Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There is a 60 acre undeveloped prairie directly behind my backyard privacy fence that was shredded down almost to the dirt last week and with all this rain and females dropping babies, it's like someone gave medusa a haircut, I have seen 27 neonate wdb, 4 western coachwhips (one was est. 6 foot in length, and damn they're fast!) a texas garter snake, 2 texas rats, and a prairie king! Wow! I never knew I lived so close to such a great place to go herping until it was too late. The land was sold to build a new strip mall, talk about habitat destruction, and this is happening everywhere. Now I'm sure all those homeless snakes are gonna be killed by my ignorant neighbors. P.S. I relocated all the baby atrox to my own 20 acre tract outside of town

Good for you!
Habitat destruction is killing our herps & most people don't know or care..
BTW, 3 years in Texas & I have yet to see an atrox! Go figure..

Matthew

Matthew,
3 years and no atrox?!? That's nuts! I'd guess 7-8 of every 10 snakes I find here is atrox! What part of Texas are you in? It took me 3 years for me to find my first eastern hog, but it was definitely worth the wait- it was a NICE one!

I'm in Austin- if you're near, I'll show you atrox!

//Todd

I'm in the panhandle and I'd say 5 of 10 I find are rattlers, with a good split between prairie and diamondbacks.

Todd,

I live in Waxahachie, south/southeast of Dallas ( about 30 miles). Supposedly, there are atrox here. Indeed a year or two ago, someone got bit. But the only hots I've found here are are C. contortrix intergrades. Many copperheads, no rattlers.
I don't understand it either, maybe most have been killed off?

Matthew

Hmmmm, is there an annual rattlesnake roundup there? There are several every year in my area near taylor and mcgregor. The needless slaughter of thousands of rattlesnakes for sport and amusement, Im sure that they deplete the wild populations. Copperheads are a little more scarce in my area, but atrox are more abundant than any other snake.

Flippin' redneck idiots.

It'll be sweet to see something like the Bubonic Plague make a comeback as a result...

//Todd

Not to my knowledge. Maybe just too many cars & shovels, being too close to a major population center.
Maybe wrong microhabitat ( my actual guess along with habitat degradation) in this area. Semi-woody, black earth prarie with many farms & roads.
I believe they are found here, just not in the numbers elsewhere in the state.
And that abomination in Sweetwater should have stopped long ago. I refused to stop for gas there on the way back from Carlsbad Cavern last spring. I won't give them a nickel!

Matthew
Former member of Rattlesnakes unlimited.
& Proud of IT!

When we kill ourselves off the snakes will get their habitat back, too bad it may only be Burmese and Tree snakes. JK...ish.

Where are you in Texas? If you ever feel like relocating some coachwhips let me know.

Nate

Im in the temple, belton area and Im always interested in relocating snakes, especially when I find them close to my house, other people arent so respectful of serpents and a new home is better than death

Yeah man- good work.

The week before last was the big week for me for atrox- 8 babies in 6 days. This pic is after 5...

//Todd

Congrats! They look great!