FieldHerpForum

After finding a big, fat DOR four-footer about two weeks ago, last night I finally had the chance for a meet'n'greet with a live Dinodon rufozonatum up close and personal. Sistru-guru's dire warnings about this very pretty, but exceedingly bitey non-venomous species ("easily THE mouthiest snake I have ever encountered") came just at the right time. Last night I spotted this three-foot fellow crossing our local "Snake Road" (more on this place in a future post), Geronimoed out of the car and stuck my shoe in his face to keep him from vanishing into the underbrush. Well, Mr. Terror Tooth did his genus name full justice and furiously bit the cap of my boot. Learning from the experience, I then relied on my trekking pole to control the beast's direction, but he seemed to have a taste even for Austrian-made titanium-aluminum alloys and bit the pole almost every time he came close. Of course, I had forgotten to bring my hat from the car, so instead of calming down the constantly running snake, I spent the next half hour trying to keep him on the road with the pole in my left hand, all the while taking pictures with the right. To make matters worse, I had the wrong lens on the camera. I'd just come off a tree frog shoot with a 105 mm macro (see below) and had forgotten to switch back to my usual road cruising lens, a 70-300 zoom. So, no close-ups, sorry....but there's hope yet, as this snake isn't exactly endangered around these parts- chances are I'll run into him or one of his relatives soon again.








Another Formosan Slug Snake (Pareas formosensis) of which I found four last night. Nothing to post home about, but I liked the way this one had threaded his body through the hole in the leaf




One of the Grand Prizes for Taiwanese herpers....if found alive. The Red Bamboo Snake (Elaphe porphyracea nigrofasciata) is as beautiful as it is rare. This ca. three foot long DOR had no visible wounds or blemishes (save the broken tail) and probably died of internal bleeding




Ladies and germs....the Fantabulous Formosan Flying Frog! Okay, okay, even my kids weren't duped by this line This is a Chinese Tree Toad (Hyla chinensis), posing for a session on the windshield of my van.








Little bitty dinky mini froggie, aka Eiffinger's Treefrog (Chirixalus eiffingeri); a member of the Asian moss frog clan.




Kuehne's Grass Lizard (Takydromus kuehnei), by far the most frustrating lizard for me. More skittish than kingfishers, and quicker than a caffeinated cat...I shot this one from about ten feet away.




And to round it out, a nice Indian Fritillary (don't ask - them entophiles sure have a weird sense of nomenclature!), Argyreus hyperbius

Bottom view



Top view

Nice pics. The DOR is a hearbreaker, and the windshield shots are really nice.

Interesting stuff.

I love hearing details about places like Taiwan.

I am sure that all of us would enjoy hearing more details about how you find herps in Taiwan.

Are there decent roads to night hunt? When are the rainy seasons and how do you work the rainy seasons into your herp hunting?

It must be Spring in Taiwan, do you get rains all Summer?

Good luck finding one of those cool red rats alive.

Thanks for the nice words, guys. There are no rainy seasons here, as we're merely in the Outer Tropics - the Tropic of Cancer runs right through the middle of the island. In North Taiwan, where I am, it rains little in summer and more in winter, but definitely no daily deluges like in, say, Borneo.

I'm preparing a post on habitat and herping methods in Taiwan. There are lots of excellent cruising roads where I live, but I also do a lot of forest night hikes for "3D herping" - it's a jungle out here, so the time spent on vertical scans (trees and bushes) is equal to that spent on scanning the ground. And of course, the ubiquitous (due to the frequent rains) roadside concrete ditches aren't covered up in most of Asia, so the place is criss-crossed with hundreds of miles of excellent "snake traps" along which we walk or bike. Anyway, more on that later!

An amazing account; Asian animals are always attractive.

That's a nice shot of the Pareas. The easiest thing to do with big Dinodon is pick them up near the tail, and then gently clamp them between your legs (hopefully this is done when wearing pants). When they latch onto your pants, which they absolutely will do, you can easily get a good neck hold, and then decide what you want to do next............that way you save about 29 minutes of chasing them around with a pole



Shane

I beg to differ with you on the Pareas formosensis - that's an outstanding animal and a great pic. Too bad about the Bamboo Snake...nice pics of the Frit!

-Mike

I can see how the bamboo snakes are highly prized. Is there a collection issue with that species? I think I've seen them listed for thousands of dollars on price lists.

Nice stuff here....it is a shame about that Red Bamboo ratsnake...here is to more in your near future!!!!

Great stuff, Hans. I enjoyed the pics and especially the narration.



I have to remember that one!


Regards,
David

Well, since I've already fathered two healthy, beautiful boys and am not planning on siring any further children, I guess I could try that

On the other hand, I've lost fifteen pounds since I started all this crazy daily/nightly herping routine back in January (I usually walk about three hours, then cruise for another two) and am looking forward to shedding the remaining 85 pounds over the next year.
So I guess I'll stick to the "pole dance" after all

I'm not very familiar with the captive herp scene here, but AFAIK, the Red Bamboo Snake has a reputation as a finicky captive eater, so not too many people keep it. I would guess its rarity stems from the fact that its hide makes for nice leather goods - protected status or no

Nice pictures. Those snakes are awesome. Especially the Bamboo snake .

Hans,

The butterfly is really lovely and reminds me of lacewings here (Cethosia sp.) in Australia. I know that lacewings wings are found in Asia. Are there any in Taiwan?

Here is a Red Lacewing (C. cydippe) from Mission Beach (tropical Queensland).



Regards,
David

Hans,
Very nice to see the Taiwan version of all of these animals. The Dinodon of course looks the same. Pity such an beautiful animal has to have such an attitude; though I must admit, I would have felt quite a fool had your animals not held true to the name (that I experienced).

Your bamboo rat snake is very interesting too. In Hubei they are yellow. What was once Elaphe porphyracea nigrofasciata is now known as E. p. vaillanti.

Either way, whether yellow or red, they are beautiful snakes:


Great post. I love seeing your China/ Taiwan stuff

Best,
Kevin

Damn. Another case of Taiwanese literature not keeping up with the times. Thanks for the heads-up - when did the name change take place?


Wow, what a beauty! That's a juvie, right? Ours have the same thick black rings when young, but they thin out later.