South/West TEXAS Trip w/ pics

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So I've been in the field for 2 days now... tonight I'm in Rio Grande City in South Texas. Monday morning I left Austin at 6am.... I was in s/w Texas by 10:30am already finding stuff. Hunted in Dimmit Co. for most the afternoon and then drove into Del Rio. Drove to Sonora, TX on monday night. Hunted around Del Rio on tuesday.

The main reason for the trip was to find Aphonopelma moderatum in the field.... So far I have failed. I have found 16 tarantulas in burrows over the past 48 hours, but none have been A. moderatum. I was in KNOWN areas for them...I must be missing something...I can find the T's...just not the moderatums. Oh well.

Herps have been pretty good:

1 DOR Mexican Milksnake
2 DOR Bullsnakes
1 live Bullsnake
2 DOR Diamondbacks
1 live Sonoran Ground Snake
1 DOR Western Coachwhip
3 LIVE Texas Desert Tortises...

Below are some of the pics of the trip so far.

Enjoy.... If y'all attend Arachnocon, all this is VERY close to you.....

 

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Some cacti (2nd one is a Horse Crippler)

 

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Here was the burrow of the 1st Aphonopelma sp. found on the trip in Demmit Co. There are lots of big wolf spiders that build similiar burrows.... but you CANNOT mistake a T burrow once you know what you are looking for. I also found 1 under a rock in a scrape in Del Rio.... all the burrows looked just like this one!

 

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Lots on Scarab beetles were out...here are a few!

 

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Male Aphonopelma found crossing the road....

 

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Texas Desert Tortise found in grass along the roadway.... I turned him around back into a fenced area away from traffic!

 

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Here was the 2nd Texas Desert Tortise found that morning (accross the road from the tarantula burrow posted above). This one was eating bones....I have heard of this before BUT I have never seen it.....it's a quick way to get some calcium! Pretty cool....

 

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Here in one of the 3 widows I found on an Opuntia sp. cactus. These Western Widows KEPT their juvenile markings as adults...they looked really cool. LOTS of widows down here in the desert!

 

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Here is a bad picture of a bullsnake I found in Crystal City, TX while walking in a park in the middle of the day! It's hard to take pics and hold an uncooperative snake all at the same time....

 

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Here is a picture of one of the rockcuts west of Del Rio on Hwy 90 between Pandale paved and Pandale dirt.... Classic looking cut.....great herping area (although I usually don't find crap on them). Someone found a gravid female GreyBanded Kingsnake (Lampropeltis alterna) last night in Langtry! Lucky!

 

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Another rock cut RIGHT AFTER the one posted above....

 

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A few yuccas I've seen so far on the trip! I enjoy the cacti and plantlife just as much as the animals....

 

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Here is my new pride and joy that I'm breaking in on the trip.... I just bought this Toyota 4X4 FJ Cruiser this past week.... I love it!!!!

 

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Kinda bumbed that I didn't find my target species but i still have a few days left out here...So far, South texas has been MUCH more productive than West Texas. There has been ALOT of rain this year...everything is green...crap, there were even mushrooms growing out in Del Rio next to cacti in the desert....

 

[Diggy415]

I have a Q in regards to the T holes, i live out in the desert and see these holes, how would one get one out, wiggle the web and hide and then place something behind it from going back in?? easier said than done??? would like to get one from around here.

 

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I normally just pour a small steady stream of water down the hole...as it fills up the hole, the tarantula comes to the enterence... about 75% of the time if you continure pouring, it'll come the whole way out. I usually try to slide a chop stick in behind the T to coax it out if it doesn't automatically shoot out.

I like this method because it doesn't destroy the burrow and if you decide NOT to collect it, it can crawl right back into it's home....

If you have to dig it out, I still use the water trick so I can follow the burrow (wet spot in the ground)...Be super careful that you don't accidently hurt the tarantula while diffing it out.....

Good luck....

 

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********* SUCCESS ***********

I finally found Aphonopelma moderatum today 5 hours south of Del Rio along the Mexican Border.... wow...I had given up. On a side note, I found one of the regular dark Aphonopelma sp. in a burrow no more than 10 feet from a A. moderatum burrow. I collected 3 and left all the rest....saw lots of burrows! Sorry about the bad pics...

 

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And here is a picture of the burrow....

 

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And a picture of the habitat they were found in!

 

[beetleman]

:clap: enjoy your new find! wow what an awesome place,great spider too,ive got a female aswell i didn't collect her though,but i wish i had.