Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings... My name is Steven and I work for a fortune 500 in the Dallas / Fort Worth Area. I have been involved in reptiles since a small child. My mom tells me that I used to chase snakes in the New Mexico desert as a kid. I used to catch all kinds of stuff found in the Desert and it has stuck ever since. In high school I was known as the snakeman and have pictures of some of my snakes in the year book when I graduated.
Now many many years later, reptiles are still my life. I don't sell any snakes at this time... (this may change in the future) Money or revenue for the animals has NEVER been the reason behind my passion for reptiles. Grey Bands in particular are the most exciting snakes by far and if you talk to most in this forum, you may get a 100 different reasons why. All I can say is that once you experience West Texas, add the friends you make along the way, observe some of the greatest animals in the world, you are left with something that stays with you for life.

I hope you are willing to compromise with us Hobbyists and find some common ground. I am still going to go out to West Texas either way. It has been a part of my life for too long.

Thanks for your time,

SXO792

That the might change in the future about selling snakes is because now you are interested in breeding them, not just keeping them.

And you are not interested in selling animals you catch..

Would be worth noting..

Lance

That a majority of my snakes are captive born. Meaning a few are from the wild but most were purchased from other people. I hope they keep this in mind when coming up with permits and such. I don't want to be grouped with Commercial collectors just because I have a good number of Grey Bands. I have a regular job and only get to spend a week or so a year in West Texas.

Best Wishes,

Steven

That would also be a concern of mine, although the majority of my snakes are Texas wild caught specimens, collected myself. I do not have over 2 males and 2 females of any species and those four snakes are the only sets I have of complete sexual pairs at this time. I am interested in obtaining my own stock to sell captive bred offspring to the public. I can then vouch for the authenticity of my snakes.
Todd Hughes
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Todd Hughes

I forgot to add the following... I noticed that you are concerned with the number of Grey Bands taken each year. I would think of it this way... Please allow me to relate this to fishing. Each of us are only allowed to fish on the bank, no boats. Therefore we have an entire lake before us, plenty of habitat but only the shore to fish. If you and all your friends fish all day long at one area of the bank, the next day when you return most likely there is an abundance of fish at the area where you were the day before.

Now... The habitat for Alterna is VAST. We have very few roads that cross it, and of those very few hills and cuts where Alterna really prefer. The cuts are artificial... So with that in mind, we may make a small dent in the population next to the road in one night. The next day and night, it is easily recharged with all types of animals, nut just Alterna. Many things come into play when looking for Alterna: Weather, hunting habits, terrain, your own health or eye-sight.

So please keep this in mind when you think about Alterna as being endangered of over collection. We haven't even touched the surface of the vast numbers that are on private and park land and never will.

Best Wishes,

Steven

Those who have never hunted for greybanded kings seldom realize how secretive and elusive they are. It usually takes a hunter many trips to catch even one. I myself have been traveling to west Texas since the mid 80s, spending literally thousands of dollars on gas, hotels, food etc, and just found my very first greyband last year! But even so, I love the country and the search so much that I moved to Texas from New York earlier this year.

My own favorite analogy-take a 5 acre field and run a 1 inch wide tape across it. Now spend several hours every day just walking up and down that tape, removing every ant you see crossing it. How long will it take you to endanger the population of ants in that field?

Answer: Never. And Greybands in west Texas are an analagous situation. Millions of acres of prime, pristine habitat is totally off limits to hobbyists and collectors, and always will be. Any professional herpetologist will tell you the same thing.
We are all sportsmen and conservationists who truly care about the resource-if there was the slightest chance we were harming it we would be the first to clamor for controls!

Brad Chambers

I cannot believe everyone feels the need to explain this to these people on the forum (or anywhere else for that matter),.............this is something that should be common sense,...but you know what they say about common sense. It ain't so common now is it? ESPECIALLY when you are dealing with legislators etc. It's just all about taking an individuals rights away from them.

Wayne

Todd would say this law was more about protecting wildlife resources, and protecting innocent and unsuspecting citizens from an accident on our public roads and right of ways.

In order to come to some sort of compromise, I had to myself in Todd K's shoes.

Now we need to get Todd K to take a few steps in our shoes. Then, when both sides truly have an understand of what the REAL issues are, and only then, can we begin to address those issues and reach middle ground.

I don't believe that taking a PROACTIVE stance in regards to safety can be related to taking rights away from folks. You have to consider that it will NEVER be against the law to Drive down the road in a safe manner, that's what the roads are for. Secondly it never WAS legal to drive down the road in an UNSAFE manner. There are a host traffic codes ALREADY on the books that a Game Warden COULD enforce if he/she/they saw fit.

Game Wardens do not want to get in the habit of issueing traffic citations, however, I have suggested that maybe they should, especially in the case of snake hunters. If someone gets slapped with a $150 or $200 fine maybe they will think twice about creating a safety hazard that could cost an innocent citizen their life.

The only way to reach middle ground is ACKNOWLEDGE a legitimate concern as a REAL problem. We can NOT dismiss this solely on the basis of history.

While the numbers of Gray-bands taken may be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, here the burden of proof is upon our shoulders and I don't believe this will be difficult to prove our case to both Todd and TP&WD.

Todd - if you get free I'm more than Happy to take you out west, but I'm a smoker. You might be more comfortable with someone else, OR we could meet out west somewhere and walk some cuts. I'd love to show you some of the places and animals, and even take you to a more remote area on private property where you can get a feel for what that is like and why that is a viable solution for only a percentage of the Herping population.

THanks for understanding Wayne.

I have some headlamps and flashlights that are very effective for walking, in my opinion far far far far better than a Stuby or Davis Control light..

Anybody from TP&W or our Legislators office that would like to borrow this for a trip west with one of us is welcome to it. Please plan any request in advance to allow time to box this up and mail it if needed (I live in the DFW area).

Lance

the short ones that cover the ankle and calf up to just below the knee. These make me feel more comfortable walking the base of cuts or over the tops of cuts. I'm willing to send them out or deliver in person for a loan.

Not for encounters with hot snakes, but with the plant life out there... Nothin' like pickn' out some catus to take home with you...

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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

I am a teacher in Austin ISD. I teach 5th grade Math and Science.
I've been keeping snakes for 10 years, and "hunting" them for about 8 years.
In all my West Texas herping, I have caught more than I can remember, but kept less than ten. My herping partner has done the same. We carry licenses and snake hooks.
My students are absolutely nuts over them. I have cured more people of irrational fear of snakes than I can count. I use snakes in educational talks frequently. The animals I have kept (none threatened or endangered) have all been used for education.
My favorite thing to do is find snakes. It's like a safari. Hopefully I will be able to take my little girls with me on the road to explore West Texas sometime soon.
-Jack Jeansonne
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V.P.
Austin Herp. Soc.