Terry, There may be some difference, environmentally, between north and south C.C., but not really sure what it is. Maybe a slight difference in temps and humidity? Maybe vegetation, but most of C.C. is heavily developed and has been so for many years, and those areas which are not developed with businesses or residential neighborhoods are mostly crop-land. As you probably noticed when you were here, much of south Texas is plowed up crop-land, devoid of trees or other native vegetation. As you go south and east in C.C., you come to coastal plain with sand dunes and coastal grasses on Padre Island. Maybe much of C.C. was like this before it was developed. It doesn't seem like snakes in coastal areas would evolve to be darker, though. Actually seems like they would be lighter to match the sand and grasses. I can imagine these dark meahllmorum living in heavily wooded areas, like Texas rats, which is sort of what their colors make me think of. It is difficult to say what the area looked like before it was a city. There are lots of photos of C.C. in it's early days but I don't know of any photos, paintings or records of what it looked like before.

As Todd mentioned, these snakes are well adapted to life in the city, and can be found absolutely anywhere in C.C., including the busiest parts of town. The neighborhoods are generally pretty full of trees, many of them non-native, and there is lots of moisture from people watering their lawns. I have heard reports of people finding snakes in storm drains, and would not be surprised if meahllmorum used these quite a bit. There are also lots of ditches, parks and a few golf courses which make great habitats. The city landfill is reported to have good populations of a few different species, including meahllmorum.

-Toby

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