Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Feb 28, 2009 10:21:10 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Well, I got the butterfly garden finished yesterday morning so I went out for a hike later in the morning to try to see if I could find the lizard I missed photographing before. No luck on the lizard but here are a couple of pics I took on the walk. Thanks for looking....Mel Kind of a lousy photo of the one of the snakes I saved the other day. It turns out it's a Broad Banded Watersnake but you can see why some folks think they are water moccasins. Still trying to figure out depth of field on this new camera. . Couple of courting red eared sliders. Male is the little fellow with high estimations of his breeding skills. Males have those long raker claws on the forefeet and are much smaller than females. Found this huge hunk of nice Pedernales chert sticking from the creek bank. This stuff sure looks like pet wood but his piece was too big to carry out. Finally, it was really hot yesterday, about 90 and here's a pic of some of our stock horses taking a cool bath in the stream. Man, they were getting wet! Funny but you have to keep an eye on your car when these fellers are around as they eat cars. They chewed a friends car to the tune of 1800 bucks damage the other day.
|
|
|
Post by frane on Feb 28, 2009 10:41:49 GMT -5
Beautiful pictures Mel! I don't like snakes so I just detour and stay clear but the rest look fantastic. The horses look like they were enjoying themselves! Fran
|
|
highplainsdrifter
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2008
Posts: 1,266
|
Post by highplainsdrifter on Feb 28, 2009 10:49:33 GMT -5
Nice photos, you have a great ranch from the looks of it. I'm surprised the turtles let you get so close.
I lived on a ranch in northern CA for a while and we had horses that liked to eat cars also. They chewed off my friends windshield wipers and bit holes in his seat. I'm surprised at how strong their teeth must be.
HPD
|
|
Simon
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2009
Posts: 352
|
Post by Simon on Feb 28, 2009 13:22:02 GMT -5
Great pictures, her indoors loves the horses picture.
We have snakes they're about as rare as hens teeth. No turtles, we do have horses, and how I wish it was 90 degrees.
If it's ninety now what's it like in summer?
Simon
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Feb 28, 2009 16:52:37 GMT -5
Simon: Summer's the green time here because of the monsoon rains. Hot and humid though not as much so as the gulf coast area. Mostly 90's to maybe 104 or so for a couple of months.....Mel
|
|
|
Post by Bejewelme on Feb 28, 2009 17:30:23 GMT -5
Mel: Beautiful pics as always!! Are you taking reservations? 90??? I would kill for some of that warm weather! Love the horses and turtles, you can keep that snake!!! Amber
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Feb 28, 2009 17:53:01 GMT -5
Aw you guys, snakes are neat! You don't want to pick up a watersnake though. They're fish eaters so they have long curved teeth which they love to use and they have the strongest scent glands I've ever smelled. They rub stank on ya that won't wash off for a week!....Mel
|
|
darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
|
Post by darrad on Feb 28, 2009 23:17:51 GMT -5
Nice hunk of Chert! Your snake does have the triangular head so mistaking it for poisionous I can see but trying to kill it just for that is still just plain wrong!!!
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Mar 1, 2009 9:09:08 GMT -5
wizard: Yep, lots of snakes have the triangular head and non poisonous ones often fan out their head to appear poisonous. Non poisonous snakes and coral snake's eyes have round pupils. Poisonous snakes, except coral snakes have vertical pupils and prominent pits between the eyes and nostrils. That's why they're called pit vipers. Course you got to get close enough to see those things first *L*....Mel
|
|
|
Post by beefjello on Mar 1, 2009 21:48:49 GMT -5
Man I keep waiting for Jim Fowler to show up in one of your posts Quite the wild kingdom over there Mel!
|
|
NorthShore-Rocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2008
Posts: 1,004
|
Post by NorthShore-Rocks on Mar 1, 2009 23:05:13 GMT -5
Nice Pics Mel! Your ranch is awesome.
|
|
|
Post by stonesthatrock on Mar 1, 2009 23:28:24 GMT -5
you saved the snake?? i would have been running away from that so fast i would have been a blurr. I hate snakes. All the other pics are pretty cool, though.
|
|
|
Post by cpdad on Mar 1, 2009 23:30:00 GMT -5
killer pics of the horses....aint never seen them in the wild before. that snake dont look like a water moccasin to me...i kinda seen them up close before ,,,,did you know a water moccasin will bite you twice if you piss it off ;D...kev.
|
|
|
Post by gaetzchamp on Apr 5, 2009 11:39:26 GMT -5
Mel-
Awesome field trip. I'm dying to get out to the desert. Great to see your photos.
Gaetz
|
|
|
Post by frane on Apr 5, 2009 14:04:56 GMT -5
Beautiful pictures! I guess cars are just chew toys for horses. Fran
|
|
|