Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With the last week of weather in the high70's-low80's, It is time to hit the field. I went to a spot in Calhoun county, Texas and came up with this: 2m2c red eared sliders basking, 2m2c carolina anoles, 1 skink, 1 green tree frog, 1 sheep frog, 2 southern leopard frog, 2 rough earth snakes, 4 rough green snakes, 1 dor adult prairie king snake, 1 glass lizard, and pertaining to this forum, 1 BIG beauty of a Texas rat snake. A classic example with a classic temper to boot! He showed me why you don't mess with Texas!LOL! I found him in a discarded cash register that I had missed on my previous outings so his name will be Bandit! Nabbed me good and I could swear my hand was a little numb for a couple of hours. Anyway it appears that spring has sprung down here.Good herping!

Another shot

What happens when you wake the sleeping giant or last thing the bird saw!

nice pics, thanks! unfortunately, pennsylvania is not in heat up mode yet.........:>[

I know what your sayin! I just got back from Key Largo with highs in the mid-80's and now here back in Pa were about to get a snowstorm! LOL
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-Doug Daly

Glad to see things going good. I Live in Ellis Co. Just south of Dallas. Nothing yet. Got a couple of good rats last year. And man are they mean here in Texas.

Wouldn't mind seeing one of those intergrade guttatus from Calhoun Co. also. Thanks....TC.

Terry,
I am sure there are some intergrade gutattas in Calhoun Co., but there are known pure P. g. slowenskii in Calhoun Co. KJ collected one there that checked out to be pure slowenskii.
Calhoun county probably has intergrades between Emoryi and Slowenskii and between Meahllmorum and Slowenskii as well. And maybe a little Meahllmorum and Emoryi to boot. LOL
Kinda the same as down here in Nueces Co. There are two counties in between Nueces and Calhoun, but two major factors are the Copano and Nueces Bays.
Todd can attest to seeing Splendida in both counties. The ones down here in Nueces have a slight Holbrooki influence, but look more like Splendida. The ones found in Calhoun county look much like Holbrooki with a slight Splendida influence. Then again there are exceptions to the rule and pure specimens found in each region, but a good observation both Todd and I have seen down here in south Texas.
Thanks,
John Lassiter

>>Terry,
>>I am sure there are some intergrade gutattas in Calhoun Co., but there are known pure P. g. slowenskii in Calhoun Co. KJ collected one there that checked out to be pure slowenskii.
>>Calhoun county probably has intergrades between Emoryi and Slowenskii and between Meahllmorum and Slowenskii as well. And maybe a little Meahllmorum and Emoryi to boot. LOL
>>Kinda the same as down here in Nueces Co. There are two counties in between Nueces and Calhoun, but two major factors are the Copano and Nueces Bays.
>>Todd can attest to seeing Splendida in both counties. The ones down here in Nueces have a slight Holbrooki influence, but look more like Splendida. The ones found in Calhoun county look much like Holbrooki with a slight Splendida influence. Then again there are exceptions to the rule and pure specimens found in each region, but a good observation both Todd and I have seen down here in south Texas.
>>Thanks,
>>John Lassiter

Great observations, John. Sorry I haven't talked to you more lately, but have been out of town for almost a week. More this weekend.

The finds you, Todd, and KJ are making along the TX coast are spurring me on. To think there's a large area of intergradation there kinda' rocks the boat on P. guttatus taxonomy. I think it's great and would love to see some dna work done in Calhoun and other counties.

You said KJ found a pure slowinskii in Calhoun. That would be a great find because it would show the range of slowinskii is much further south than Houston. There's only one speciman from the coast there that I know of and it wasn't determined to which subspecies. The intergrade zone would prove the relatedness of Great Plains rats and corns, to me, and justify keeping them all in one species, once and for all. It's been a pain not knowing which way to go and created so much confusion.

I think the GPRs are going to greatly expand on the corn snake hobby, eventually. Thanks for the post and thanks for the pics you sent me. I definitely think there's some intergrades in there.

TC

Hey, Terry and John! Rest assured that if there are any more weird rats or kings in that area, I have my eyes peeled. Looks like I will be making at least one more one day jaunt next week and a week long trip back to Calhoun co. as well as Refugio and Aransas co. the following week. These "new" finds are just spurring me on as well, and John come out and play some time next week, as I think you will enjoy the change of scenery from Nueces co, not to mention the luck factor! I just feel that this year is gonna bust open some new stuff. MUST GO TO WORK. I'M STARTING TO SLIP.......O.K. got a hold of myself. Whew, that was close. TTYL,
Todd
P.S. Here's a Prairie found d.o.r. on the way out on the Calhoun/Refugio co. border...another species of interest to me.

Oops! Should have read adult Prairie king found d.o.r......and in keeping with the forum....Frito, my corn chip!

Todd, good luck on your trips along the coast. That whole area bt. Corpus Christi and Galveston seems like a gray area, where east meets west, to me. There's a lot of species, just bt. the kings and rats, but other interesting things too. Most of my sources hardly even acknowledge any corns/GP rats there, let alone the possibility of an exchange of genes in the area. But something's going on. Looking forward to seeing some dna work done there. Then there's all the different kings too, including getula and triangulum intergrading with their ssps, and the prairie king, of course. Hope you take pics of anything you see, including DOR's. Thanks.

Wish I could help, but I have to work too, and will be leaving soon (I work in a different county too, in MI). Someday I'll be free to travel at this time of year and will make it over there. Stay in touch...

Terry