Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In mid-May I'll be making a trip to Belize to visit a good friend that recently moved there. Can't beat free room and board after all...lol. I was just curious, for the people that have been herping in Central America, what were your experiences with actually finding stuff? I know B. asper is supposed to range into Belize, so I'm hoping to be able to find some of them. But hey, at this point, I'll be happy to see a wild green iguana, having lived in Arkansas all my life. I've heard cribos are a pretty common find down there as well. Also, some of the villagers she lives near keep telling her about a snake called a tommygoff that averages one child death in the village per year. She has a young child herself so of course this is of concern to her, but she so far hasn't gotten a good description or seen one of these snakes herself, so I don't have a lot to go on as far as trying to help her i.d. it. I'm assuming this is a tercipelo, but it really could be anything. Anyway, I look forward to hearing everyone's replies.

My grandparents just got back from Belize yesterday. They saw tons of green iggies (which is a common occurance in any of the countries that I have been in that area of the world). They saw lots of crocodillians, but no snakes. They weren't too keen on location and species specifics though.

Chance,

I was in Belize about 5 years ago now. I was not there to herp, I was there for a school fieldtrip and it was before I was really into reptiles. Therefore, I have some good notes with a bunch of stuff that I saw but they are presently not with me. I can tell you though, I did not "herp" but we had no problems finding stuff in the forest. I was there in the end of July at a place called Blue Creek. It was a little research station owned by International ZOological Expeditions (IZE)that I hear has since been damaged (destroyed?) by a hurricane or tropical storm. Over the course of 5 days we saw 1 boa, 2 coral snakes, a handful of mimics, and a handful of little tree snakes. Iguanas, geckos and other lizards were all over the place. I am sorry I do not have much more info for you, but I can say it was the best experience of my life, and probally one of the main reasons I enjoy reptiles today. I wish you the best of luck, I am sure you will enjoy Belize.

Jason

Hey Jason. Thanks for the great information! I have to admit, that's better than I was anticipating. Knowing how much luck generally runs, I was expecting to be making a trip to the only Central American country with horrible herping..lol. I certainly hope I have anywhere near as good of luck as you did. Coras would be an awesome find. Now my only problem is figuring out how I'm going to safely get my hooks and tongs down there with me without the airline thinking they are weapons... Surprisingly enough, travel cost for roundtrip tickets is amazingly cheap. I was expecting it to be very costly, but it's only costing us a little over $500 each. Anyway, thanks again. If you dig up your old information, let me know what you took notes on. Also let me know if you can think of what a tommygoff might be referring to.
-Chance

According to Campbell & Lamar, there are four Latin American snakes with that common name. They include the following:
Porthidium nasutum
Porthidium nummifer
Bothriechis schlegelii
Bothrops asper

Asper is found throughout Belize. The other three range through the southern half. This probably doesn't shed much light on the subject. My first thought was that the animal in question is P. nummifer.

~~Greg~~

I wasn't aware that there were that many Crotaline species found in Belize. More and more to look forward to I suppose. What they have been told this snake is, is some sort of terrestrial species. They haven't been told much about the size. I'll ask her to ask the friend she's been talking to about them about what size these snakes usually are. I'd say if they are large, then it's probably asper. If not, nummifer is a likely candidate. I'm not familiar with the other Porthidium species, and I know it's not the schlegelii because of its terrestrial nature. Thanks a ton for the information. I'll pass them all along to my friend and see which one matches the snake best. Regardless of which of the four it is, I know that finding any of the mentioned species would be an awesome success while we are there. I'm definitely wanting to find asper, but I had no idea that nummifer was even found in Belize. It may behoove me to acquire a field guide to snakes of Central America or at least a good webpage and famliarize myself with them. My only worry is that the closest decent hospital where they may actually stock AV is in Cancun, so we'll have to be very careful where we put our feet (and nightly runs to the outhouse will, I'm sure, be full of perril...yikes). Oh, we'll be taking two very high quality digi cams with us down there, and despite my friend not having hot water, indoor plumbing, and etc, they do at least have satellite internet, a scanner, and a great server. We'll likely be uploading pictures we take to our own server, and I may see if I can post a few of them on the forum if we can get some decent shots of herps.
-Chance

It's no field guide, but if there's room in your suitcase, I'd suggest bringing a copy of Campbell & Lamar's Venomous Reptiles of Latin America (or the newer version) with you. It has photos, bios, & range maps that should make figuring out what you have a snap.

~~Greg~~

>> It may behoove me to acquire a field guide to snakes of Central America or at least a good webpage and famliarize myself with them.

There are two decent field guides to Belize snakes - one is by Sharon Matola and Tony Garel, the other by Peter Stafford - Breck Bartholomew at Bibliomania (www.herplit.com) should be able to get them for you.

>>My only worry is that the closest decent hospital where they may actually stock AV is in Cancun, so we'll have to be very careful where we put our feet (and nightly runs to the outhouse will, I'm sure, be full of perril...yikes).

There is (or was in 1997) AV available in Belize, both in pharmacies and in hospitals. Chetumal, just across the border in Mexico, apparently also has decent facilities - it's where all the expats go.

Cheers,
Wolfgang
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WW Home

Chance,

My first thought on the tommygoff was asper, but I really do not know why I had thought of that, so I did not mention it. I dont know if it was something I heard from the locals (they have names for everything) or something I have heard since then. My notes are buried in a box at home, and I am at school so it could be a while. I might make it home this weekend, and I will try and dig them out for you if I do. I dont have any good information like temps, humidity or anything, I think I just drew pictures of what I saw and tried to ID the animals as best as I could. We had a few field guides floating around that the teachers had brought. Good luck again.

Jason

Herping in South and Central America can be a very rewarding experience, depending on how much time you have available for traveling and what exactly you want to see. Timing is very important, and with May being close to the onset of the rain season, it is likely to be fairly productive.

There are different physiographic regions in Belize, with lowlying hills and flat plains in the north, and a plateau featuring major ridge systems in the southern part of the country. The region and macrohabitat determines which species you may encounter. Bothrops asper is common throughout Central America, including Belize, and is the species that is referred to as tommygoff in Belize. However, keep in mind that the general population is very likely to call any snake that remotely resembles B.asper that very same name. Local references are often no more reliable than they are in the US.

If you do encounter a large B.asper in the wild, watch yourself! Some specimens can be highly unpredictable, and large B.asper can easily outperform any other pitviper or viper in the world, including large Lachesis.

~TE

Hey Chance,

Belize can be a great place to go herping. I was there for 4 weeks in September 1997, and saw a lot of snakes, despite the rainy season being remarkably dry.

Among snakes, Bothrops asper is one of the commonest species there, saw quite a few while roadcruising around back roads that go through more or less wooded areas. Other common species included Boa constrictor, Leptodeira septentrionalis, Sibon nebulata, Coniophanes imperialis, and Drymobius margaritiferus, but I saw a number of other species as well. Quite a few species were seen crossing roads in the daytime as well, which is unusual.

Green and spiny-tail iguanas are all over the place, together with various smaller lizards.

Basically, you are guaranteed a good time, unless you try roadcruising during full moon.

E-mail me for more details.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW Home

I'm really greatful for all the excellent information so far about the herping potential in Belize. Unfortunately, that is just going to mean that the next couple of months are absolutely going to creep by. Ah well, it'll be well worth the wait it seems. I really had no idea it was such a good area for herping, and I believe that depending on the success of the first trip, it may quickly become a yearling visit I'm not familiar with all the species you listed by their Latin, but I'll do a quick search and see what they are. I'm also very glad to find out that B. asper is such a common occurrence.
-Chance

Chance,

I've been to Belize seven times in the last thirteen years and every trip has been worth it, both for the birding and the herps.

Belizeans tend to be very afraid of snakes and think that most of them are venomous. While "tommygoff" is theoretically indicative of venomous species, some people apply it to almost everything (e.g., the Yucatan race of the Checkered Garter Snake [Thamnophis marcianus] is known as the "Pine Ridge Tommygoff". The "Yellow-Jawed Tommygoff" is Bothrops asper and it is abundant and quite a handfull should you attempt to catch one!

I have attached a brief bibliography of some books that I have found valuable in Belize. Feel free to email me at: tomlottATatt.net for more detailed info.

Belizean Herp Bibliography

Campbell, J. C. 1998. Amphibians and Reptiles of Northern Guatemala, the Yucatan, and Belize. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press. (ISBN: 0-8061-3064-4, for the cloth-bound edition. The paperback is much cheaper, but it doesn't contain its own ISBN!). Excellent. The only book I took with me on my last trip. [Available at Amazon.com - $39.95]

Garel, T. and Matola, S. 1995. A Field Guide to the Snakes of Belize. San Jose, CR: INC Corp. Grafica. (ISBN: 9968-730). Hard to find. Should be avaiable at the Belize Zoo, where both of its authors work. Very good.

Lee, J. C. 1996. The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Yucatan Peninsula. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press. (ISBN: 0-8014-2450-X). Huge, expensive book; NOT a field guide, but probably the best current resource on the area. Excellent.

Lee, J. C. 2000. A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Maya World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press. (ISBN: 0-8014-8587-8). The true field guide version of the previous work. Considerable background material is left out, but the species accounts are still very complete. Excellent. [Available at Amazon.com - $36.95]

Meyer, J. R. and C. F. Foster. 1996. A Guide to the Frogs and Toads of Belize. Malabar, FL: Krieger Pub. Co. (ISBN: 0-89464-963-9). Somewhat dated little book, but very good. W/ color photos. Very good. [Available at Amazon.com - $24.50*]

Stafford, P. J. and J. R. Meyer. 2000. A Guide to the Reptiles of Belize. London: Academic Press. (ISBN: 0-12-662760-6). If you're not interested in amphibians--but remember, you may become so when you get there--, this is your best bet. Excellent. [Available at Amazon.com - $66.95 - expensive, but worth it]

Tom Lott