There appeared to be a two day window and my gas tank was full so I decided to head out Tuesday. Owing to the heavy rains in Val Verde County Mon. night I decided to forgo a trip down 277 and instead headed west in hopes of finding a female splendida and/or some hognose. As an added incentive friends in Odessa and Orla said they had large splendida for me which might be females. I got to Odessa and it turned out to be a male, well over 4'. I left odessa around 6:30 and headed for Kermit, Mentone and Orla. Between Odessa and Kermit saw 2 DOR bullsnakes. The rest of the way I saw nothing. Got to the friend's N. of Orla before sunset and saw another large male splendida. We hunted that night, saw one DOR hognose, 1 live hypsiglena. The next day (wed) I started hunting about an hour before sunset in hopes of hognose. at 8:50 saw a glossy. I then headed toward Kermit, then N. and E. to 1216 which runs N. along the NM border, then to the road east ouf of Jal where I saw a DOR glossy. Then to Andrews where I discarded the zig-zag of backroads to Abilene, headed to Big Spring, got on I-20 and went home. 610 miles of driving, brought home 1.2 banded geckos for a friend. WHEEE!!!
JH
