December Herping in Texas (More Lifers Added)

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MHollanders
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December Herping in Texas (More Lifers Added)

Post by MHollanders »

Hi,

For two years in a row now, December has produced several lifers for me. Last year it was Ambystoma texanum, Masticophis f. testaceus, Necturus beyeri, and Eurycea quadridigitata. Granted, that was mostly due to my short time (two years) of herping and never having looked for them. However, this year I still got four lifers in the same month. It's also been very dry around here lately, since we're about 5" behind on rainfall.

On December 11, John W., Brandon B., and I headed out north of Houston to meet up with Scott W. in search of Necturus. That morning started off with a lifer (yes, embarrassing) Heterodon found crossing the road.

Eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

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Recovering from death.

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I experimented with wide-angle herp photography on this animal.

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After photographing this, we started dip-netting. Scott quickly turned up another lifer, a Sternotherus.

Razor-backed musk turtle (Sternotherus carinatus)

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After about an hour of further searching, John finally turned up a Necturus in a leaf pack.

Gulf coast waterdog (Necturus beyeri)

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In the meantime, Brandon was looking for Eurycea for Kenny's project. This animal was found in a small ravine, and for some reason photographed on gravel which stuck to the animal.

Dwarf salamander (Eurycea quadridigitata).

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The rest of the day was spent looking for more Necturus. We had great success, with Brandon and Scott finding them in two more counties, one of which a county record.

My other two lifers were found just yesterday, December 19, after morning temperatures in the 30s. Brandon B., myself, my family, and relatives from the Netherlands visiting for the winter solstice holidays, headed out to do some hiking south of Houston.

I'll first cover the (less exciting) second lifer, which was found fifteen minutes prior to leaving. I'd never really targeted these animals, and though they're fairly common, I was happy to finally see one of these.

Central newt (Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis)

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The first lifer was found thanks to Chris Harrison's advice, who told me to look for this animal in partially submerged logs on the water's edge. After fairly leisurely flipping logs for less than an hour, a large log perpendicular to the water's edge produced a sight I've been wanting to see for years. Though relatively commonly found on roads during the right conditions, I would never have dreamt of flipping one of these in natural habitat!

Western mud snake (Farancia abacura reinwardti)

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Thanks for looking!

Matthijs Hollanders
jimoo742
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by jimoo742 »

Great post, love the eyes on that mud snake, and the blue specs on the salamander. Good finds.
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Kevin Price
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Kevin Price »

Congratulations on your finds, and your photos are beautiful as usual!
nickj1199
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by nickj1199 »

don't be embarrassed by the hognose being a lifer, I still haven't seen one.
Brandon, !
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Brandon, ! »

all great stuff, from the salamanders to that mud. that hognose looks pretty odd, and awesome.
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Crazins
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Crazins »

Hey you're as new to this game as I am! I haven't seen any of those animals, so you're like 10 up on me. I love that little hoggie, and the sally with the gravel on his chin is super cute.

Keep on herpin'-
-Marisa
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Scott_Wahlberg
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Scott_Wahlberg »

Nice pics, Matt. I especially like the Sternotherus carinatus pics. Come all the way up to Nacogdoches in January and we'll find all that and more. I can hear the Indian Mounds calling my name already. Good job on the mudsnake, I've found Regina, Nerodia, and Agkistrodon in that manner but not Farancia.

-Scott
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Steve Atkins
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Steve Atkins »

is that typical for the mud snakes to have eyes like that in that area?
Paul White
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Paul White »

where the heck do you find dipnets? I've got this bug up my butt about finding neotenic tiger salamanders around here and I need some equipment to look for them :-/ I hate water but...
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MHollanders
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

Get one of these with fine mesh:

http://www.memphisnet.net/category/nets_dip_commercial

I have the large one, which I think made dipnetting for Necturus a little bit harder because of the roots and such on the surface of the stream. However, it works better for other applications.
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Mike Pingleton
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Mike Pingleton »

congrats on the lifers - that's a good looking platirhinos!

-Mike
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Gluesenkamp
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by Gluesenkamp »

I use leaf skimmer nets intended for pool cleaning. Typically, about 18x6 inches. They are tough (except for the junk at Home Despot) and cheap (<$20). The shape is good for hugging the bottom and they are deep enough to haul up a wad of leaf litter. I use them w/o a pole since I do most of my sallie hunting on hands and knees but I suppose a water-soluble person could just stick a wooden handle on it. Beats paying $200 for a D-net.
Herp On!
AGG
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chris_mcmartin
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by chris_mcmartin »

Paul White wrote:where the heck do you find dipnets? I've got this bug up my butt
That's not what a dipnet is for.
J-Miz
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by J-Miz »

:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes:

Crikey! Those photographs are gold! I especially love the Hognose shots.
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MHollanders
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

Thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it.
fox cove 4 wrote:is that typical for the mud snakes to have eyes like that in that area?
I am not sure, but I think it's fairly typical.
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MHollanders
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Re: December Herping in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

It seems like I hadn't seen my last lifers of December yet!

On a family trip to Big Bend National Park, I came across this first fossorial lifer.

Flat-headed snake (Tantilla gracilis)

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The next day, one of three herps of the trip (it's December...) made an appearance. Surprisingly, it was found out and about.

Canyon tree frog (Hyla arenicolor)

Find it!

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More photos of the same animal.

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Thanks for looking!
bobassetto
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Re: December Herping in Texas (More Lifers Added)

Post by bobassetto »

that mudsnake couldn't pass a field sobriety test with them EYES!!!!!!!!........ :shock:
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