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Boracay Island is more of a party place than a place to photograph animals. Flat-tailed House Geckos and Common House Geckos were common, and the locals tell me that “Tokko” is around somewhere but I didn’t see a Tokay Gecko while on the island.

This Dog-faced Water Snake (Cerberus rynchops) was the only serpent seen. It was brought to me by some fishermen who found it on mud flats north of Boracay Island. I have read conflicting reports about this snake. Some accounts say that it is rear fagged and mildly venomous, while other reports clam it is harmless. Interestingly it is said to feed largely on Mudskippers.

Cock-fight somewhere near the town of Laguna which lies about 3-hours drive east of Minila. Cock-fighting appears to be their favorite past-time, even showing cock-fights on TV like we watch Boxing matches.

This restaurant, call Exotik, serves up things like python, monitor, frog, and a variety of other snakes. I stuck with chicken.

I have no idea what dogs, I should say puppies were doing locked in cages on the property of the restaurant. This is just one of about a dozen locked up pups.

However the future of this Python was obvious, because he was on the menu.

Following images were from rice fields and small jungle tracks in the Bicol Region.

By this time, I have seen hundreds of Cane Toads but this one was by far the largest. This thing would have made a huge mess if someone had run it over.

This Malayan Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis) was found at night when attempting to photograph Field Frogs (Fejervarya limnocharis) in rice paddies. I had places this turtle down for over an hour and it never came out of its shell, eventually I forgot about it and left without getting a better picture.

Several of these large skinks were seen, I think they are Mabuya multifasciata the Common Sun Skink.

This is believed to be the Common Sun Skink (Mabuya multifasciata). Its back is darker brown because of old-shedding skin. Note the white spots on its sides and pale belly. Anyone have a better idea of what type of skink this may be??

This frog was found in a rice field and believed to be a White-lipped Treefrog (Polypedates leucomystax) also known as Common Asian Treefrog or Four-lined Treefrog.

Other species seen while exploring rice fields and nearby jungle include Tokay Gecko, Flat-tailed gecko, House Gecko, and a “green snake” known by the locals as The Green Snake.

These are the last of the images from my digital camera. The 35 mm camera film I used must be developed and scanned before additional images can be posted, so it will be awhile before getting around to posting more Philippine pictures.

Hello

Not to offend anyone but you're right about the cock fighting. They have an annual national competition in the Araneta Colosseum for these game cocks and it's brutal. Growing up I remember my uncle was big into these fights. I used always bug him if I could check out his fighters in his back yard in Bulacan when my dad and I would come and visit. Everytime he loses a fight he would just bring home the cock and we'll have him for dinner. Didn't really like it since the meat was usually very tough to eat. And sadly those dogs will have the same fate as the caged python. My uncle used to also catch retics that would stray in his property and make "adobo" out of them. Very sad but all of this is often common practice there and part of the culture, but "Exotik"" to foreigners and some Filipinos. Btw, did the Mabuya have approx 5 dark lines on its belly? If so that would help confirm if it was Mabuya multifasciata since they come in different colors sometimes. Thanks for sharing the pics! Take care.
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Jonel @ Selective Propagations
www.spsnakes.com

There is nothing bad about cockfights at least one of the competitors gets a chance to live longer. If it wasn’t for cock fights they would simply become someone chicken dinner much sooner. Besides the chickens I saw being killed only for dinner died a lot slower than the cockfighting birds. Cockfighting is just the ultimate way of playing with your food before someone eats it. I don’t recall seeing any stripes on the belly of that skink, if I recall correctly it was a plan pale-grayish venter.

The P.I. is an awsome trip. I spent a lot of time there when I was in the Navy. The dogs, sadly, are probably on the menu. Everyone from the Phillipines will tell you it is common to eat dog meat. It sounds cruel to us, but when food is scarce you eat what you can get. I remember geckos everywhere. They had monitor lizards hanging on food carts in the streets too. When I was in Phuket Thailand, my hotel room had open bricks around the ceiling of the bathroom and big Tokay geckos used to come in and make themselves at home. Pretty bold and fearless creatures.
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Joe

Those are great to see! I look forward to the scanned 35 mm photos.

herp gallery