Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

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infidel
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Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by infidel »

Today while out hiking out and about in the Texas hill country, we came across a hole in the ground. Curiosity takes over so we crawled down into the hole to see what was inside..What a cave! We made it about a half a mile inside but weren't equipped to go any further. There were lots of side caves and deep crevasses and drops. We moved slowly and carefully and saw some BEAUTIFUL formations, a few bats, lots of cave/camel crickets, some what could only be described as extremophiles and a Bairds Rat Snake.
Near the entrance were I found the Bairds Rat.
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a few formations inside:
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A huge one about 20ft tall and several feet around.
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I think these are called straws:
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One with very cool texture
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These bones had been here a while. They had calcified into the surrounding material.
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About .5 miles in we discovered that we weren't so special. Someone had been here before...in 1927 :)
You'll notice the arrow in the upper right corner pointing the way out.
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We weren't equipped to go any further as the drops got too steep to traverse without gear. So we followed the arrow and made our way back out. I had seen a few critters on the way in and it wasn't until we could see light again that I found the Bairds Rat snake crawling up a wall towards a bat roost. Gloves were worn so that we didn't disturb the cave formations with oily skin..Very cool place.
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Mark Brown
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by Mark Brown »

That's cool as hell. My old boss' family has a bunch of property out near Fredericksburg and he showed me photos one time from a cave on their land - looked a lot like the inside of the cave you found. Did you contact anyone about the cave? I'm pretty sure there's an agency that keeps track of these things and looks after preservation of the limestone caves in the Hill Country. If not there certainly should be, because they are fragile (as you noted) and a valuable part of Texas' natural history (as the Bairds noted!).
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Noah M
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by Noah M »

Looks like some faded set from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Like some weird experimental caramel fondue fountain. I totally love it. Thanks for sharing.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by Kelly Mc »

Mmm....Bats..

- Bairds Ratsnake
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Mark Brown
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by Mark Brown »

I don't have a citation but I'm pretty sure Bairds are documented bat-eaters, utilizing the typical bat-eating technique of snagging them out of the air as the bats leave or enter caves.
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JakeScott
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by JakeScott »

Those are some fantastic calcium formations. You don't have any pictures of the Bairds?

-Jake
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chrish
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by chrish »

I assume this was on private land since you were in the great state of Texas.

Those look like human bones. Might be worth reporting that to some anthropologists at the state or one of the main universities.

Would scratches in the wall from almost 90 years ago still be that clear?
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infidel
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by infidel »

chrish wrote:I assume this was on private land since you were in the great state of Texas.

Those look like human bones. Might be worth reporting that to some anthropologists at the state or one of the main universities.

Would scratches in the wall from almost 90 years ago still be that clear?
Yes, it was on private land. I told the landowner about what we found and apparently he already knew. He had allowed a crew from Texas State University to go down in the cave several years back. Sounded like they wanted to do further research but one of the students made a serious Texas FUPA and mentioned, "there might be an isolated spps of salamander in that cave". Landowners in TX FEAR phrases like that (rightly or wrongly). They didn't get invited back. Either way, after speaking to the land owner it's apparent only a handful of people have been in the cave.
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infidel
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by infidel »

JakeScott wrote:Those are some fantastic calcium formations. You don't have any pictures of the Bairds?

-Jake
Yes, I haven't processed it yet (on another card).
Carl D. May
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by Carl D. May »

Very cool and unique post! You can see how a person could become so entranced by the experience that they would continue to wander further and further away from the caves entrance. And then end up like those bones you found.
Caves with their bats are well known the world over as hotspots for constrictors.
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Eric East
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by Eric East »

That's neat; I love caves!
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chrish
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by chrish »

I wondered that about the possibility of a salamander. Stupid comment by whoever said it, although I don't know having a cave with an endangered/endemic salamander is going to threaten land use by the land owner. Maybe influence drilling/water use?
Carl D. May wrote:Very cool and unique post! You can see how a person could become so entranced by the experience that they would continue to wander further and further away from the caves entrance. And then end up like those bones you found.
I'm not anthropologist, but those bones don't look like they just died there. They are too neatly organized. They look like they were placed by someone else (i.e. gravesite).
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infidel
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Re: Interesting place to find a Bairds Ratsnake..

Post by infidel »

This is the little Bairds I found in the cave:
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