Many people are familiar with the wildlife activities of birding and fishing. Let me introduce you to another one. Herping! Herping is just like birding, but instead you’re looking for reptiles and amphibians. There are many ways this can be done, but one of the more common is called road cruising. It is exactly what it sounds like. You drive around back roads and look for snakes, turtles, frogs, and lizards.
Since reptiles need heat for their metabolism, they frequently use warm road surfaces at night to raise their body temperatures. Unfortunately, this also causes many road mortalities. This provides the “herper” an opportunity to explore the herpetofauna without spoiling habitat by flipping logs or trespassing on private property. Like many activities now, herping (and especially road cruising) is regulated by the state. You need a Reptile and Amphibian Tag with your hunting license and must wear a reflective vest. It is also illegal to collect (hunt) animals on the road, so the best thing is to just photograph them and help them get across.
A lot of knowledge (and luck) is needed to find herps while road cruising. There are certain times of year that are better than others. Night is usually best. Spring and late summer are traditionally the most productive times. Right before a big summer storm is also a good time. There are lots of ideas and opinions on moon phases, atmospheric pressure, road surface materials and other variables. That being said, nature doesn’t follow our rules.
So, come with me as we go road cruising on an undisclosed road in South Texas!
It’s about 8:00 p.m. on a late summer night. Temperatures are still in the low 90s but dropping fast as the sun goes down. We are on a small caliche road. There is no development or housing in this area, so we are driving slower than normal. Our eyes are scanning for anything on the road. Sometimes we see a snake-shaped stick or the ever common “Bungee Cord Snake” (Fan Belt Snakes used to be very common but are becoming an endangered species). The low light and our headlights make everything look suspicious, but around the bend, the orange and cream object on the road is definitely a snake!
Safely making sure there are no other cars, we switch on the hazard lights and get out. Approaching the still snake, we see that it is a Broad Banded Copperhead (Agkistrodon laticinctus). It’s a young snake, still with the yellowish tail it can use as a lure. We snap a few pictures before the snake realizes the attention and takes off into the brush on the side of the road.
We get back in and drive, drive, drive. Some nights are better than others. We stop several times for sticks and other road debris. It’s already about 10 p.m. The darkness is only broken up by the moon and gas flares on the horizon. We stop for another suspicious looking stick in the road. We get out and find a small Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus). This one is still a juvenile, maybe 6 inches long. After posing for pictures, it still doesn’t move. A gentle tap convinces the snake to continue across the road.
Continuing our drive, we can tell we are passing through lowlands and probably a creek. The air gets a little cooler and the sound of tree frogs resonates in the air. We see a few frogs hop across the road in 2 leaps, likely a Rio Grande Leopard Frog (Lithobates berlandieri). We also see a few slow, plodding hops across the road. Since it’s not very snakey now, we get out and look. As expected, it’s a Gulf Coast Toad (Incilius valliceps). We shine the flashlight around the road and into the ditch and there are several other toads and another Garter Snake. In the distance we can hear the bark of Green Tree Frogs (Hyla cinerea) and the whine of Narrow Mouth Toads (Gastrophryne olivacea). After a few toad and Garter Snake pictures, we get back on the road.
It’s approaching 11:30 now, and the humidity seems to be going up. One benefit of road cruising is you can do it with the windows closed and air conditioning on. The issue is if it’s too humid, the camera fogs up when you get out of your climate-controlled bubble. Our dirt road is almost back to a major intersection. We can see the reflection of the stop sign ahead of us and the end of our search.
Thinking our trip is over, we turn onto the paved road and see something unusual in front of us. Approaching the object, we notice it’s a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). It’s close to 3 feet long and flattened out with a kind of wavy shape to its body. It’s not injured, it’s just basking. Snakes will often flatten out their body to absorb the most amount of heat. As we get closer to the snake, it detects our presence and straightens out. The snake quickly moves towards the side of the road but once it realizes we are following, it stops, curls up, and rattles. The snake wants us to know it’s aware we are there and is asking us to leave it alone. We take a few more pictures, then with a snake hook, safely move it off the road. Once the snake is in the grass, it takes off into the brush.
Feeling gratified with this exciting find at the end of our trip, we head back to San Antonio for celebratory Migas at Jim’s.