Posted by:
chrish
at Wed May 4 19:38:18 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by chrish ]
>>Anyway, how large is this animal? The largest specimen I have ever seen was a full 6 feet long male from Banderas County (TX, USA).
I don't have my Wehrler and Dixon handy, but I think I remember it being 63 inches or so. A six footer would certainly be a new record.
Whenever this comes up, people always tell me they have seen bigger bairdi than 5 feet. In spite of this, there aren't any documented records of any over 63 inches.
This snake was also from Bandera County, near Vanderpool (actually in Lost Maples State Park). The snake you refer to came from the same county and is also at the eastern edge of the range, although there is a record in the San Diego Natural History Museum of a bairdi from Medina Lake, just outside of San Antonio's urban edges. These eastern snakes undoubtedly get larger due to the introgression/intergradation with obsoleta in that edge of the range. ----- Chris Harrison
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