Today was a glorious day here in Corpus Christi, Texas and a few finds were welcome indeed. I started off going to work, but after loading the job in the trailer and heading out, the customer called and said not to come until Friday. Well, back to the shop, drop the trailer and I'm on the loose! A co-worker introduced me to a cousin of his that has 14 acres a mile from the shop with the last bit of habitat around the city. The owner agreed to let me snoop around so off I go. The place abuts a small creek that is brackish, and I was hoping to flip an L.g. splendida or an L.t. anulatta. It is overgrown with a deep pond in the middle as well, so there is plenty of water. I first checked out the creek, hoping to see ribbons or diamond backed water snakes but the first herps of the day were the turtles. It can't be a bad day when you see more than one turtle basking, I saw many red eared sliders and a few soft shell turtles. Next, I headed to an old rundown tool shed and saw the first lizard of the day, a Carolina anole sunning on a post. I flipped several others under cardboard. Other lizards spotted were a few ground skinks, also under cardboard. I didn't see any snakes at this location, but they are there, somewhere. The grass was too tall to effectively see them before they saw me, so I headed down the road to another spot that is good to me. I thought I might flip asouthwestern ratsnake, but didn't. What I did find were more anoles and skinks. Flipping a pile of debris and cardboard showed the first snake, a Texas coral! Wow! Didn't expect to see that there and I was tailing it when it took a swinging swipe at me, so I backed up a step, only to hear the sound you dread when backing up, an atrox! Tell you what, I dropped the coral and jumped forward over it!!! I must have bumped the atrox and he scooted under a nearby couch. After the rush subsided, I went to work looking for the coral, got it partially up once, then lost it for good. I didn't get the pic, so I went after the atrox, flipped the couch and voila! no atrox! From the corner of my eye, I see the last foot of it creeping under some boards near the tall grass. I hooked it out and got some pics. I wasn't gonna let em both get away! I put it back under the couch and went on flipping trash. A few more skinks brings me to the last piece, a childs' wading pool. I thought well if there is another coral around, it will be under here, only half believing myself. Sure enough, over it went and the colors flashed, coral! This one didn't get away! I wish I had set the camera on video because it did two things that surprised me, it rapidly coiled and uncoiled its' tail and raised it up to me showing me its' first line of defense. I swear it looked like a cobras' hood spreading and unspreading! Neat trick, have a go at my "head" while I try and figure out where to go! Then it bit my hook eight times in rapid succession, and scored a hit each time chewing at it, werll if it were flesh and not graphite it would have scored! It is fantasy to believe these guys cannot open their mouths wide enough to nail you or they need to get a soft bit of flesh like the web between your thumb and finger. They can do the job. The bite was a swing from left to right, a chew, a swing from right to left, a chew, repeat 6 more times. I have seen a small southwestern ratsnake being swallowed by a smaller coral, so they can do it. The last herps found at this spot were a tiny un i.d. able frog, several Gulf coast toads, and 2 of what I think were Tantillas or rough earth snakes. I left for one more spot thinking, "When you're hot, you're hot", so I went to see if I could flip or cruise a splendida. It was getting on 4:00 so time was growing short. Sometimes in Feb. I see last years hatchlings emerging early to drink and bask. I didn't see any splendies today, but flipped the last herp of the day under some boards I laid out, a Western slender glass lizard. It was regrowing a broken tail, but these guys are always a welcome site, where they are, so are the splendies! Had a blast and sorry for the long narrative, but sometimes I dream of doing this for a living, lol! Anyone want to take a tour "o" Texas?!
Todd Hughes
