Crotalus pyrrhus
Silhouette: Bill Bouton (source photo) & T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
Common names: southwestern speckled rattlesnake, Mitchell's rattlesnake, more. Crotalus pyrrhus is a venomous pitviper species found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. A medium-sized snake, it is found mostly in rocky country, active at night and feeding on small mammals. The coloration is variable and depends on the color of the rocks and soil of the habitat.
Adults grow to an average length of 3 feet (91 cm), but may sometimes exceed 4 feet (120 cm). The color pattern is variable, depending on the color of the rocks and soil of the habitat. The snake's ground color may be pink, brown, gray, yellow or nearly white, and speckled with black and white. The pattern (if present) may consist of rhombs, bands or blotches. The tail is ringed.
Southwestern speckled rattlesnake, bleached rattlesnake, Mitchell's rattlesnake, pale rattler, pallid rattlesnake, red rattlesnake, speckled rattlesnake, white rattlesnake. The species may also be referred to colloquially by locality phenotypic traits and an abbreviation of "speckled", to "speck" by snake enthusiasts and in the venomous snake commercial trade. Common versions include blue speck... Wikipedia →
Recording0:03
United States · 2025
© mattstragalus · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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United States · 2020
© BJ Stacey · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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United States · 2022
© jalopy · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Denver Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Skansen | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 4 | North Carolina Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 6 | Living Desert Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Los Angeles Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Dickerson Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Virginia Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | San Antonio Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Philadelphia Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Faunia | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 18 | Reptile Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Orange County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Baltic Sea Science Center | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake sighting in Joshua Tree National Park on a given day, based on 361 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 9th most-seen of the 39 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake in Joshua Tree National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and December, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Joshua Tree National Park, in our data
Joshua Tree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Crotalus
The closest relatives of the Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake that you can see in Joshua Tree National Park (genus Crotalus, Rattlesnakes) are Sidewinder (about 20%), Western Rattlesnake (about 20%) and Mohave Rattlesnake (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Joshua Tree National Park (361 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
