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Venezuela Trip
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by HerpFever45 on October 28, 2004
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Hi guys,
Thanks for the book suggestions paleoherp and SnakeMan1982. Thanks for telling me which snakes are found in the areas I'm visiting CASSAICA. Now that i realize that most of the Bothrops species are absent from my target locations, I think I might want to go to other places as well. Cassaica could you please tell me exactly where in Venezuela I could find the forest species (ie. B. brazili, bilineat, taeniata, etc.) and where I could find B. venezuelensis. Also, I realize there are two subspecies of Crotalus durissus occuring in Venezuela. There's the Venezuelan rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus cumanensis) and the Mount Roraima rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus ruruima). There is also another rattler that is a totally separate species the Uracoan rattlesnake (Crotalus vegrandis) Could you please tell me the geographic range of each one and how to differentiate them. Thanks a lot, you have been a great help to my trip planification. PLEASE answer.
Thanks once again,
Bryan
P.S. Are you Robert c. Jadin, SnakeMan1982?
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RE: Venezuela Trip
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by Snakeman1982 on October 28, 2004
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Ya I am Robert Jadin,
I definitely would suggest e-mailing Dr. Wuster with many of your difficult questions, since he seems eager to help. He usually answers e-mails with good detail. He has a good amount of knowledge on tropical herps and should be able to tell you a few things that many books won't. I don't know his field experiences in South America but I know he has worked on many pitvipers there.
Personally, I would try to purchase a copy of Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere before you leave. If you can't then definitely find a copy and photocopy the pages that will help you on your trip. It will be worth it. Plus I think you would just enjoy looking at all the different species and distributions, it is quite amazing. It will have all the info you'll need to know where they occur and how to identify them.
Also, get at least one of the books mentioned that include non-venomous snakes as a guide. I don't know any journals or books on herps of Venezuela other than that species list article I mentioned earlier. Maybe Dr. Wuster can suggest some better literature. Sadly there just hasn't been very many comprehensive guides in South America. Duellman would be my best guess for you.
How long do you plan on going and what part of August? If you get an experienced crew and itinerary together I may be interested in joining. Depending on my summer plans, which haven't been completely planned out. I'll need to be in grad school by mid-August but I may have time to join a team on another tropical trip.
Again, good luck on your trip regardless. Keep us updated, especially if everything goes as planned.
Robert
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RE: Venezuela Trip
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by CAISSACA on October 29, 2004
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I second Robert's recommendation: Get Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere, it will answer a lot of your questions.
The various forest species occur basically in southern Bloivar state and in Territorio Federal Amazonas. Not entirely sure to what extent you can travel in Amazonas independently without major advance preparations, this is a pretty remote area (and dangerous near the Colombian border). These species are fairly uncommon and hard to find in most of their range (except that Bothrops bilineatus is common in parts of Ecuador), so don't hold your breath about finding any of them.
B. venezuelensis is found in the northern mountains of Venezuela, and occurs for instance in the easily accessible El Avila mountains on the outskirts of Caracas (where it is found together with Bothrops medusa), near Colonia Tovar, and Henri Pittier National Park (together with B. atrox). For most Venezuelan national parks you need access permits for hiking. Get a good travel guide to the country (the Lonely Planet guides are good and also cover the more remote areas).
Cheers,
WW
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RE: Venezuela Trip
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by paleoherp on October 29, 2004
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hey try and get this if you can:
http://www.nhbs.com/xbscripts/bksrch?r=70544;l=3
it will help you identify any snake in venezuela no matter where abouts you are and its fairly cheap . if you order it now you will have it well before your trip to venezuela and give you time to learn about the snakes there.
SHAUN
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RE: Venezuela Trip
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by AquaHerp on October 29, 2004
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Herping south of the border is not as simple as it sounds. You'll need to coordinate your target species with the time frame in which you will be there. Like any other area, the activity of herps is controlled by the conditions around them. Figure out exactly when you'll be there and then select what you want to observe from there, otherwise you may waste an entire trip pis*ing in the wind.
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