Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Much of the names of places we went are all a haze for me- I don't function well on 3 hours of sleep!

My thanks to Todd Hughes for taking me out and showing me the absolutely incredible country and wildlife this state has to offer!

6/8/07
Slow night- mostly working cuts with little luck except for the GAZILLION millipedes! Like Chris said below this post, they were EVERYWHERE- was avoiding hitting them and tarantulas all over the road all weekend.

Big guy on the way out freshly hit by somebody in front of me- he was BIG!

The only live snake found on Friday:

6/9/07
On the way out to Sanderson- right outside of Del Rio... fresh DOR:

On the way out to Black Gap- many of these seen:

Couple of these guys:

Don't know HOW Todd spots these doing 70MPH, but he does:

This little guy was a beauty, and FULL of attitude:

A couple of the inverts:

//Todd

Nice finds! What's the ID on the Del Rio DOR?

That grasshopper picture kicks a$$!
-----
Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
1.2.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
3.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnake
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
3.2.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican, Temecula, & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes
0.0.1 Lyre Snake
0.0.1 Glossy Snake

LIZARDS
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
1.4.0 Banded Gecko
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko
0.0.5 Sandfish

AMPHIBIANS
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog
0.0.2 Gold Frogs
1.0.0 Fire Salamander

Thanks man- it was a blast- can't wait to head out again!

It's a red coach, with some really cool broad banding...

I got a close-up of it's face, but it's a bit on the gruesome side.

//Todd

I've never seen the banding like that on 'em. Beautiful snake!! Too bad it was DOR...
-----
Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
1.2.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
3.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnake
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
3.2.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican, Temecula, & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes
0.0.1 Lyre Snake
0.0.1 Glossy Snake

LIZARDS
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
1.4.0 Banded Gecko
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko
0.0.5 Sandfish

AMPHIBIANS
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog
0.0.2 Gold Frogs
1.0.0 Fire Salamander

Diego,
Yeah- I guess that type of banding on the coachwhips isn't very common. Here's a quote from one of my field guides:

"Less common are the boldly broadbanded individuals, whose distinctive markings consist of wide, dark crossbands 10 to 15 scales wide (measured front to back) that are separated from one another by a light tan space of equal width. This particular pattern type is not found in the Texas Panhandle and, in fact, is so uncommon that it never represents more than 20% of any regional population."

We saw 2 other coachwhips later that day further west- both MAJOR red, but couldn't catch them. The first one was greased lightening, and I'm a wuss, so my partner was diving head-first into prairie habitat alone, while I waited on the road in front of him waiting for it to shoot back out onto the street.

The next one was a MONSTER- at LEAST 6'! It was crossing the road about 100 yards from us as we were checking out a prairie rattler. Got up to head back into the car, looked down the road, and our jaws dropped! It wasn't stretched out straight, and it almost reached across the entire width of the lane we were traveling down! By the time we got down to where it was crossing, POOF into the tall grass- I was MAJOR bummed on that one!

Here's a close-up of that DOR:

//Todd

Oh man, that breaks my friggin heart!! What a beauty!

Thanks for the info!
-----
Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
1.2.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
3.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnake
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
3.2.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican, Temecula, & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
0.0.1 Lyre Snake
0.0.1 Glossy Snake

LIZARDS
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
1.4.0 Banded Gecko
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko
0.0.5 Sandfish

AMPHIBIANS
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog
0.0.2 Gold Frogs
1.0.0 Fire Salamander

I wasn't gonna tell anyone, but since you posted the pic of my belly out on AN EXHALE, lol, I will confirm that you are indeed a wuss! I was glad to have a wuss with me, cause he saved our lives by staying awake through a major storm all the way from the Gap to Del Rio! I was the wuss then, because according to Roy who was collecting alternas we missed behind us, I failed to see the GPR we ran over! My bad for not watching the road. Todd L. is a great herper with a great attitude to put up with the likes of me, and that goes double for Zee, who is still out there banging those cuts out. I heard he scored another meahlly, a Texas longnose, and a bairdi last night. He's gonna thcore, YETH! Snakes found in the Gap;
6 Western diamond back rattlers, all aor
2 Prairie rattlers, 1 dor, 1 aor
1 Ground snake aor
2 Tantillas, blackheaded snakes I think, both aor
1 Texas longnose aor
other herps;
tmtc red spotted toads
tmtc Couches spadefooted toads
non herps included
bobcat, fox, skunk, tmtc tarantulas, tmtc millipedes
Todd Hughes

Any chance that Masticophis was coiled on the side of the road. I was out there on the 7th and found a fresh killed one on the road and moved it to the side and coiled it up so at least it would look alive for the pictures.

I also found a HUGE bullsnake at the Pecos bridge rest stop. Had to be 8 feet.

I guess it's possible, but it was in the middle of the lane we were traveling on when we found it.

I moved it off the road for those pics.

That bull that I have a pic of at the top of the thread was a big one, too- don't think it was quite 8', but EASILY 5' ...

//Todd

Wasn't the same one. I went back and looked at my pictures and the banding on yours was more solid. I moved it off the road and took a few pictures. It looked in good shape except its jaw was messed up. The snake was barely alive when I found it. Very sad, that was a lifer for me.

Very sad indeed- always is.

It was a lifer for me, too- most of what I saw was!

It was definitely freshly run over- still very soft, and the blood was still fluid.

//Todd

Nice Viridis,what county? Clark

Brewster.

//Todd