Favoritos de scincus

This leucistic individual is Salamander C. This one has been photographed and observed since 2010 many times by Don Scallen and it had at least been alive two years before that, making it thirteen years old- two years older then me!

This lizard found a Chimney Bee nest and was grabbing the bees as they arrived and departed the nest. In the first photo you can see the nest hole in front of the lizard as it eats a bee. The second photo is a zoomed-in shot. Half the bee it was eating is on the ground in this photo.

DOR young adult male on State Hwy 85/140 at 0.88 miles (1.4 km) N of CR-315. With Jeff Adams. Significant northern record. First record for Atascosa County. According to Dixon, 2013, no documented specimens from Atascosa County. Werler and Dixon, 2000, show shaded range into southwestern Atascosa County likely due to contiguous habitat but w no recorded specimens. This specimen was found to the north of that shaded area on the map. Vermersch and Kuntz in their Snakes of South Central Texas (1986), covers the area around San Antonio and Atascosa County, but does not include this species. Specimen prepped for deposit at UT’s TNHC under permit from TPWD to TJL. GTS 3697. TNHC 114532.

Tom Lott included this species in his overview of snake species (under hypothetical species) to be found in Atascosa County. See: SWCHR Bulletin: www.southwesternherp.com Volume 1, Issue 3 (Fall 2011) "An Annotated Checklist of the Snakes of Atascosa County, Texas".

This species' common name is now "Tamaulipan Hook-nosed Snake" in the recent Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition, 2016, and the Tom Lott publication referenced above.

See: Herpetological Review 52(2), 2021, pages 347-348 (Geographic Distribution Note). This note also includes a museum specimen from adjacent Frio County from 1985, which is also a county record. See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/42205343

(Larger, darker snake) My mom texted me a photo of two snakes she found hanging out together while she was watering plants. ~3.5 hours later, they were still in the same area and I took some more photos. Sometimes the larger snake would move away a foot or two, and eventually the smaller one would slither over to it again. (will create a duplicate post for the other snake)

I saw a big, bald spot in the middle of grasses so decided to check out the area. As I was walking, a bunch of grasshoppers were jumping to get out of the way, and suddenly this little lizard popped out and decided to take advantage!

I had never seen a clawed frog larger than a couple inches. This monster was approaching 6 inches. I suspected it was a clawed frog at the time, but I really didn't know because of the size. In hindsight, I probably should have brought it home to live in an aquarium. It may have grown so large by feeding on the other amphibians in this playa.

Lubbock Co., TX

This is one of my favorite observations. I drove up on this snake that had a toad in its mouth. When I got out to take pictures, it pushed the toad across the road. When it got to the edge, it threw its body up the side of a sand ledge and pulled the toad up. It was quite incredible to watch.