Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus)

Created: April 14th, 2010 - 10:15 PM
Last Modified: April 14th, 2010 - 10:15 PM Entered by: Richard A. Morgan II
Record 42598

Country: United States		State: California	County: Riverside County	Time: 2010-04-13 14:05:00
Qty: 2	Age: Adult	Sex: Female	Method: Visual encounter	Habitat: -----
Body Temperature: -----		Air Temperature: 65.00F	Ground Temperature: -----	Humidity: -----
Sky Conditions: Few clouds		Moon Phase: -----	Elevation: -----	Barometric Pressure: -----

Notes

First Speckled Rattlesnake was seen as comments below from Record #42597 You can view pictures In-Situ of the ruber and Speck at the mentioned record. I was not able to get a good photo of the Speckled other than what I have attached here due to it sliding down a crevice as mentioned below.
Walked up a hillside to see a large ruber sitting on a dead tree branch. When I got a closer look I noticed a Speckled Rattlesnake laying just underneath it. As I approached the ruber slowly backed down off the branch until it was covering the speckled rattlesnake. the ruber stayed in a defensive position then the speckled rattlesnake slid down a crevice. Only after this did the ruber start to move backwards toward the rockpile and crevices. The speckled appeared to be a female judging by the size, the ruber seemed to be protecting the speck from my observation point of view.
Second Speckled was a neonate with only a button found on the same hilltop just on the otherside from the adult about 100-150 yards away. The neonate was found sitting under a flat rock underneath a large rock boulder.