Tough times in South Texas

[sandboa]

As most of you know, we've had a very hot dry summer in south Texas (in fact, the hottest and driest on record). We had a short rainy period last week to try and help out the wildlife, but it only helps for so long.

Checkered Gartersnakes (Thamnophis marcianus) are abundant snakes in the southern parts of the state and they relisehed the opportunity to find some amphibians to eat. Unfortunately, the rain was brief and they only had amphibians available for a few days.

I was driving along a quiet country road and found several instances of these desparately hungry animals trying to get the last few meals in before the food dries up again. That means eating roadkill toads if you can find them and how roadkill you will accept is a sign of your desparation.

This young on was trying to swallow what I thought was grass embedded in the road, but must have been the dried bones of a long smashed frog or toad. He eventually gave up since he couldn't free the dried bones/skin from the road surface.



This adult found a more recent smashed toad...



But still couldn't get it off the road and gave up.



I have seen a lot of gartersnakes successfully feeding on roadkillls and a lot of them becoming roadkills themselves for trying.

It's tough year to be a south Texas snake!.

C&C always welcome.
EXIF in photos.
All shot with Sony Alpha 700
Tamron 90mm Di Macro
Sony FL 56 flash with stofen omnibounce diffuser

Chris

[madf1man]

Poor guys. Thanks for sharing

[Patticake]

I agree.....but awesome shots!!!

Patti

[DougC]

I can't believe you didn't have an extra frog with you to offer him!

[Polimom]

Beautiful shots, Chris. Sad that they're having such problems.

[corralup]

Oh, so that is why you see dead snakes in the road.

[ttusa]

Tough economic times and tough times for snakes!

[jasonp]

Thats funny Chris. I can't count the number of times I've seen those goofy garters trying to pull a smashed frog or toad off the roadway. I found one once trying to eat one that another garter had swallowed, been run over and the frog was sticking out of the smashed garters belly. You gotta move'em off the road (illegal I know) so they don't get hit.

[Polimom]

Originally Posted by jasonp

You gotta move'em off the road (illegal I know) so they don't get hit.

Why is that illegal?

[jasonp]

Two years ago our fine state outlawed touching ANY snake, lizard, frog, et al. along our roadways. A warden in Sanderson told a guy this year that even photographing snakes could get him a ticket if it prevented his "movement" Go figure...

[lhdvies]

Neat work Chris!!

[Jim Victory]

Nice find and great captures Chris.

[sandboa]

Thanks for all the comments folks. Nature is a cruel mother, and lots of animals died/are going to die this year due to our extreme doubt. That includes the cute furry ones as well.

The new law is an absurdity in itself. It doesn't just apply to creepy-crawlies either. You can't stop on the road to shoo a bunch of baby skunks or weasels off the road either (two things I have done before). It is even stranger because the right-of-way alongside the road is a no-go as well. Any interference with an animal along the road or right-of-way could be interpreted as "hunting" according to the way the law is written.

There is one exception - catching hawks for Falconry on roadsides is still legal.
They had an influential lobby during the writing of the laws.

[labmansid]

These are some interesting shots and story. Kind of like dumpster diving, I guess!
I had no idea about the "law" being discussed. That's pretty silly. Does that mean you can't honk at a deer to avoid hitting it in the middle of the road?

[ka5txl]

Originally Posted by labmansid

These are some interesting shots and story. Kind of like dumpster diving, I guess!
I had no idea about the "law" being discussed. That's pretty silly. Does that mean you can't honk at a deer to avoid hitting it in the middle of the road?

I guess I'd better keep a tag from my license handy in case I hit one.