Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm going herping in West Texas this week. Hopefully, will find some Mexican Hogs out there! Anyone know of any particularly good spots? (I'll be around Van Horn, Sierra Blanca).

Also, how do you tell when a female has eggs? I put my male in with my female about 5-6 weeks ago. She looks a little bigger, and just shed. She's about 24 inches long, and I've been feeding her 2-3 mice per week. Any help is appreciated. Below is a picture of her about 2 months ago.

>>I'm going herping in West Texas this week. Hopefully, will find some Mexican Hogs out there! Anyone know of any particularly good spots? (I'll be around Van Horn, Sierra Blanca).

Hogs are reasonably common around there, particularly after they have had some rain (which they have). I would try roadhunting in the morning on roads through sandy desert grasslands. Realize that hogs (particularly small ones) are really tough to see on roads even in broad daylight. Also be careful of young rattlesnakes. It is amazing how "hog-like" they can look when you are focused on finding hogs.

A decent road to find hogs is FM 2317 (I think?) which runs west from 1111 and then turns north to 62/180 up near the non-town of Cornudas. It is about 30 miles (?) north of Sierra Blanca. However, the hogs in that area are nasicus, not kennerlyi. As you get closer to and south of Sierra Blanca you can find kennerlyi. I have found quite a few Mexican hogs around (and in) the town of Van Horn. Check out Jason Penney's Snakes of Hudspeth County website.

Another road I like for morning hunting is FM 505 which comes off of 90 going into the Davis Mts. a few miles (??) southeast of Van Horn. I suspect 90 SE of Van Horn would be a good hog road as well if the traffic was light.

I used to hunt hog until the temp got up to around 90° or 95° degrees then give up. I have found them at dusk as well, but they are much easier to find in the morning.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

I didn't end up finding any kennerlyi. We found a couple bulls, couple atrox, couple mojave rattlers, coachwhip, spadefoot toads, a canyon tree frog, striped whip snake, night snakes, and a couple of viridis. I ended up coming home with desert milliped I'll use for education. My friend kept a pair of mojaves. Other than that, we just looked, took pictures, and let em go. Good trip overall. I'll have to go again, so I can find some kennerlyi!