Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there any record or anecdotal evidence of a released alterna being recaptured at a later date?

It would be interesting to know the distance traveled, weight change and growth rate between captures.

Perhaps some sort of protocol should be established for records on all released animals (Obviously only at the time and place of capture, NOT reintroduced captives to spread pathogens and non local genetics). Given the natural pattern variations, perhaps photos could suffice instead of clipped scales.

Pertinent data such as time, place and conditions of capture/release, gender, size, weight, etc could be recorded and made public (perhaps with a time delay so hunters don't aggressively target the released animal too soon after release). Then hunters could review the list of released animals and report if any of their captures had been previously released

Then again, maybe this has already been done and I just don't know about it.

Daryl

In '94 or '95 (I can't remember which... I'd have to check my records), a friend of mine and I caught a 20" male north of Sanderson. After we photographed the animal we let it go on its way at the exact spot we had first seen it. I left Texas the next day to return home, but my friend (who lived in Sanderson at the time) went out and found the same snake 3 nights after we'd seen it initially. He took a few more photographs just to make sure it was indeed the same snake and again, let it go on its way. He saw it again the following night. Over the five night period that spanned the time between the first and last sighting, the animal had travelled nearly 1/2 of a mile. I have a photo of the snake around here somewhere...if I can find it, I'll post it.

Of all of the alterna that I've photographed and turned loose, it was the only one that was ever (to my knowledge) seen a second time.

I photographed the snake the first night you guys found it . . .

Troy

Neat snake and with a bifurcated nuchal and the lengthwise split saddles it would have been fairly easy to i.d. with other photos! Very cool story, if ya' hang around long enough the stories come out!
Todd Hughes