Creature Feature (many pictures)

Accounts and photos of non-captive reptiles in their natural habitat in South Africa. Try to record with your account details such as time of day/night, temperature, weather conditions, lunar cycle, sex, rough age of reptile, and so on.

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Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby rvanhuyssteen » Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:19 pm

I have not posted anything in some time. I have been traveling a lot. Here are some photos of reptiles, frogs and the odd arachnid.

Enjoy!
KZN

Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) - Sodwana
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Eastern Tiger Snake (Telescopus semiannulatus) - Mkuze
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Trachylepis striata - Mkuze
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Mozambique Rain Frog (Breviceps mossambicus) - Mkuze
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Twig Snake (Thelotornis capensis) - Mkuze
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Snoring Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus natalensis) - Ongoye
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Tinker Reed Frog (Hyperolius tuberilinguis) - Umlalazi
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Water Lily Frog (Hyperolius pusillus) - Umlalazi
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South African Slug-eater (Duberria lutrix lutrix) - Howick
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Greater Leaf-folding Frog (Afrixalus fornasinii) - Durban
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Brown Water Snake (Lycodonomorphus rufulus) - Durban
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KwaZulu Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion melanocephalum) - Durban
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Bibron's Stiletto Snake (Atractaspis bibronii) - Durban
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Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) - Durban
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Gauteng

Cape Skink (Trachylepis capensis) - Suikerbosrand
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Marsh Terrapin (Pelomedusa subrufa) - Johannesburg
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Common Girdled Lizard (Cordylus vittifer) - Johannesburg
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Limpopo

Flatdog (Crocodylus niloticus) - Welgevonden
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Spotted Sand Lizard (Pedioplanis lineoocellata) - Welgevonden
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Variable Skink (Trachylepis varia) - Welgevonden
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Herald Snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) - Welgevonden
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Speckled Rock Skink (Trachylepis punctatissima) - Welgevonden
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Short-snouted Grass Snake (Psammophis brevirostris) - Welgevonden
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Cape Centipede Eater (Aparallactus capensis) - Welgevonden
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Schlegel's Beaked Blind Snake (Megatyphlops schlegelii) - Welgevonden
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Waterberg Flat Lizard (Platysaurus minor) - Masebe
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Bushveld Rain Frog (Breviceps adspersus subsp. adspersus) - Masebe
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Speke's Hinged Tortoise (Kinixys spekii) - Masebe
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Sundevall's Writhing Skink (Mochlus sundevallii) - Masebe
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Waterberg Girdled Lizard (Smaug breyeri) - Masebe
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Dwarf Sand Snake (Psammophis angolensis) - Masebe
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Rear horned baboon spider (Ceratogyrus darlingi) - Masebe
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Parabuthus mossambicensis - Masebe
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Opistophthalmus glabrifrons - Masebe
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Watched this solifuge kill another. It kept attacking the one from a position underneath the abdomen close to the head area. Eventually it killed the other and ran off with it. Quite a sighting!
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Parabuthus transvaalicus - Masebe
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Spotted Rock Snake (Lamprophis guttatus) eating Waterberg Girdled Lizard (Smaug breyeri) - Masebe
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Common egg-eater (Dasypeltis scabra) - Masebe
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The Boss. Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) - Masebe
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Flap-necked Chameleon (Chamaeleo dilepis) - Masebe
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Red Toad (Schismaderma carens) - Soutpansberg
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Natal Sand Frog (Tomopterna natalensis) - Soutpansberg
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Wahlberg's Velvet Gecko (Homopholis wahlbergii) - Soutpansberg
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Peter's Ground Agama (Agama armata) - Soutpansberg
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Yellow-Throated Plated Lizard (Gerrhosaurus flavigularis) - Soutpansberg
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Bibron's Stilleto Snake (Atractaspis bibronii) - Soutpansberg
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Western Stripe-bellied Sandsnake (Psammophis subtaeniatus) - Soutpansberg
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Natal Rock Python (Python natalensis) - Soutpansberg
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Soutpansberg Flat Lizard (Platysaurus relictus) - Soutpansberg
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Soutpansberg Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus ocellatus subsp. soutpansbergensis) - Soutpansberg
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Flat Girdled Lizard (Smaug warreni subsp. depressus) - Soutpansberg
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Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) - Soutpansberg
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Giant Plated Lizard (Gerrhosaurus validus) - Soutpansberg
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Unknown Afroedura species - Soutpansberg
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Unknown Afroedura Species - Soutpansberg
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Zimbabwe Flat Gecko (Afroedura transvaalica) - Soutpansberg
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Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) - Soutpansberg
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Turner's Tubercled Gecko (Chondrodactylus turneri) - Soutpansberg
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Turner's Tubercled Gecko (Chondrodactylus turneri) - Makuleke/Pafuri
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Afroedura transvaalica - Makuleke/Pafuri
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Southern African Rock Python (Python natalensis) - Makuleke/Pafuri
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Rock Monitor (Varanus albigularis) - Makuleke/Pafuri
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Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (Psammophis subtaeniatus) eating Trachylepis varia - Makuleke/Pafuri
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Heligmomerus (possibly the most aggressive/defensive animal I have come across). - Makuleke/Pafuri
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Speckled Gecko (Pachydactylus punctatus) - The Klasserie
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Brown House Snake (Boaedon capensis) - The Klasserie
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Northern Pygmy Toad (Poyntonophrynus fenoulheti) - The Klasserie
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Thanks for looking.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Mitton » Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:35 pm

This post is fantastic, so many species and some great sightings. That Spotted Rock Snake eating the Lizard is great!!

Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby reptile » Wed Aug 27, 2014 5:24 pm

Fabulous, amazing pictures, love the egg eater, it has amazing colors. The spotted rock snake is also a grate find. Nice selection!
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby jka » Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:31 pm

Great Post! Many Pictures is a understatement :lol:
Evolution is an imperfect and often violent process. A battle between what exists, and what is yet to be born.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Kennyakagera » Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:36 pm

Some stunning pictures and amazing sighting... Thanks for posting these pictures, where in Mkhuze did you find these nice critters ? Just driving or active searching ?

Cheers and good job !

Kenny.
East African Herpetofauna Group.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Westley Price » Wed Aug 27, 2014 8:34 pm

Awesome post man, best in weeks!

All the predation pics are awesome, but let's be honest, they're all great.

Regarding P. punctatus, I spoke to Aaron Bauer a few weeks back when he visited Namibia; I recall he mentioned punctatus will be split into 6 different species. I always though the distribution and amount of different habitat is too varied for a single species.
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Jamster » Thu Aug 28, 2014 8:34 am

One of the nicest collections of indigenous photos I have seen on the forum! You almost have a field guide there, haha. Really awesome :)
1.0-reticulated python (Ripcord)
1.1-burmese pythons
5.5-brown house snakes
1.0-taiwanese ratsnake
3.8-BCI
1.1-corn snakes
1.2-rhombic skaapstekers
1.0-yellow rat snake
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby rvanhuyssteen » Thu Aug 28, 2014 8:44 pm

Thanks for the replies and general enthusiasm.

There are only a few from Mkuze. I was working in Zululand Rhino Reserve during the early part of winter of this year and just ran into them. I had absolutely no time to do any active searching there. The rest were found actively searching or just by being in the right place at the right time.

It will be interesting to see which species this P. punctatus will be.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Nick Evans » Sat Aug 30, 2014 3:41 pm

Awesome post!

The Spotted Rock Snake eating that Girdled Lizard was an amazing sighting! Nice photos too!

Seeing Black Mambas in the wild is a real privilege. The one from Masebe looks like it was a really nice sighting.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby rvanhuyssteen » Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:07 pm

I have been lucky with Black Mambas this year, have already seen five in the wild since the first of January. That one at Masebe was the best though. I was walking with a group of about 18 people and the snake moved slowly over the rocks and went under a big boulder. It just laid there and everyone who wanted to get a closer look and a photo was able to. The snake was very relaxed.

The spotted house snake was very lucky. I knew I was going to see something special when I saw that girdled lizard just hanging there.
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Scavenger » Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:17 pm

Ryan guessing you were helping out with WEI at Welgevonden? some very nice finds there, I was hoping to use your photo of the Psammophis brevirostris ? believe it or not but that's the first photo I've seen of the species on the reserve and that now confirms it occurs here and I'll add it to the growing list. Regards Sam
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby The real Rory » Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:52 pm

Stunning photos, some amazing finds!!! got to love Africa :)
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Kev » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:15 pm

Awesome post. Thanks for sharing!
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Re: Creature Feature (many pictures)

Postby Joshhowell94 » Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:39 pm

Awesome post and I love all the pictures! Please keep them coming:)
1.3 Kenyan sand boa
1.0 Brazillian rainbow boa
1.2 BCI
1.1 Corn snakes
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