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Message
West Texas herping trip
Posted on 7/24/24 at 11:46 pm
Posted on 7/24/24 at 11:46 pm
Finished up my 11 day romp through Texas last Friday - finally have time tonput a thread together (and will put together another thread for the non-scaly creatures & sights).
Accompanied by one of my childhood friends (who doesn’t really herp but enjoys nature), I teamed up with a guy from Florida who has a huge social media presence (probably only second to “the yoink guy”) and 2 of his crew from Connecticut and New Hampshire. Another kid from San Antonio joined us for part of the trip as well.
In short, the big thing in West Texas is “shining the cuts for Alterna” - the gray-banded kingsnake, or Lampropeltis alterna. This is apparently an entire subculture of herpetology specific to that region, though I only recently became aware of it.
The “cuts” are the exposed mountain faces that the roads pass through…
…and “shining the cuts” looks like this.
And we literally did this every night from sunset…
…to sunrise.
I exaggerate just a bit - some nights we made it back to the hotel by 4 or 5 a.m.
The Alterna come in 2 phases - they used to be considered 2 distinct subspecies but are now just 2 phases of the same species:
Blair’s phase…
and Alterna phase…
And as you’ve probably guessed by now, we got’em - 1 of each phase plus another Blair’s phase found but too high up the mountain face to catch.
This is no small feat. We ran into a wildlife biologist who lives and works in that area, and it took him 140 days to find his first. He found every other snake species in Texas before his first Alterna. In 14 nights of hunting so far this year, he’s 0 for 14. We got the Alterna phase in the Davis mountains, and he only knows of 14 caught there all of last year. So we did pretty good in catching 2 in 3 days plus finding a 3rd.
I’ll continue the thread in sections with the other species we found…
Accompanied by one of my childhood friends (who doesn’t really herp but enjoys nature), I teamed up with a guy from Florida who has a huge social media presence (probably only second to “the yoink guy”) and 2 of his crew from Connecticut and New Hampshire. Another kid from San Antonio joined us for part of the trip as well.
In short, the big thing in West Texas is “shining the cuts for Alterna” - the gray-banded kingsnake, or Lampropeltis alterna. This is apparently an entire subculture of herpetology specific to that region, though I only recently became aware of it.
The “cuts” are the exposed mountain faces that the roads pass through…
…and “shining the cuts” looks like this.
And we literally did this every night from sunset…
…to sunrise.
I exaggerate just a bit - some nights we made it back to the hotel by 4 or 5 a.m.
The Alterna come in 2 phases - they used to be considered 2 distinct subspecies but are now just 2 phases of the same species:
Blair’s phase…
and Alterna phase…
And as you’ve probably guessed by now, we got’em - 1 of each phase plus another Blair’s phase found but too high up the mountain face to catch.
This is no small feat. We ran into a wildlife biologist who lives and works in that area, and it took him 140 days to find his first. He found every other snake species in Texas before his first Alterna. In 14 nights of hunting so far this year, he’s 0 for 14. We got the Alterna phase in the Davis mountains, and he only knows of 14 caught there all of last year. So we did pretty good in catching 2 in 3 days plus finding a 3rd.
I’ll continue the thread in sections with the other species we found…
This post was edited on 7/25/24 at 12:37 am
13
Posted on 7/24/24 at 11:46 pm to TigrrrDad
So the trip began rather unceremoniously - my buddy and I arrived south of San Antonio a day before the rest of the guys to hit a road where my Floridian friend once caught 8 Western diamondback rattlers in one night. Unfortunately, storms hit the area right before we began, so the only snake of the night was a diamondback watersnake - literally the most common snake I caught back home as a kid.
I did get one pleasant surprise that night, cruising up a Great Plains skink…
The next night the other guys met us there and we cruised the road most of the night. Unfortunately, once again the weather was uncooperative and all we found were 6 checkered garter snakes.
The next night we headed west for our big targets, and shined 100 miles of cuts along the way. First “real” snake of the cuts was a Chihuahuan night snake…
If you’ve noticed the elliptical pupils, these snakes are rear-fanged and mildly venomous. We caught 3 of these - 1 on the cuts and 2 on the road.
We also got our first lizards of the trip, encountering several Crevice spiny lizards.
As the name implies, these guys love to hide in crevices - and once they’re in there, they ain’t coming out.
By morning we’d arrived at our true destination and began our routine of vampire hours. We hit multiple towns near the southwestern border and a little higher up with great success, finding just about all the major targets I was hoping for. It started with the Blair’s phase Alterna as the first snake on the first night out West. Instead of going night by night, I’ll just highlight each species we found.
Trans-Pecos copperhead:
We caught 2 of these, one adult and one juvie. Saw 2 others and had them dead to rights but whiffed on the catches. These were very high on my wish list. Technically they are no longer a subspecies and are lumped in with broad-banded copperheads now, but they’ll always be Trans-Pecos coppers to me!
Trans-Pecos rat snake:
Gorgeous snakes with beautiful eyes. We got 3 of these - 1 on the cuts and 2 on the road between cuts.
Northern black-tailed rattlesnake:
This might have been my top target of the trip going in, and we got 5. Most were very docile and easy to free handle. Just stunningly beautiful snakes!
Western black-necked garter snake:
Not the most exciting species but still one I was glad to catch.
Great Plains rat snake:
Kind of a surprise find - found it on the road on the way to one of our spots. Glad to add another rat snake species, as I’ve now caught a gray rat, Western rat, red corn, Slowinski’s corn, White Oak rat, Trans-Pecos rat, and Great Plains rat all this year.
I did get one pleasant surprise that night, cruising up a Great Plains skink…
The next night the other guys met us there and we cruised the road most of the night. Unfortunately, once again the weather was uncooperative and all we found were 6 checkered garter snakes.
The next night we headed west for our big targets, and shined 100 miles of cuts along the way. First “real” snake of the cuts was a Chihuahuan night snake…
If you’ve noticed the elliptical pupils, these snakes are rear-fanged and mildly venomous. We caught 3 of these - 1 on the cuts and 2 on the road.
We also got our first lizards of the trip, encountering several Crevice spiny lizards.
As the name implies, these guys love to hide in crevices - and once they’re in there, they ain’t coming out.
By morning we’d arrived at our true destination and began our routine of vampire hours. We hit multiple towns near the southwestern border and a little higher up with great success, finding just about all the major targets I was hoping for. It started with the Blair’s phase Alterna as the first snake on the first night out West. Instead of going night by night, I’ll just highlight each species we found.
Trans-Pecos copperhead:
We caught 2 of these, one adult and one juvie. Saw 2 others and had them dead to rights but whiffed on the catches. These were very high on my wish list. Technically they are no longer a subspecies and are lumped in with broad-banded copperheads now, but they’ll always be Trans-Pecos coppers to me!
Trans-Pecos rat snake:
Gorgeous snakes with beautiful eyes. We got 3 of these - 1 on the cuts and 2 on the road between cuts.
Northern black-tailed rattlesnake:
This might have been my top target of the trip going in, and we got 5. Most were very docile and easy to free handle. Just stunningly beautiful snakes!
Western black-necked garter snake:
Not the most exciting species but still one I was glad to catch.
Great Plains rat snake:
Kind of a surprise find - found it on the road on the way to one of our spots. Glad to add another rat snake species, as I’ve now caught a gray rat, Western rat, red corn, Slowinski’s corn, White Oak rat, Trans-Pecos rat, and Great Plains rat all this year.
This post was edited on 7/25/24 at 11:11 am
Posted on 7/24/24 at 11:46 pm to TigrrrDad
If there’s one species synonymous with Texas, it’s the Western diamondback rattlesnake. On the West Texas leg of our trip, we caught 3 WDBs, though all were relatively small - but feisty. Couldn’t really free handle these like we could the Northern black-tails.
So as we started the 12- hour drive home, I intended to drive straight through. But as I got tired of driving almost halfway in, I decided to take one more shot at the road south of San Antonio for a big WDB since the weather was now better. Cruised around 40 miles without even a garter snake on that road, and then…boom.
This huge WDB gave me flashbacks of the Burmese python stretched out across the road in the Everglades a few months ago. And unlike the smaller ones, this monster was docile - not a single strike nor even a rattle.
Instantly became my favorite catch ever. Yeah, the Burmese was bigger. Yeah, the Eastern coral snakes were more venomous. But the thought of something as big around as your arm sinking its massive fangs into you and pumping in venom by the quart…
So as we started the 12- hour drive home, I intended to drive straight through. But as I got tired of driving almost halfway in, I decided to take one more shot at the road south of San Antonio for a big WDB since the weather was now better. Cruised around 40 miles without even a garter snake on that road, and then…boom.
This huge WDB gave me flashbacks of the Burmese python stretched out across the road in the Everglades a few months ago. And unlike the smaller ones, this monster was docile - not a single strike nor even a rattle.
Instantly became my favorite catch ever. Yeah, the Burmese was bigger. Yeah, the Eastern coral snakes were more venomous. But the thought of something as big around as your arm sinking its massive fangs into you and pumping in venom by the quart…
This post was edited on 7/25/24 at 1:54 am
Posted on 7/25/24 at 12:47 am to TigrrrDad
A few other assorted reptiles and amphibians (don’t hold me to these names - I don’t know my lizards/frogs that well).
Great Plains skink (juvenile):
Great Plains skink (adult)
Texas banded gecko:
Earless lizard (possibly Greater earless lizard):
Canyon lizard:
Sagebrush lizard:
Six-lined racerunner:
Crevice spiny lizard:
Couch’s spadefoot toad:
Red-spotted toad:
Great Plains skink (juvenile):
Great Plains skink (adult)
Texas banded gecko:
Earless lizard (possibly Greater earless lizard):
Canyon lizard:
Sagebrush lizard:
Six-lined racerunner:
Crevice spiny lizard:
Couch’s spadefoot toad:
Red-spotted toad:
This post was edited on 7/25/24 at 1:50 pm
Posted on 7/25/24 at 5:33 am to TigrrrDad
Now that’s a productive trip! The Blair’s grey banded is one of my atf. I had a few back in the late 90s I got from the big Florida reptile expo. Wife is anti snake so haven’t kept any in 25 years.
Well done and keep posting your trips
Well done and keep posting your trips
Posted on 7/25/24 at 6:08 am to TigrrrDad
Enjoyed! Do you have a YouTube channel?
Posted on 7/25/24 at 6:49 am to TigrrrDad
Love seeing your posts.
Amazing to me the colors, patterns and variety of reptiles.
Beautiful.
Thanks
Amazing to me the colors, patterns and variety of reptiles.
Beautiful.
Thanks
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:03 am to Koolazzkat
quote:
Enjoyed! Do you have a YouTube channel?
No - a couple friends are big on youtube, but a good youtube channel involves speaking and I can’t stand the sound of my voice.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:05 am to TigrrrDad
Snakes freak me out but your threads are becoming some of my favorites on here. Thanks for sharing.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:26 am to TigrrrDad
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:34 am to TigrrrDad
I would be so worried, that my kids, or I would not hear the rattle of the rattlesnake. It’s one of my biggest fears.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:36 am to TigrrrDad
That last one is about the size of a canebrake rattler I saw on the road one time in north Webster Parish. You should take a roll through there and catch some of those because they're absolutely beautiful. I let that one go so he's still there. Head like a fist on him.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:43 am to TigrrrDad
quote:
West Texas herping trip
Always love your pic heavy threads. Very cool
But a "herping trip," sounds like a strip club or swingers' club visit to me.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 7:57 am to TigrrrDad
Nice pics. I had a spiny crevice lizard as a pet when I was a kid. I loved that lizard.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 8:25 am to TigrrrDad
I enjoy your post...........but you're crazy baw.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 10:55 am to dstone12
quote:
I would be so worried, that my kids, or I would not hear the rattle of the rattlesnake. It’s one of my biggest fears.
One of the black-tails I caught was under rocks and started rattling as I walked by. If he hadn’t, I never would’ve known he was there.
I had to unstack rocks to find where he was hiding.
Found his little hiding space…
Aaaaaand….got’eem (he almost returned the favor).
He was deep in-shed (note the blue eye caps), thus vision impaired, so he was just hiding out.
This post was edited on 7/25/24 at 11:09 am
Posted on 7/25/24 at 11:17 am to Captain Rumbeard
quote:
That last one is about the size of a canebrake rattler I saw on the road one time in north Webster Parish. You should take a roll through there and catch some of those because they're absolutely beautiful. I let that one go so he's still there. Head like a fist on him.
I need more canes in my life. Only got 1 so far this year up around Natchitoches. He was fat but not that big. I need one of those big ones for sure.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 11:49 am to TigrrrDad
If you do ever go up there, the Dorcheat Bayou basin gets flooded bigtime every year and that runs the snakes into the hills. You find those transition areas between that bottom and those hills and you're gonna find them for sure. Lots of cottonmouths and king snakes too.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 12:14 pm to TigrrrDad
Love these posts. Great job.
Posted on 7/25/24 at 8:16 pm to SloaneRanger
quote:
Holy shite, glad he didn't tag you there.
I've spent so much time in West Texas, I have seen hundreds of WDB but I have never seen a black-tailed rattlesnake, I guess I was just north of their range. Cool looking snakes
Thanks for the pics, really enjoyed them!
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