Santo gecko
W
hile wandering through
memories at the San
Vicente gravesite in
Big Bend National Park, I
peeked into a votive candle to
find this preserved Texas
Banded Gecko – coleonyx brevis.
Picking up the glass to get a
closer look, the gecko fell over to
reveal a hole in its stomach that
perfectly matched a hole in the
dirt below. Sustenance for
another.
garter rope
S
even snakes in seven days –
that’s what we encoun-
tered after tidying up
building materials in the yard
last summer. A mellow dia-
mondback rattlesnake, a red
racer feeding on a young rabbit,
a lovely Trans-Pecos ratsnake, a
mildly venomous night snake, a
blackneck garter snake (see
image) and two other species we
had never met – a variable
ground snake and a 6-foot
whipsnake. The ground snake
comes in a variety of colors and
patterns, and this one had a
pale body with dark crossbars.
We learned the whipsnake is
diurnal – its long, thin body
helps it handle the heat so it can
hunt lizards in the day.
Cenizo
Second Quarter 2010
15