BioBlitz for Reptiles

Please join Nevada Department of Wildlife for a Herp BioBlitz in the southern Ruby Mountains and northern Diamond Mountains in northeastern Nevada. “I was thinking of you when I received this message,” emailed Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge Interim manager, Tim Pratt.  “We have full RV hookups here in the event that you are interested …

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Habitat for Lizards

We’ve lived in our Arizona condo for nearly four years now. And since the beginning, we have tried to create a habitat in our patio area that would entice lizards to take up residency. Building a Habitat At first, we stacked broken ceramic pieces, piles of rocks, and skeletons of cholla cactus in a corner …

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Behind the Scenes

Behind the reptile exhibit at White Tank Mountain Regional Park is a “kitchen” of sorts that contains lettuce, red peppers, mealworms, insects, and other items to feed the rats and mice. All these rodents are, in turn, scheduled to be fed to the reptiles on exhibit. All, that is, except one. Pardoned Simon is a …

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Unusual Encounters

Recently, we encountered some wildlife interactions we’d never before observed, although they likely happen daily. Raven on Redtail We’ve often witnessed blackbirds diving at and attacking ravens and hawks in flight to remove them from their territories or nest. In these instances, the larger birds generally appear only slightly bothered, as if buzzed by a …

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Lovable Badgers?

I’ve always thought of badgers as crabby, ill-tempered little creatures willing to consume anything in sight, including snakes. They are pugnacious little beasts, I assumed after observing a few of them in the wild. They have their place in nature, of course, but are devoid of personality, I believed, and would never display a playful …

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