Reptile & Amphibian Forums

LOL! With so many finds. . .wonder if any are left in the wild, LOL!
But anyway, made my way down here (to Langtry) from North Carolina with BIG help from Todd Hughes (thank you so much!). Had a BLAST the time I was there! Tried to find a little of everything but only found one lepidus and four alternas (in 24 hours)! Now that I have two males and two females you can figure out the rest: I'm stuck with some of the nicest snakes on earth!!!
Only fell from one road cut, punctured my shoe a couple of times, sprained my finger, put holes in my shin thanks to the Lecheguilla and bumped my head near an overhang once. Other than that, I had a blast (and acted like a fool) and can't wait till next year to hunt some DIFFERENT areas.
Things really started moving in Val Verde county on Monday night. Found four alternas within 24 hours!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!
Found a flawless, superclean, male blairs phase at 3:15 am on 8 June on on a HWY 90 - 6 feet up a cut just west of Osman canyon. Then the next night I found a dark blairs phase female HWY 90 in Langtry about 20 feet up on a cut at 10:30pm. Then at 2:15 am I found another dark blairs female up on a huge cut about 30 feet up, about 2 miles east of Langtry - Almost died trying to get that one, LOL!!!
Finally at 3:20 am I found a good sized (31" dark phase male 6 miles west of Langtry on a cut about 4 feet up. Then the following morning I had to head back, but did so quite happy: 2 males & 2 females in just over 24 hours!!! The weather was perfect and everything seemed to be crawling in alterna land!!!
Blue King was struck by the Alterna fever!!! Did the dance and screamed into the night!!! All this wouldn't have been possible without help from my good friend Todd Hughes from Corpus Christie,TX!!! We'll be doing this again next year!!!These are all Val Verde (county) animals: Enjoy the pics (put them in the order they were found):

Zee

A young, darker, female:

This little girl was near the top of a HUGE cut and took a while, patience, and some GUTS to get:

A cool looking, high contrast, dark phase 31" male (my favorite) that I found easily near the bottom of a cut (about four feet up and all stretched out): (Thanks for looking)

A new alterna man,

Zee

Hey, I have a silly question. Do the guys try to bite when you catch them, or are they pretty calm like my captive bred ones? Thanks,

Derek

All four of these animals bit me as soon as they were picked up. BUT, they tamed down minutes afterwards and have not bitten me since. . . They're real calm and friendly now.

Zee

Way to go Zee....I can't say I have ever seen such nice wild caught specimens as the ones you collected.
Also....It was nice to have met you in person....Maybe next time you and Todd can take along an ole mexicana head.....LOL
Awesome Alterna!
John Lassiter

Thanks John!
Really enjoyed meeting you as well AND seeing your AWESOME mex-mex variety & kingsnake collection.

Zee

Four in 5 hours...4 in just over 24 hours; Terrell vs. Val Verde counties; all I know is when the tally exceeds 2 in a single trip, one feels like Caesar and can utter the words Veni Vidi Vici - I came, I saw, I conquered!

STOP!!!!!!!!! You're making me sick!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL. One more thing. For all you karma freaks out there I stayed at the Outback Oasis motel in room number - you guessed it - '8'. Just kidding, I stayed in room 10 where I imagine they are busy erecting the shrine...OH GEEZ. OK, I'll stop it now cause I'm making myself sick!!!!!!!!

RP

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! :::((((((((((((

Just to be out here looking is a reward in itself and I will always appreciate anything I get and take NOTHING for granted!!!
If I were out here for a whole week and didn't get zip, that's okay by me . . . I have always loved the desert and its' beauty!

Til' next year,

Zee

Congrats, that is an incredible first trip or any trip IMO! My first alterna was a Langtry 8-9 miles West and on about the 8th night at about 2am.

Blah,BLAH,BLAH.....and not even an honorable mention for getting the only true herp that mattered during the whole disgusting trip...MY HYPSIGLEA!!!!!LOL!!! If not for the courage of the fearless crew the minnow would be lost!!! It was without a doubt the most fantabulous trip I have ever been on. Did my homework, picked a great bud and WE SCORED!!!Yeth!!! and please stand up and identify yourself you unknown herper that turned around and gave me a beautiful suboc for a consolation prize...gracias! Zee, as you can tell I made it home this morning at about 7:00 a.m. after hitting the Atlantic and cruising through the Smokies. Hit that hurricane wannabe coming through Tenessee and had 4 hours of hellacious driving through Knoxville? I dunno I was real tired. Missed a big ol' corn on the sideof the road in N. Kackalackee! Damn but wait'll next year! It's your turn to do the Hypsiglena hop!!! LOL!! You guys shoulda seen 'ol Zee doin' the Alterna shuffle! Awesome trip and again kudos to all the alterna gang that made this trip so easy. I may sneak down during the last week of June and get me one for the zoo.
Later, and keep them posts comin'
Todd Hughes

It's been a great 5 nights!!! THANKS TODD!!! THANKS for literally DRIVING YOUR ASSETS OFF! And thanks for putting up with my crap at times, LOL! *---YOU DA MAN---*!!!!!!!!!!!
That Chinese Buffett sure was good, wasn't it? So were some of those M - I - L - (?)s. You know what I mean!

THOU SHALT THCORE - - - !!!!

Zee

YETH!!!
Todd
P.S. THOSE ARE SOME TERRIFIC LOOKING ANIMALS FROM FURTHER WEST!

YES, they are very nice!

Zee

Congrats on all your finds Zee. You couldn't have asked for a better trip. Hope that they all do well for you. Take care,
Nathan Wells