Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You mean to tell me alterna don't shine white in headlights like every other snake out there?
I've only seen them on cuts, not on the road, but I've not heard this before.
-----
V.P.
Austin Herp. Soc.

I do hope that was intended as a humorous post.

When I am looking for alterna, I look for anomolies, not snakes.

I stopped on the palma draw bridge once to pick a stick off the road so it wouldn't distract me in the future. I was about the throw it off the bridge when it bit me. Butt ugly blairs. A stick would have been prettier.

My first on the road was a dark Blair's at Langtry. It shined black plus it was in the process of turning back towards the shoulder so it looked like a piece of rubber.

My second road-hunted was a medium alterna by Lajitas. When Shannon B. and I saw it it was moving and it shined light, not dark.

My third was also with Shannon B. and it was a very light alterna on 277. It shined bright white.

My fourth was a light Blair's on 277 and it shined black.

The Langtry was a young adult, the Lajitas a sub-adult, the 277 alterna phase an adult and the 277 Blair's phase a very large adult.

Jack,

In general, gray snakes don't reflect much light. Snakes that look black on roads (and sometimes cuts) include...

- alterna
- some trimorphodon
- pygmy rattlers

In fact, most black snakes are lighter colored on the road than an alterna.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Actually, it is the scalation on the alterna which causes light not to reflect. I've never seen color unless I hit them narly directly 90 degrees. It matters not if road or rock cut, if the angle isn't nearly directly on to the side, I see black. I did, nowever, ONE TIME only see the eyes of an alterna reflect light just a second before I saw the snake on a cut. I once stopped for a little square of rubber on the white line by the shoulder. turned out to be a small alterna, couiled. This is the only one I can remember finding coiled. all others have been stretched out.

Light phase snakes look like light phase snakes, dark snakes blend in. One dark blairs I caught had really bright orange, and it really looked light 12-13 disembodied orange bands on the road.

However, it really does depend on your lights - with really good lights, you see pattern, etc. I've never seen an alterna on the road that I couldn't tell what it was - but I've been running 2x100 Watt lights since about 1992.

Troy