Saranda,Albania,June 10,2013

[Edmond Themeli]

Habitat near Saranda,Albania


Marginated Tortoise ( testudo marginata )

Glass Lizard ( pseudopus apodus )





Marginated Tortoise ( testudo marginata )

[Ruggero M.]

Hi, very dry but anyway interesting habitat!

Have you pictures of leopard snakes of your area?
Do you know Aeskulapian snakes areas in Albania?

As you can understand from my questions, Zamenis are my preferred snakes...

[Edmond Themeli]

Unfortunately haven't seen Leopard snakes yet.I used to catch some zamenis many years ago but haven't seen one for at least 2 years.Leopard snakes live in the South and from my city is like 245 km or 5 hours by car,and yes i like zamenis as much as i like all kinds of colubrids

[Mario Schweiger]

your Testudo hermanni is a Testudo marginata youngster!

[Edmond Themeli]

Oopss !!! Well,thanks for correction then

[Ruggero M.]

Unfortunately haven't seen Leopard snakes yet.I used to catch some zamenis many years ago but haven't seen one for at least 2 years.Leopard snakes live in the South and from my city is like 245 km or 5 hours by car,and yes i like zamenis as much as i like all kinds of colubrids

Thanks Edmond!

I've seen with Google Earth, Korca is rather inside in Albania, not very far from Kastoria (Greece). I didn't think that leopard snakes were absent inside, and only present on the coast.
But Saranda is in the south, and on the coast...

Where did you find in the past Zamenis sp.? You mean Zamenis longissimus? Why no longer Zamenis in your herp findings?

I've always seen Albania from the ferry, when I went to Greece, and I was always curious about your Country!

[Edmond Themeli]

Saranda and all the South is great for reptiles i think.In Korca we have like 6-7 species of snakes as far as i know.I found a juvenile Zamenis Longissimus at the place where i usually go herping.I was a bit surprised because i go there every year and never seen one.And the cause they are becoming rare is mainly people interfere with their habitat or kill them because they think they are venomous.People have zero knowledge here about snakes and kill them which is sad.

[Ruggero M.]

Saranda and all the South is great for reptiles i think.In Korca we have like 6-7 species of snakes as far as i know.I found a juvenile Zamenis Longissimus at the place where i usually go herping.I was a bit surprised because i go there every year and never seen one.And the cause they are becoming rare is mainly people interfere with their habitat or kill them because they think they are venomous.People have zero knowledge here about snakes and kill them which is sad.

Thanks!

Z.longissimus is sometimes "strange". A place near my hometown was is the past a very good place for reptiles (now almost totally ruined and destroyed), where many years long I always found plenty of Natrix maura and H.viridiflavus, but never saw a single Aesculapian snake. A friend of mine went there some years ago only once or twice and found 2 babies Aesculapian snakes together under a single flat stone!
It's sad, but also in my Country people almost invariably kill snakes, and road traffic kills even more snakes than people do.
25-30 years ago, big specimens of Aesculapian snakes (mainly DOR) were not an uncommon finding on the roads near my hometown: now you are lucky if you see 1 specimen in 1 year (and it always happens, nowadays, only on secondary roads!), and big specimens (150 cm or more) are practically extinct...

[Edmond Themeli]

You are right,ten or more years ago it was a ditch here which came from Prespa lake and there you could find many grass snakes,frogs,turtles...etc and now there's a highway instead.Back then i had to travel just 30 min from home and find lots of reptiles and amphibians but nowadays it's a bit hard unfortunately.

[Berislav Horvatic]

Leopard snakes live in the South and from my city is like 245 km or 5 hours by car, ...

But Korçë is in the south of Albania, and the nearest coast is to the west of it, not south... Also, I would assume
that Zamenis situla can be found all along the whole coast of Albania... So, what did you mean by going "south"
to find them?