Hate to do it, but it is what I saw on this trip starting from Corpus Christi, Texas, to San Antonio, to Brackettville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Hebbronville, Falfurrias, and a loop down Hwy 77 to Raymondville, then back home. 43 total herps sighted,29 dor's, nearly 2/3's squished. At 12:43 p.m., a smashed Texas rat near Hondo, 1:10 p.m. aSouthern plains rat squished near D'Hanis, found 2 unknown frogs on hwy 674 from Brackettville, 3 dor Gulf coast toads on same road, flipped a ribbon snake and 2 western narrow mouth toads under ac around Rocksprings at 6:00 p.m., found what I think is a juvenile Texas spiny tree lizard at Red Bluff at7:00 p.m., waiting for night to fall. All day had been warm but cloudy with slight drizzle, but the sun came out the last few hours of the day and it was 85 degrees in Del Rio when I gassed up. I cruised 90 east to Comstock, took the Juno road, and saw absolutely nothing alive or dead until at 9:40, the guy in front of me splashed an adult atrox, I was bummed! I let this guy get down the road and was hoping to not see what was in his wake, he was going the opposite way. at 10:00 I came up on my first Trans Pecos copperhead, alive and making a beeline off the road. Got my pics of the pict and helped him along the way. Unfortunately that was the last snake of the night alive or dead. I continued up Juno road, cut back to 277 and hunted all the cuts there, working my way back down to Del Rio. Only thing else seen were tarantulas, centipedes, millipedes, a monarch butterfly chrysalis, and WAAAY too many ringtail cats (civets). I saw 8 ringtails on the cuts along 277 and 4 more on 90 west of Del Rio. I ran out of juice and sacked in the truck. Headed for Eagle Pass to check the damage from a whopper tornado that demolised the southeastern portion of town. Came across a dor adult female splendida between Spofford and Eagle Pass, another heart breaker. Moved on towards Eagle Pass. The tornado laid a massive swath of damage! Trees were missing and peoples houses were shredded. Donated 2 cases of water and moved on. At 1:30 p.m. I flipped a Great Plains skink between E.P. and El Indio on 1021. Then the carnage began.
1 dor Texas horned lizrd
2 dor Schotts' whip snakes
1 aor Red eared slider
4 aor Diamondback rattlesnakes
7 dor Diamondback rattlesnakes
5 aor Gulf coast ribbon snakes
4 dor Gulf coast ribbon snakes
1 dor Ornate box turtle
3 UFO's (unidentified flattened ophidians)
Kind of a crappy report, but that's what I saw. I will post live animals on this and the next addendum, and a few dor's on the last one. Some almost made me cry, as in, why do I get to move a red eared slider off the road, but not a splendida, horny toad, or the gorgeous box turtle? Sometimes it is real sad, but I got a lifer in the pictigaster, and added some data for the box turtle, it was waaaaay down south.
Todd Hughes
