Waterberg Mountains, Hanglipberge Reptiles and Amphibians

[rvanhuyssteen]

On Sunday my brother and I headed out to the Waterberg Mountains near Mokopane to camp and hike.

We were lucky to see a lot of reptiles and amphibians. It is a wonderful place and very alive.

Here are some pictures of some of our finds.

Northern Pygmy Toad, Poyntonophrynus fenoulheti





Male Waterberg Flat Lizard, Platysaurus minor. These are fast lizards. We saw a lot of them.



Wahlbergs Velvet Gecko, Homopholis walbergii. There were a lot of these in the area we were staying. They also moved around a lot in the shade during the day. The one in my hand is to show the scale. They are very slow moving.





There were lots of Yellow Throated Plated Lizards, Gerrhosaurus flavigularis. I have been trying to get photos of these for some time. They are fast, but seem to get tired very fast.





One night we found this little Common Wolf Snake, Lycophidion capense, on the trail. It was about an hour after the sun set.





Last night we came across this cobra on the trail. It was about 1.5 metres and was very bold, hissing, striking and hooding. When we got it on to the hook, then it stopped hooding and striking all together and just wanted to get away. Very nice animal.





There were a lot of other species we came across that I did not photograph.

One Naja mossambica that I saw when coming out of the bathroom. I never had my camera.

One Rainbow Skink, Trachylepis margartifer. I could not get it out of the crevice it was in to photograph it.

Lots of Variable Skinks.

A big water monitor that got away before it could be photographed.

One girdled lizard that I managed to get out from its crevice but it was too fast and got away again.

Last I have a scorpion I found under a rock. I think it is a Hadogenes spp.



Thanks for looking.

[Mamba no 5]

Supa Like!

[wadekilian]

Sounds like you had fun! That Cobra is a Snouted Cobra - Naja annulifera. Would love to find one, but I never have the time to go herping.

[brentraf]

Awesome photo's really wish I had time to go herping more often!

[Nick Evans]

Nice finds! That Flat Lizard has some really nice colours on it!

[Mitton]

Very nice, I like the bands on that cobra.

[rvanhuyssteen]

Thanks for the positive feedback.

Also thanks for the ID on the cobra wadekilian. We knew it was a Snouted Cobra I just forgot to add it in for some reason.

I was also impressed with its bands on the tail. It was a beautiful snake.

I would appreciate help with the identity of the scorpion I think it is Hadogenes, but not sure which species.

Thanks again.

[Nick Evans]

I would also say it's a Hadogenes species, maybe H.troglodytes, but that's just a guess.