Reptile & Amphibian Forums

looking for info on leps from the hill country, bandera county, real county, uvalde county & possible medina county. has any found any between tarpley & utopia or off of 337 between utopia & leakey

I know of:

Real Co, on 337 between Leakey & Camp Wood

Utopia area, NE Uvalde Co

Vanderpool, Lost Maple State Park

off of 335 N of Barksdale on Nueces River (Real Co)

There's also a dot in Wehler & Dixon in SE Uvalde Co, but AFAIK, the habitat there is extremely marginal-looking (don't have the exact locale, so haven't been able to investigate).

Troy

I've found them at two locations in Bandera County: about 5 miles west of Tarpley and about 3 miles SW of Medina. These were not on roads, however, but on private property that I had access to at the time.

The old record from Medina Lake in Medina Co. (Olson, 1967) has apparently not been duplicated, even though there is good (if over-developed) habitat in the area. Apparently that specimen is unavailable since Werler and Dixon do not include it on their range map. Elaphe bairdi - a good indicator species for lepidus - has been found in the general area.

The SE Uvalde Co. specimen plotted by Werler and Dixon appears to be on the Sabinal River, but at a point well below the Balcones Escarpment (hardly typical habitat) -- perhaps it was wafted downstream by floodwaters?

I have also long heard rumors of "little white rattlesnakes" in the Anacacho Mountains (a Cretaceous oyster reef) of SW Uvalde and SE Kinney counties, but, unfortunately, this area is generally inaccessible to herpers.
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Tom Lott
Thornscrub

>>The old record from Medina Lake in Medina Co. (Olson, 1967) has apparently not been duplicated, even though there is good (if over-developed) habitat in the area. Apparently that specimen is unavailable since Werler and Dixon do not include it on their range map. Elaphe bairdi - a good indicator species for lepidus - has been found in the general area.
>>
Dixon has in the past overlooked Museum specimens. I'm not picking on him here in public, just stating fact.

>>I have also long heard rumors of "little white rattlesnakes" in the Anacacho Mountains (a Cretaceous oyster reef) of SW Uvalde and SE Kinney counties, but, unfortunately, this area is generally inaccessible to herpers.

I'd bet a dollar to a donut they are there, along our friend L. alterna. I'd sure love to get in there and take a look around. That might be a job for our friendly herping Border Patrol agent if he could pull it off under the guise of official business

>>Tom Lott
>>Thornscrub

There is actually a Road that creeps up though the hills there. Spent several nights in the spring out on it. I believe it is even called anacacho mountain road.

logging in to google earth now.

Does it approaches from the west?

Would that be a Krispy Kream donut?! LOL! On the way back home I was thinking the same thing about a gravid female taking a cruise down river on some flotsum, interesting notion and feasable.
Todd Hughes

How's it going? Great accounts on your website. I am passing through your area around Thanksgiving (unless you have moved since last time). If time permits, I am going to try some herping around there. Should stuff still be out? Particularly copperheads...

Good to hear from you and thanks for the kind comments on the website. I’m still in the same place, but I’m not sure about my plans for Thanksgiving week just yet (i.e., spousal unit has not yet told me what I will be doing!).

This summer has been brutally hot and dry in south Texas, so I haven’t herped all that much. Despite that, I have removed six copperheads from the backyard during June-August (without even looking for them!). Included was this little guy who, at a little over 12” TTL, is the smallest laticinctus I’ve ever taken that was in full adult coloration.

My data show a real tailing off of copperhead observations toward the end of the year, but I’m sure they could still be found, albeit with a little more effort. Drop me an Email as your plans firm up: tomlott[at]thornscrub[dot]com.

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Tom Lott
Thornscrub