Christmas 2014-2015 trip

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.

View Gallery

Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Gabriel Martinez » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:25 pm

Dear all,

Finally I was in South Africa some days ago. It was a great experience and we drove a lot of kms to visit Karoo/Namaqualand (1), Kalahari (2) and tropical areas (3). In the eastern parts of Northern Cape the weather was very cold (12-13º at night) and we only find 1 gecko in roads. In the kalahari the weather was hot and in the rest of the country not bad. But it was strange to find one night more than 5 snakes, and the next night, in the exactly same road and with similar conditions, 0 snakes.

Special thanks to Dean, Westley and Nick of the forum. I tried to talk with Marius Burger, Johann Marais and Tony Phelps but they never give me any answer (...), so it was great to have a bit of help from the people here (not records, just general info about the country). When anybody visit Spain or Morocco and wrote me an email and I check that he is a good herper and not a smuggler (web, photos, general info) I usually try to help people. I don´t really understand why some people don´t help me. It´s like if some people only help you if they get money of you

I find very difficult to make a identification of all species so if any of you can help me, I would really apreciate it (here in the forum or by private message).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtne ... 787907589/

In Kzulu Natal we found a big snake (more than 1,5m) DOR. The head was very flat and destroyed so the ID is difficult. Maybe Dendroaspis polylepis or any Psammophis?

DOR animals 4.jpg


Cheers

Gabri
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtnezmarmol/collections/
http://www.moroccoherps.com/
User avatar
Gabriel Martinez
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:31 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Gabriel Martinez » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:36 pm

We found also some specimens dead on road. We tried to rescue animals of the road but most animals were dead or "hit" by a car (and dead after some minutes). A real pity to have road in very good habitats. This was the most sad thing in the trip...

DOR animals 1.jpg


1. Big melanistic Pseudaspis cana, 2. Male Boomslang, 3. Varanus albigularis, 4. Adult file snake

DOR animals 2.jpg


The worse herpetologic night (maybe in my life): 1. Naja annulifera, 2. Dasypeltis scabra, 3. Vine snake, 4. ???, 5-6. Puff adders, 7. Herald snake, 8. Female boomslang

DOR animals 3.jpg


The last night in SA. 2 alive puff adders and 5 dead snakes: 1-3. Boaedon capensis, 4. Big puff adder and 5. Psammophis brevisrostris (probably killed in evening)
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtnezmarmol/collections/
http://www.moroccoherps.com/
User avatar
Gabriel Martinez
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:31 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby SteveZi » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:42 pm

beautiful photos
User avatar
SteveZi
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 69
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:23 pm
Location: Cape Agulhas

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Westley Price » Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:06 am

Awesome finds Gabriel, but a pity about all the DOR. Did you keep the DOR or simply discard them?

I know this sounds very strange, but I have gotten to the point where finding a DOR of a rare species is almost as exciting as finding a live one, haha.

I think your large DOR is D. polylepis.

I had a look through your Flick album and seem you only posted all the sad find and left all the awesome finds for us to browse ;)

Please post all the animals for which you require ID or are doubtful of ID and we will be able to help you out.
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
User avatar
Westley Price
Forum gatekeeper
 
Posts: 4019
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:25 am
Location: South Africa

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Gabriel Martinez » Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:16 pm

Thanks Steve and Westley.

Yes, black mamba was the species that we thought. It could have been amazing to see black mamba crossing the road. Maybe next time! :)

Sometimes in Morocco I am also "happy" when I found a strange species DOR in a new locality. But I always prefer to find animals alive.

I attach some photos of skinks:

Skink Springbok.jpg


Skink Pofadder.jpg


9. Skink in situ UPINGTON.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtnezmarmol/collections/
http://www.moroccoherps.com/
User avatar
Gabriel Martinez
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:31 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Gabriel Martinez » Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:18 pm

Skink Hluhluwe.jpg


Skink Drakensberg.jpg


Skink Steinkopf.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtnezmarmol/collections/
http://www.moroccoherps.com/
User avatar
Gabriel Martinez
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:31 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Westley Price » Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:22 pm

Awesome photos.

The skinks are in order of pictures:
- Trachylepis variegata
- T. spilogaster (?)
- T. variegata
- T. varia
- T. punctatissima
- T. capensis

I really hope you had a good time here and come back in the future.
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
User avatar
Westley Price
Forum gatekeeper
 
Posts: 4019
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:25 am
Location: South Africa

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Gabriel Martinez » Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:58 pm

Thank you very much Westley!!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtnezmarmol/collections/
http://www.moroccoherps.com/
User avatar
Gabriel Martinez
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:31 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Bushviper » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:38 am

When you see this many dead snakes in one night you wonder how many get killed each year. These that you found are not all of them from that stretch of road either. Some were taken by scavengers and others were killed after you passed.

Very sad.
It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Those who are afraid to ask are ashamed of learning.
User avatar
Bushviper
Founder Member
 
Posts: 17358
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:02 am
Location: Pretoria

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Natcon NC » Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:28 am

Gabriel it is sad about the DOR's but here is a link where your DOR data can be of use http://www.ewt.org.za/WTP/wtp.html.

Maybe more herpers can join this so that they can get sufficient data and to high light this issue. There is even a smart phone app which can be used to report the DOR's
Natcon NC
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:15 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Gabriel Martinez » Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:39 am

Yes bushviper. We found dozens of mangoose in the roads (many species probably), jackal, hyena, ... so probably we didn´t find all snakes that were killed. A local herper told me that one night he found 21 Bitis arietans in road (19 DOR), that is very sad, but by other way it shows that in KZN you have (still) high densities of snakes.

Natcon, this link looks amazing, I´m cheking it well, maybe we should make something like that for Morocco in www.moroccoherps.com. They are some roads that are "black areas" for fauna, specially reptiles and it could be interesting to study alternatives...

Cheers and thanks to both for your comments
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrimtnezmarmol/collections/
http://www.moroccoherps.com/
User avatar
Gabriel Martinez
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:31 pm

Re: Christmas 2014-2015 trip

Postby Ruan Stander » Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:55 am

Jeez that's horrific.
The way to success has no shortcuts.
Ruan Stander
SA Reptiles Member
 
Posts: 1008
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:25 pm
Location: Mookgopong/Modimolle(Naboomspruit/Nylstroom)


Return to Indigenous reptile observation and identification

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron