Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My internet search for images of Dryadophis cliftoni turned up only one image under the name Clifton's Lizard Eater, a shot of a road killed specimen in Mexico. Here's my shot of a live specimen in the collection of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in the 1980s. It's my only photo of this animal, as the snake was very shy and spent much of its time hiding.

I collected mine in '72 (maybee '73,memory is fading).I showed it to Mr.Keasey at the SDM on my way home and he just shook his head. It took me over a Year to identify it. I finaly found it in "The Amphibians and Reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico" by Hardy and McDiarmid - University of Kansas-1969.
It turned out to be one of the best captives of any I've had. It's seemed inteligence amazed me. It would raise up like a King Cobra any time someone came into the room and then seem to watch your every move. I didn't have much of a supply of lizards so I would fasten a piece to a strip of beef heart laced with calcium and vitamins and it would take it with no hesitation. Soon it started taking the strips out of my fingers without the lizard parts. As you can tell by this long winded post, I was very impressed by this snake. I had it for about 3 years and gave it to a curator at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History when I had to give up my collection due to a back injury.
I have a 40 year old slide of it in a beatiful full body pose, not good quality but considering the age it's nice. I wish I could post it but I have yet to figure out how to do it. This damned computer is smarter than me.
theOLDherper
Pete