Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I guess I will ask since I am about to get discouraged. I have never found an alterna on a cut. Juno, 277, 90 doesn't matter where, I can't find them. Cruising has been my ticket. I beginning to think I am doing something wrong. Maybe not spending enough time on the cut, looking to fast. How much time do spend on a cut on average? I know it depends on the cut but do you check every single nook and cranny, up and down or just scan with the light? alot of spiders, millipedes and everything else. In the bushes, behind them. Any suggestions will be appreciated. My pride is digesting

Luck is where you find it. Everybody has a personal style to hunting, some people find almost everything on the cuts, and little on the road. Other people are like yourself. If you are finding what you are looking for, and happy with your efforts, then why change them. I will say that snakes are alot easier to see on the road then they are on the cut. But many of their prey species make a home on the cuts and rock outcroppings.

There is no easy answer to "are you doing it right", but if you see other things on the cuts, like spiders, scorpions, geckos, millipedes, etc. then you are likely taking enough time to look.

I have to tell you I CAN RELATE.....I once spent 14 nights shining cuts in Langtry with nary a snake.....then all of a sudden BOOM you see one....I have found more walking than almost anything else. You talk to other people and they swear by shining cuts....I usually swear at shining cuts! If you are successful with one strategy use that!

Like you, I spent a lot of fruitless time looking at rocks, sotol, and cactus on the cuts. I can tell you that if you are looking at the same cuts every other snake collector is looking at, you will see very few snakes of any kind, and fewer still alterna. One year I decided that I would start hunting a series of cuts in a locality that received virtually no attention from snake hunters (because it is not known for producing alterna). What happened was that I started seeing snakes on every trip. I didn't collect any alterna, but I saw a LOT of snakes. One night I saw five Baird's ratsnakes on the same long cut. That same year I counted nine lepidus on different nights hunting the same cut. If you want to see snakes, go where other hunters don't. If you want to see alterna you have to hunt the known localities and be persistent. I don't have a lot of experience catching alterna, but I have a lot of experience hunting the cuts. Persistence pays off. It's boring as H***, but it works. Of course all other factors such as temp, weather, time, etc. help, too.

I appreciate the information and I am a person who likes to stick with what works for me, but the cost of such trips seems to be moving on up pretty fast with motel, gas going up I would like to try and cut cost as much as possible and checking the cuts helps when your not driving around all night long. But if I have any luck at all it is all worth the money. Man the Comstock motel has gotten expensive and you don't even get a TV. What gives.

I know the comstock motel has gone crazy. Im gonna be there saturday through wendseday. What are you supposed to do when its 100 outside and you dont have TV in the room? Im thinking about going up to the crossing and seeing if theres water. If there is Im gonna go noose some lizards and hopefully see a few turtles.

Most people stay at Del Rio these days.

Not only did we have a TV on our last trip (with cable), but we hit the mall one afternoon and watched X-2 on opening weekend for $2.50 a ticket.

Just a few other ways to kill time when it is too hot outside.

usually when i go out at night looking for herps, i spend the majority of my time walking cuts and usually i will spend anywhere from an hour to four hours walking the same cut. it gets repetitive after awhile, but patience and persistence will pay off. road cruising gets expensive quickly around alpine, and after awhile, the border patrol or dps people will become suspicious and start bothering you, especially when you set thier sensors off turning around for specimans on the road. i just think walking is more enjoyable because you find those smaller herps that dont cross roads.

rob h