Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went back by myself and had a pretty cool trip but made some major errors. I got a speeding ticket on the way up and the dude was kind of a jerk. He said "Snake hunting, huh. There's a game warden in Langtry. I hope you meet him". I know someone who has been stopped for speed twice by h-patrol out there and got a warning both times. I somehow ended up with a ticket. Anyway, i'm not here to gripe about law enforcement, and the snake hunting was pretty good.

THURSDAY NIGHT-it was raining EVERYWHERE. i passed up 674,277,Juno, and the pandale loop, and headed straight to the Sanderson loop (349-2400-285-90) where it was a little drier and did okay considering the conditions. here's the totals:
6 snakes
1-DOR lepidus
1-DOR coachwhip
3-AOR atrox
1-AOR hypsiglena

FRIDAY NIGHT- No rain and lots of wind, what i'd consider good conditions. I did river road and saw almost nothing but 118 was very good. here's the totals:
17 snakes
2-DOR coachwhips (the wierd one is pictured below)
1-AOR coachwhip
2-AOR mollosus
1-AOR suboc
2-AOR hypsiglena
1-DOR hypsiglena
1-AOR rhinocheilus
1-AOR semiannulata
1-DOR mojave rattler
1-DOR blackneck garter
3-AOR atrox
1-DOR atrox

SATURDAY NIGHT- Best and worst night of herping ever. Made three huge errors. Chased first emoryi under a fence. Ran over first mexican hognose. arrived in marathon on empty realizing they had no gas at night, and passed two snakes while hauling to alpine to get gas. Oh well, here's the totals for 385:
Over 25 snakes!
5-AOR atrox
7-DOR atrox
1-DOR coachwhip
1-DOR pituophis
1-AOR emoryi
1-AOR mojave
1-AOR/DOR mexican hognose
2-AOR hypsiglenas
1-DOR hypsiglena
3-AOR mollosus
1-AOR western hooknose
1-DOR unidentified snake skeleton
Lost two snakes to other cars scaring them off the road.

Now for the wierd stuff:
I thought this mollosus was dead when i drove up beside it but then i saw it open it's mouth and realized it was alive trying to eat a roadkilled rabbit! Has anyone seen anything like this before?

GRAY-BANDED COACHWHIP? I found this DOR coachwhip on 118 at 6:00pm and noticed it was strange. It has wide red and gray bars like a typical blair phase alterna. You can imagine what i imediately thought driving by it at 70mph! But when i stopped and realized it was just a coachwhip i snapped a picture, threw it off the road and assumed that was normal. But, later i showed it to someone and he said he'd never seen anything like it. Has anyone seen one of these?

Thanks for looking, and i hope to see some of you out there next year.
Brandon Bowers

Sounds like you had a kiler trip man. Sucks about the tickets I know how it feels to have a great night only to have it ruined b/c cops feel like being jerks. I was out in the comstock,juno rd area the 15/16 and only saw an atrox and couchs spadefoot.
I think the rain really hurt us that night. Cool Pics........Scott Wahlberg

We should get some dudes together and go out to anahuac, Scott. I did alright out there night before last, but I'll post that stuff on the field forum. Sucks that the rain was bad, but an atrox and couch's is better than a night of nothing.

Snakes attempting to eat roadkill is not uncommon. Thamnophis are more well known for searching along the asphalt after rains for anurans. On several occasions this year i have seen crotalus and elaphe eating a roadkill perognathus or dipodomys....a for the abberant pattern masticophis, it would have been a nice speciman to place in a musuem. anything DOR should be accessioned to musuems.

r

That coachwhip looks awesome! Maybe it is just a color phase, but it does have the maroon looking bands that look similar to a whipsnake I saw. Maybe a hybrid? I just know I've never seen any coachwhip like that....
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