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herping Longview Texas
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by herpboy on February 24, 2006
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I was curious if anyone has any expierience herping around longview texas? I have some family on a ranch out there and was curious as to what i could expect in the way of herping out that way.
any help is welcome!
thanks
Bryan
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RE: herping Longview Texas
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by Cro on February 24, 2006
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Brian: If you road cruise that area, you will possibly find Glossy Snakes, Great Plains Rat Snakes, Texas Rat Snakes, Hog-Nosed Snakes, Night Snakes, Prairie King Snakes, Western Coachwhip Snakes, Bull Snakes, Long-Nosed Snakes, Ground Snakes, Garter Snakes, Southern Copperheads, Broad-Banded Copperheads, and Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnakes.
There are a lot of other less common snakes, but the ones listed above often turn up. Be sure to take a good Field Guide with you.
What you see will depend on what kind of roads you find. Some of that area is prairie, some is agricultural, some is wooded, some is scrub, some is rocky outcrop. They are all worth a try, as different snakes are found in different habitats.
If you can, try to drive over a bunch of roads first thing in the morning before the crows and buzzards clean up the road-kills. Then go back that night and cruise the roads that had the most activity.
As far as finding animals by field collecting, that will depend on if you can locate torn-down farm buildings with tin and boards to flip, or rock outcroppings you can climb up into, or areas where you can flip flat rocks.
Hope this helps some. Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: herping Longview Texas
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by Cro on February 25, 2006
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Bryan: A couple of other thoughts about snake hunting in Texas come to mind. There are several ``activity periods`` during the average night of road cruising.
What I mean by this is that you are most likely to see snakes like Western Coachwhips, Garter Snakes, Bull Snakes and Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnakes from just before dark until about an hour after dark. Later than that, and they are usually off the roads.
From about 9:00 pm till 11:00 pm you often find snakes like the Long-Nosed Snake and Glossy Snake, and the Prairie Kings.
Some of the most uncommon snakes like Milk Snakes are often out way late at night, like 1:00 to 4:00 am.
The further West from Longview you hunt, out toward the prairie regions, the more likely you will see the above mentioned snakes, as that area is sort of a transition zone from Eastern snakes to Western snakes.
If you are lucky enough to have a rain, that will often bring snakes out of the rock outcropps during the day, making for good field collecting, and onto the roads at night.
Longview is only about an hours drive from Dallas and Fort Worth, both of which have very excellent Zoos, with great Reptile Collections. If at all possible, try to see them when you are in Texas.
If there is any chance you can get someone to drive you about 5 hours further West, you get into the range of some really great snakes, like Black-Tailed Rattlesnakes, Rock Rattlesnakes, Massasaugas, Gray-Banded King Snakes, and Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes. Send me an Email if you think that might be possible, and I can give you some specific roads to cruise.
Best Regards JohnZ
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