Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is a photo of a female found west of Panther Canyon bridge by a good friend of mine last week (before enforcement of this ridiculous bill!). It was his first live alterna on the River in 31 years! Pretty good find I would say...

Congrats DW!

Happy herpin'...

MP

Great find! If Ihad found that I would have gone nuts. Bet he was very happy to end that long dry spell.

Here is another shot...
This animal was found on Monday night (technically Tuesday morning) at 2:20 - air temp 80 degrees.

BTW - both photos courtesy of D.Wuerch.

Happy herpin'...

MP

That snake would be a beauty from ANY locality. Did he do the "Alterna Dance?"

Yes he did John!
In fact, it was he and his two boys all doing the "jig"!

Here is his account (in his own words!):

"The drought is over. After thirty-one years of cruising The River Road on the Texas/Mexico border at night in search of the elusive Gray Banded King Snake (Lampropeltis alterna), we finally scored. Perseverance through many disappointing hours of driving long into the night, finding a tire-crushed male, and having a female being picked up in the middle of the road by another herper in our headlights as we rounded a curve finally paid off.

On Monday night (actually Tuesday morning), June 19, 2007 at 2:20 AM the conditions were perfect. The temperature stood at 80 degrees while a light breeze stirred the desert air coming from the south in Mexico . The waxing gibbous moon had set earlier around midnight ushering in a star filled sky.

Chad , Blake, and I made the right turn of the curve in the road as we headed east towards Lajitas. We were 1.5 miles west of the Panther Creek Bridge where the road dips a little. Our headlights revealed a medium sized snake fully in our lane with its nose nearly on the yellow center road stripe. It appeared to be solid white at first. I didn’t notice its identifying bands until I aimed the truck to stop on the gravel shoulder of the road.

I said “Alterna… it’s an alterna!” as Chad (who couldn’t see it from the passenger seat any more) bailed out. In a flash he stood over the best specimen we could have asked for – a flawless young female with orange in all of her primary bands. Seconds later Blake and I joined him to revel in the moment and do “The Alterna Dance” in the middle of the road.

What a great moment – something my boys and I will never forget."

What a great story...

Happy herpin'...

MP

Great snake and a wonderful account. Thanks for sharing.

DB

31 years is a long time to wait.. CONGRATS on your VERY nice find!!

~ Mike Russo

Awesome alterna. Congrats! I certainly did my version of the "dance" when I found my only River Rd alterna on the Big Hill 33 years ago. Here's a pic if you haven't seen it already. --Henry W.

Nice animal..........I have a similar looking Loma Alta male that I collected seven years ago.

Steve, please start posting other pics of alterna! If I see

Wayne

As I was saying before my post somehwoe got cut off, If I see another pic of that alterna, I think I am oging to puke! Post some other pics,........or is that al ya got?

Wayne