Roger Repp has sent the following account of his recent
field work on a Crotalus atrox, a
field study that has been going on for 9.5 years. Previous reports have been emailed to a
smaller group of herpers.
Howdy Herpers,
We just finished the most exciting week ever in our 9.5 year study. Some may remember that the last report ended with a picture of a concerned mother atrox (CRAT #124, "Beverly") coming out of her
nest hole to ward off an interloper. For review's sake, we include that pic again. The next three images (Figure 1) are further developments at the nest hole, culminating with five neo shed skins being collected on 15 September.
The next three pics (Figure2 ) are of a pre-courtship and eventual hook up
of an unknown male atrox with CRAT #124, "The Princess." The photo
of the male appearing to hide his head is misleading. He is actually trying
to squeeze down a small soil hole to get to the Princess. This occurred
on 11 September. That evening, John Slone, Marty Feldner and I noted that
this snake had forced his entrance to the point where the tip of his rattle
was flush with the soil edge. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT NONE OF US TOOK
A PHOTO OF THAT! Anyhow, the next two pics in the sequence, taken 15
September, show that perseverance pays off. I do believe that I could be
arrested
for one of these photos.
Lastly, on 19 September, Ryan Sawby, The Peach, and I had tracked down our
last snake. It was CRAT #121, "Tracy." She was buried in a root
system that was
covered by wash jetsum, not visible. While I was starting the write up, The
Peach and Ryan
wandered off, merrily admiring the explosive insect life that was occurring all
around us.
It was HOT! HOT! HOT!, and I was right in the sun, tucked against a
heat-sinking embankment.
I finally realized that I was doing this write up alone, so I had to drag all
the junk out
of my pack in order to do the job that The Peach normally does.
All of a sudden, there's all this shouting. "ROGER, ATROX COMBATTING! GET
OVER HERE WITH
YOUR CAMERA. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ROGER, DID YOU HEAR ME? ROGER, COMBAT!
ROGER? ROGER! (Figure 3)
I must have been over there within ten seconds of the commotion, but
my two comrades
later drilled me good for not hopping to it quickly enough. The next five shots
are part
of what I got with the camera. The fight was between an old guy and a young
stud. My first
impression was that the young stud was winning, but that is not what the photos
show.
I'm glad to say that I think the old guy was winning. The last photo shows the young
stud
holding his ground. The old guy came after us, changed his mind, and started to
flee the scene.
The Peach insisted that we process the snakes, but the young stud gave us the
slip. The poor
old guy took the brunt of the punishment in this battle. He turned out to be
CRAT #40, first
processed in March of 2003. We have encountered him several times before.
The Peach's suggestion that we finish the write up on "Tracy" was met
with stiff resistance.
The bitching and moaning on the scribe's part was legendary. But thank
goodness, the scribe
listened to reason. It was REALLY hot!
We can't prove it, but it is likely that "Tracy" was the cause of the
fight. She is in the hackberry
roughly 3 meters to the left of the first two photos.
There were also many other great events that happened this past week.
Hopefully, I can get out
another report soon. For now, Yehaw! Life is good.
This here is roger repp signing off from sunny and HOT Southern Arizona, where
the snakes are strong, the lizards are handsome, and the turtles are barely average.