Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, despite the weather being bad for herping, including winds bordering hurricane strength this week, I managed to see some red-eared sliders basking here in Northern Texas.
Of better note, I managed to see ( though not get a pic due to very low light) a Texas Blind Salamander. First true bling salamander I've ever seen. Saw a couple in fact, in a cave south of San Antonio. Too cool..

Matthew

NP

Only once in 1968 I had the good fortune to go collecting Georgia Blind Salamanders in Marianna, Fl with the late Tommy Yarbrough. We collected about 4-5 Haideotriton wallacei and dozens of white crayfish in a cave on the Campbellton Hiway. To this day I have FOND memories of that trip and the fun we had. Tommy and I did a LOT of field collecting in the 60's and early 70's. I still miss his crazy laughter and comraderie. I was a very young man and he taught me a lot about amphibian collecting. Congrats on your find......

Just for fun lets see how many of you can indentify this......
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

first thought was "what a cool retic, wonder what morph it is"
second would be"what kind of scrub is that?"..
....really don't know what it is.....and that's kinda odd....

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..J Yohe ....

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Not close, no retic or Scrub...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

ok...I see the boa not python in it...my brain thinks python....I still really don't know what it is..(I read the name)....I am used to different colors in the island boas...

cool snake anyways...looks like it's actually just waiting to bite maybe???

//...good luck
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..J Yohe ....

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My Guess it's a Cuban Boa - check this pic out Tom of a Malaysian close-up---Rick

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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

Not a Cuban Boa but related.Great pic by the way...thanks
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

My Final Guess TOM:
Epicrates Chrysogaster (Rainbow Boa)

Another close up shot---Black Roughneck

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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

Close, it's E. chrysogaster schwartzi....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Actually Rick, that's great. There are damn FEW who could get that close. I've only ever seen 2 in my life and West Indian Herps are a speciality with me.....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Thanks that was tough. I have seen alot of Jeff Clarks snakes and Rainbow Boas are his specialty. I knew it was a boa and when cuban was wrong I thought of a caicos island variety of rainbow boa I had seen in his collection years ago. Turns out that one is the Bahamian variety correct. When I kept snakes Boas were always my favorite and you might remember from a recent e-mail I'm working with elongated tortoises now and have ended up with way to many males. later Rick
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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

NP

Yeah, I've looked for the Ozark Grotto salamanders without success. This is the fourth cave I've been in in Texas this past week ( LOL) & the biology in this one left me breathless. There were some crayfish there too. Also, some Leopard frog tadpoles on their way to becoming cave dwellers ( This would be interesting to study!). They were abnormally large, BTW. I think they are cannibals...
As for that snake, I thought some kind of Python (knowing of your collection.) But I'm not sure now.

Matthew

Took a walk today, as well. One Red-eared slider (again, a dropped skink tail w/out the skink! & an Eastern Yellowbelly Racer. Another lifer though I only got a so so look. I guess it could be a coachwhip but the scales looked too smooth. Anyway, it slithered off into thick brush as soon as I noticed it.
I'm taking this as a good omen for the coming season. For some reason, I see far more ratsnakes here than racers. The opposite of my entire life in the mid & eastern US. Racers are usually very abundant.

Ciao,
Matt