Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How awesome is this?
My son, Björn, who just turned seven, caught his first alterna!
It's about a two foot male from Colorado Canyon on the River Road.
It bit the sh!t out of his finger (last pic - couldn't post the dam things in order...).
Cheers,
Max

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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

A Big Hill lepidus & Björn's alterna.

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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

And here are a couple of more pics from the same trip.
Adult female Celanops from the Boy Scout Road. She had a broken back at one time, and has a few nicks and scars.She also has some abberant markings on her neck.

This one was dor in the middle of the road

This snake looks identical (and I mean identical) to a young Juno Rd. male that I picked up from Shannon Brown last year. Yes, I broke down and bought a pair on the road - it was the 8th or 9th day of a 10 day trip and I panicked - I finally caught a beautiful dark phase E. Sanderson male 15 minutes before my second 5 day license expired. Anyway, this pair of Junos came from Ric's stock and I couldn't pass up a Juno Rd. that looked like this one. Remember Shannon????????

RP

Breeders take their snakes down and it is easy to say they caught it. A real alterna hasn't been taken in years.

The Great Alterna Conspiracy!

You know I am just kidding. The rain has REALLY made it "bust out".

Congrats Max.

Steven

Excellent! I bet he was excited. Congrats.
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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

Lance and I were out for 8 nights. Were you in the Black Honda CRV?

We saw tons of stuff but no alterna... Figures.. My kingsnake curse is still going on strong. I should go look for Green Ratsnakes or something. I would catch a ton.

Take Care,

Steven Owens

First off, Thanks!
We caught it early Tues. evening (Our first night on the River).
We tried to show it to you & Lance, but after slowing down & stopping half a dozen times, & you guys not slowing down & stopping, we had decided to give you the most anti-social herpers award for the month of June!
I was in the white Pontiac for most of the trip, although I did ride in the dark green CRV one night - That might be one of your problems in looking for alterna - you might be color blind! : )
IF you had stopped to talk with us, we may have lifted the curse for you. Maybe next year?
Then again, you might try wearing the proper footwear & chasing one of these guys down! LOL
Take care, & I'll talk with you soon,
Max

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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

Hmmm! looks like Sighthunter needs to get out more often!!
LOL

Yeah when it comes to hunting time that means it is time to hunt. The forums (as we are doing now) is the appropriate place to talk about what you caught. Many times we would come over a hill and find two cars yacking in the road. That is frustrating. Also the pontiac Grand Pre or Am guys were riding on our rear and almost made us dispatch a fake snake to get some space. Remember SPACE isn't just for the Starship Enterprise...

I am glad your son collected it. I thought someone named Keith was driving the Pontiac Grand Am. I and Lance introduced ourselves at the gas station and said if he needed any assistance or anything to let us know. I think he laughed and thought "what could go wrong on a snake trip". That sounds like an excellent forum topic, "What tragic problems have you encountered on a herp trip?".

Long story short, Congrats... I am fixing to post our list for 7 nights on the river 1 night in Val Verde which we half hartedly hunted since we were both beat and ready to get home.

Take Care,

Steven Owens

You guys wouldn't stop to help me identify a gray and black snake I found. I thought it was kind of rude to offer your help at the gas station and then not stop to help. I think you take it too seriously with your hunting. Try to break you dry spell with good karma by having a good time. I only go for the fun now
the animals are second. Texas is a great place to go with other herpers to have lots of fun. Hows the easter egg hotel is it still a dive try a better place like the wildhorse or the long horn. See yah next year.

Yep, I agree on this one with Keith c.This hobby that we all share and love is by no means Mainstream, so when herpers from all over the States and abroad come to an area like west Texas to pursue their hobby, It's nice to break the monotony and get snake sighting reports from other herpers. Sighthunter and I actually met a man from England on the Gap road,and in the same car there was a guy that published a book on scorpions.Pretty cool!!
take care
Barry

If you flashed the hi's we would have stopped. Several times people flashed and I had to get in the habit of turning off the driving lights. I guess they are a bit bright.

I am honestly having a good time when I am out. I just don't want to be rude by driving on peoples bumpers or pulling a u-turn in front of someone. Stopping in the middle of the road to talk can cause both. Therefore that is why we don't do it.

Even though we didn't get an Alterna I know we probably saw more than most since we didn't stop all the time.

Our best night was Sunday night with 21 animals. The easter egg is a pit but it is cheap and closer to the river than the wildhorse. (Granted not by much).

As much as I like to see animals that others catch I am more worried about what we are seeing and therefore less apt to stop.

Call it what you will...

If the warden is out the stopping all the time will draw attention. If you need to talk to folks every pass then carry walkie's (lance and I have done this before) and hand them out to all your friends.

Again this is my .02

Steven

I wasn,t quite sure where to jump in but this is as good a place as any. Would have been nice to meet the guys in the Black CRV but im sure we,ll talk at Chevron next trip and I'll explain how to hunt greybands with trained rabbits.

Sighthunter , I'm laughing so hard I spit my dip out!!!
LOL,LOL,LOL "That wraskly wabbit"

It wasn,t hard getting the rabbit to find the Greyband it was hard getting it to stay on point.

Next time try a remote controlled Shock Collar!!!

worn out celaenops? This is the 3rd time I've seen this exact pic!

On another note - It seems we're setting a trend for a new style of collecting footwear - stocking feet. It really helps to sneak up on those wary snakes.

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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

Hey socks are cool, they also make great snake bags!!!!
You can also sneak up on the snakes, they won't hear you coming and run from ya. "the last sentence was taken from the Bubba chronicles" from RedNeck publishing house LOL
B

Nice pictures Max and congrats to your son. That is a fantastic looking animal!! Take care.
Nathan Wells