Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Went out cruising with a friend of mine (ErikNM) with the goal being within NM since you can't cruise TX now. We incidentally found this while en route to the NM portion of the range.

Chris,
Is that DOR from the Hueco range? Nice looking animal! Would be better if it were alive! I'm heading down there tomorrow from Kansas, how's the moisture in that area? I'm thinking about photographing in the Guads one day/night and Huecos one day/night. The remainder of the trip I'll be in the Davis Mtns.

Brooks

Brooks Thode perhaps? Anyway a friend of mine is down there now. Email me through this forum and I can give you the particulars. BA

You're dead on alternater. You even got the last name spelled correctly... I'm impressed! I sent you an email.

If alterna make it to the road in the Huecos there's a 99per cent chance they will wind up like the one you guys found. The truck traffic on 90 is absolutely insane until midnight. See any leps? BA

>>The truck traffic on 90 is absolutely insane until midnight.

It's even worse on 62/180.
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks

DUH! My bad.. LOL. BA

That's too bad, it was a nice looking alterna..

I am sorry that you didn't see him a few minutes earlier!

~ Mike Russo

You actually have friends? Amazing. Was this animal found east or west of the picnic area? I assume you had all the proper permits and licenses to herp in TX and NM? I know you are stickler. This is the only Hueco alterna I know about for this year but then again I purposely stay out of the loop. I wonder if the 30 plus that were caught last year by recreational collectors negatively affected the population near the road? I only caught one last year.

Welkerii

Per Sinclair, you "could" collect DOR's all night long w/o a permit. Similarly, photographing dead animals on the highway does not require a permit. The poster did have a permit when collected the third or fourth (publicly) known specimen from New Mexico.

Forks
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks

OK, not really, but the distance from the picnic area would be measured in feet...to the west.

You actually have friends? Amazing.

Jealous? Grow up Mike!

Was this animal found east or west of the picnic area?

It's already been said, but west of it by feet. Picnic area is just within El Paso County.

I assume you had all the proper permits and licenses to herp in TX and NM? I know you are stickler.

Incidental find and road kill at that. I had and still have no intention of herping TX, particularly now that it's illegal. That night's intention was to head to the NM portion of the Huecos, and as a resident of NM with no intention of commercial take or sale of NM native reptiles I don't need a permit. Unfortunately, we got out late and while en route to the NM portion temps bottomed out; friend with me also still had a 3 hour drive to get home. Then again, why am I even explaining myself to you. I don't have to justify me to you.

This is the only Hueco alterna I know about for this year but then again I purposely stay out of the loop.

Mike 'Welcher', commercial collecter extraodrinaire, is out of the loop? Say it ain't so Mike. I'm not even in the loop, nor do I care to be. I tried, but apparently my NM alterna find under a scientific permit for the National Park System was too much for some of the old-timers on here. At least Hollister, Forks, and Damon will give me the time of day. Nonetheless, just like you, I assume, I have my means to entering the loop if the means are willing to share.

I wonder if the 30 plus that were caught last year by recreational collectors negatively affected the population near the road? I only caught one last year.

Since you want to resort to mild attacks...
You live in EP and only caught one? Too busy collecting hundreds of Uta's and spadefoot toads? Shoot, the only things cool to find in EP are lep leps, klaubs, and alterna; maybe even splendida and celaenop (if you can find them) as I hear animals [kings] from Socorro can be exceptional. Must suck having to dredge the bottom of the barrel to help pay the bills. EP Zoo has (had??) some openings, why not get a legitimate job? Shoot, I had EP Zoo offer me a job and was quite flattered by it, but the commute would kill me and I have no desire to live in EP, let alone TX after having spent 3 years in Abilene.

Don't bother replying Mike. This is the only post I'll be acknowledging of yours. You had the chance to say good job, cool find. But instead you chose to resort to 3rd grade attacks - and for a person that's suppose to be so educated, even with a Curriculum Vitae. Please, PLEASE do me a favor and don't give the PHwackos the opportunity to delete another constructive thread.

Have a great day Mike and happy herping the remainder of the season.

Hey Mike. Actually, Cimmaron and I only caught 26 Hueco Mountain alterna last year, but I seriously don't believe it had any impact on the population. We've even caught four in less than an hour and have never caught less than two in a night. They're a LOT more common in that range than people believe. Excluding atrox, I've seen more alterna than any other species of snake in the Huecos.

If lance can catch one in 15 minutes... I guess all you have to do is show up!

Best Wishes,

StevenX

LOL........yup. The only way it would be easier is if all you had to do was place a snake bag on the ground and come back 10 minutes later and an alterna had crawled inside and had even tied the bag up for you.

Hey Mike,

I didn't know you caught that many so the total must be a lot higher then I was told. Are you including snakes you caught with other people in that total? Anyway, this year has been a lot different then last.

Welkerii

Mike, the 26 alterna from last year that I mentioned were part of the 30 that you are referring to. We took SD and DD, as well as a couple of others who occasionally post on this board, looking for them so they could experience the excitement of catching the snakes themselves.

As far as you stating that this year is different than last year for alterna in the Huecos, the new state laws forbid cruising road cuts so I'm not sure how you would know this information unless you have been cruising those cuts.

Have their been other El Paso county snakes found in the Huecos recently?
Last I checked (years ago!) there was only the one record from El Paso county from the snake Alec Knight collected.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Awesome find! I only wish it was alive. I know the light phase guys are prolly going nuts.

Hope you have better luck next time.

Best Wishes,

StevenX

>>Went out cruising with a friend of mine (ErikNM) with the goal being within NM since you can't cruise TX now. We incidentally found this while en route to the NM portion of the range.>>

May be one day, before all of us get too old, there will be a commonly available and inexpensive way to clone DOR snakes.