Reptile & Amphibian Forums

o yeh???....i found 2 alterna and an annulata in lanbhorne , pa.........right on my street!!!!!!!!!!!....what a stroke of luck....i also know of an alterna found in norfolk, va......that range map just keeps expanding..........

More than likely your own escapees. LOL.

I am sure there are a few range extensions around the San Antonio area also.

ECT

I didn't lose this one, have no clue who did. But gosh durnit I lost one about a month later. One I really didn't want to escape.

Was this on your street???? Looks pretty suspicious to me. LOL

Besides being flat, it looks pretty healthy. Probably eating all those med geckos and anoles. Female????

ECT

from my house. about 3 blocks. It couldn't be my snake unless it's been loose for 15 or 20 years and I don't even remember losing one back then.

Yes, big female. Don't forget those nice big scelops in the area too, but it'd have to climb the oak trees to get those.

The second known "Lampropeltis blairi," was collected by Ralph Axtell at the US 90-Devil's River bridge in 1950. This resulted in a note published in Copeia by Axtell accompanied by a magnificent John Werler portrait of the snake.

The same snake also received extensive attention in Wright and Wright's 1957 Handbook of Snakes, which quoted from Axtell's note and reprinted Werler's photograph. A letter from Werler was also quoted concerning observations on its behavior during its exhibition at the San Antonio Zoo. No mention was made of the fate of the snake.

According to an old friend of mine, who was among Werler's "groupies" at the Zoo in the early fifties, that snake somehow managed to escape from its enclosure and was never seen again! Axtell was said to be livid. Although my friend was just a teenager at the time, I have no reason to doubt his story.

I mention this only in the wake of John Werler's passing and as an example that it can happen even to the very best of us.

Tom Lott

Gerry Salmon tried to track that snake down to do scale counts. It was impossible to locate. Finally heard from Axtell himself who verified the story you just told.

Best
Joe