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 agree it makes sense they would evolve to match the sand and grasses which may be the case in those areas, but I doubt C.C. was like that before development. The snakes are telling us something else, I think.

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.
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I imagine the dark meahllmorum being in wooded or heavily vegetated areas also, maybe with sources of water, even underground. I don't mean to get technical or anything, because I'm not there to look around. But I do have a couple photos from this summer that might help. I'll post them below.

>>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.
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>>-Toby

Yes. These are some of the places I'm thinking of. They can't just live under houses. They have to have some habitat and food sources. Storm drains seem ideal for all their requirements: places to hide underground, water, food, etc. Remember that nice big wooded place you took me out to hunt, the Pollywog Pond? That had lots of the stuff meahllmorum would like and seemed ideal for many kinds of herps. Here's a shot of you walking the path....


Another good shot of the habitat there...


At the opposite extreme is the desert scrub habitat with very little water or protective cover that we went through in Duval Co, more inland from the coast, and west of C.C....

I think meahllmorum are still making a living there, but in a slightly different way. I do think the climate changes away from the coast somewhat, due to the moderating affects of the ocean. I think these snakes will be more lightly colored the more deserty the environment is.

Gotta run. Big day today. Thanks for all the extra info, Toby. Hope I'm not getting in too deep here, but it just reminds me of my situation in MI near the coast of the Great Lakes. Later...TC

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