Beside the toad is a patch of yellow-green grass.

A sample platter of herps found under coverboards today:
Wandering Gartersnake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans)
Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris)
Bullsnake (Pituophis catenifer sayi)
Rocky Mountain Toad (Anaxyrus w. woodhousii) #herps #herpetology #coverboards

A tan and brown-colored rattlesnake coiled defensively on a gravel road running through rolling hills of shortgrass prairie with a blue sky overhead. The snake is covered in darker brown blotches with lighter reddish-brown centers and the blotches are edged in white. The eye is dark brown but shining in the light of sunset. The tail is held erect and slightly away from the body, the rattle frozen mid-shake.

A Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) found crossing a road in Weld County Colorado, USA. I've found this species can be found reliably when driving low-traffic roads through plains grasslands near and after sunset. #herps #snakes #NaturePhotography

A slimy, bumpy-skinned brown frog rests its chin on a bed of filamentous algae covered in tiny purple-black springtails in the shallow water at the edge of a pond. The frog's body is crouched and drawn inward, legs tucked beneath the body, and most of the body is submerged below the water's surface save the snout, eyes, and front two-thirds of the back. The eyes are golden and shot through with webs of black. The frog's smooth bumps are a brighter, redder brown than the rest of the skin on the back, and its lumpy dorsolateral folds are the same color. Sooty brown blotches cover the limbs. The upper lip is marked with a broad, cream-to-light golden stripe. The nostrils and eyes are positioned atop the head, fitting for its aquatic lifestyle. The frog is lying motionless in hopes of avoiding detection by a potential threat (the photographer).

My first observation of the Columbia Spotted Frog (Rana luteiventris), found in a beaver pond shortly after a wedding in the Tetons of Wyoming this month last year. They are opportunistic generalist predators that primarily feed on insects, arachnids, and mollusks.
#herps #frogs #NaturePhotography

A smooth-scaled, gray-blue snake coiled in a mixture of sand and gravel. The snake's head is elevated and pointed toward the right. The eyes are large, intelligent, and brown. The lips are white and edged in a light powdery blue.

An adult Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxii) found on my grandfather's farm in Tazewell County, Illinois. I grew up seeing and catching these snakes, but this was the first one I've seen since getting into wildlife photography as a hobby back in 2015. #herps #snakes #NaturePhotography

Portrait of the Horned Viper (Cerastes cerastes), the most commonly recorded viper from the desert areas of Morocco. Most individuals have the iconic horns above the eyes, but hornless individuals occur and can even be locally more abundant. #Snakes #Wildlife #Herpetology

A closeup photograph of the head of a Saw-scaled Viper (Echis pyramidum leucogaster) showing its oval head and short, rounded snout. The eyes are large and rusty orange, with vertically elliptical black pupils. Also visible are the strongly keeled dorsal scales, which give the skin a rough appearance. The skin is a light sandy brown with long, sinuous dark markings edged with faint orange stains. The long, delicate tips of the forked tongue are barely visible at the front of the mouth.

Portrait of a Saw-scaled Viper (Echis pyramidum leucogaster), which inhabits humid microhabitats within otherwise arid and rocky areas in Morocco. This mainly nocturnal snake feeds on scorpions, small mammals, and other reptiles. #wildlife #snakes #macrophotography

Lateral view of the head of the Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) showing its broad, flattened head, the distinct swell of its venom glands differentiating the head from the neck, and showing its upward-oriented, medium-sized eyes. Also visible are its large nostrils, which are even larger than the eyes. This detailed macro photograph shows the strong keels on the snake's dorsal scales. This photo also shows the adder's characteristic transverse straight light stripe that forms a kind of unibrow above its eyes. The eye is bronze, different only subtly from the skin, with a thin, black, vertically elliptical pupil like the eye of a cat in bright light.

Portrait of an adult male Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) from a relict population in Morocco. Members of this genus are known for their lightning-fast strikes and enormous fangs (up to 4 cm in this species!). Admired (from a safe distance) with friend & fellow herp enthusiast, @somuchpingle.bsky.social

Tracking animals in sand demands focus kept sharp with frequent siestas

We’re saving lives, two toads at a time here in Morocco.

@somuchpingle.bsky.social double-fisting Bufotes boulengeri, 2 of seven rescued from certain death from the bottom of a cistern.

Prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) juvenile and adult who have yet to decide if it's really spring in Colorado.

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Success!

Took my pet tiger salamander to work today to test some new cameras for our AHDriFT arrays.

A Tiger Rattlesnake (Crotalus tigris) from the Phoenix Valley. This species inhabits Sonoran and Chihuahuan desertscrub, interior chaparral, and Madrean evergreen woodland habitats up to 5000 feet. They eat rodents and lizards. Observed with the @rattlesnakes.bsky.social some years ago.