I just got back from a two week+ stay in Texas looking for some of my favorite animals. The weather, as other people have mentioned in prior posts, was less than cooperative, but we still did manage to see 15 species of snakes alone, not to mention 15+ species of lizards, and 6 species of frogs/toads. West Texas has been experiencing a drought, with some areas seeing less that 30% of average annual rainfall (Del Rio) and others (Sanderson) receiving less than 0.5 inches of rain since last October. The good news is that much of the region received good amounts of rain during the two+ weeks we looking in the area. Some regions received a lot of rain (two plus inches)....
The two finds of the trip for me were the Gray-banded Kingsnake and the Tantilla cucullata. Information on the alterna are as follows: It had rained in Sanderson during the evening into the early morning hours of June 16th – June 17th. This animal was captured after the rain ended on a wet cut at 2:25 AM at 67 °F….the coolest temperature I have ever personally captured an alterna.
The other species and counts are as follows:
3 Mottled Rock Rattlesnakes
8 Night Snakes (1 DOR)
2 Blacknecked Garter Snakes (1 DOR)
14 Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes (4 DOR)
2 Blotched Water Snakes
1 Texas Lyre Snake
1 Hooknose Snake
2 Trans Pecos Rat Snakes
1 Bull Snake (DOR)
3 Western Coachwhips (1 DOR)
1 Central Texas Whipsnake (DOR)
5 Texas Longnose Snakes
1 Baird’s Ratsnake
The highlight of the trip for me, as always, is seeing some friends who I haven’t seen for a year or even several years. It was great seeing some of the more colorful people known to inhabit the region during the season. We also spied a Desert Kingsnake in Arizona, and some sidewinders and shovelnose snakes in California.
