Western Ghats 2013

For your reports/images, made outside Europe and the "Mediterranean" countries. Not to be too narrow minded and limited to our European/Mediterranean herps.

Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Bastien Comment » Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:37 pm

Very nice report, thanks for sharing!! How long did you stay there overall? And how many snakes have you been able to see? Maybe you wanted to give this information with the last part of your report but I'm curious about that also because so far I've had the chance to go to Madagascar (46 snakes within 2 weeks) and will go to Namibia in December (Jürgen, I think you'll get some desertic report then ;)) and I want to continue making herping trips outside Europe so I always find it very interesting to know the snake density here and there.

Cheers!
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Niklas Ban » Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:03 pm

Bastien Comment wrote:Very nice report, thanks for sharing!! How long did you stay there overall? And how many snakes have you been able to see?

the most important question is..did you see Ophiophagus? :)
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Markus Oulehla » Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:46 pm

Very nice report, thanks for sharing!! How long did you stay there overall? And how many snakes have you been able to see?


We spent there 3 weeks, 2 in Karnataka and 1 in Kerala. Because of the heavy rain we don't have pictures of all species, so yes I wanted to post a summary at the end ;)
I'll check if one of my friends has a list (they also have the amphibians on it) on the computer already, otherwise I'll search for my list of the snakes.


the most important question is..did you see Ophiophagus? :)


I didn't write it next to the pictures, but the snake at the rescue call was a female king cobra ;)
If it's ok I can add a picture from the removal out of the house...


One more wetland-Report?


Sorry for that :P :P :P




So after those great two weeks, we took the train to Kerala. I wanted to see the area of my last visit (dry season, 2012 february) in the rain season too.
So the 9 hours ride through the night were quite comfortable and we we reached the tea estates, in the mountains of the Idukki District, in the morning.
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Soon, the first lizards...

Calotes sp.
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Mabuya, Eutropis sp.
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Hemidactylus sp.
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and cool spiders, Portia sp.
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Hersilia sp.
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Nephila kuhlii
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During a nightwalk we found a land planarian...
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... and then there was this situation, when you see a snake in the dark and just know, either it's a wolf snake or a krait...
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seems as if we have been lucky :D
a juvenile common krait, Bungarus caeruleus one of my favourite finds...
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In the last days we found a beautiful, but dead/killed Coelognathus h. monticollaris and my girlfriend found a nice indian rat snake, near our accomondation, so we took it away from the people and released a a little further...
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It was a great time and I really enjoyed the trip. India is an outstanding place for herping and as we have just seen a small part, I definitly want to go there again...
Enjoy the pictures, I still have little more, following the next days ;)

regards
Markus
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Niklas Ban » Wed Sep 11, 2013 6:17 pm

Markus Oulehla wrote:
the most important question is..did you see Ophiophagus? :)

I didn't write it next to the pictures, but the snake at the rescue call was a female king cobra ;)
If it's ok I can add a picture from the removal out of the house...

Didn't catch that :oops: my fault, great stuff! :)
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Jürgen Gebhart » Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:37 pm

Markus Oulehla wrote:
One more wetland-Report?


Sorry for that :P :P :P


You are forgiven! ;)

The Bungarus is a fantastic finding!
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Jürgen Gebhart » Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:39 pm

Bastien Comment wrote: will go to Namibia in December


I`m jealous!!!
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Paul Lambourne » Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:44 am

Markus

A great trip report, beautiful habitat shots. I loved the Krait, a spectacular animal.
Jürgen Gebhart wrote:Bastien Comment wrote:
will go to Namibia in December


I`m jealous!!!


Jurgen, why would you want to go to Namibia.. all those horrible bitis and no salamanders.... :D
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Markus Oulehla » Thu Sep 19, 2013 12:57 am

Ahaetulla is my favourite (it is one of my favourite snakes at all :mrgreen: )


Well then, here are some more pics ;)

Image


Image



The Bungarus is a fantastic finding!


It absolutly was! I was a bit pissed that I've been there two times and didn't see a single Naja, so I really appreciated the krait :D

Image



regards
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Niklas Ban » Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:07 am

Thank you for that! :)
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Re: Western Ghats 2013

Postby Ruggero M. » Sat May 17, 2014 9:15 am

I was in Agumbe on three different occasions, and the first time was before the ARRS Station being built: we slept in a hut the first night, but then we decided to stay in the village, by a gentle old woman.

I remember a place not far from Agumbe, where (it was breeding season!) was very easy to spot huge king cobra males searching for breeding. It was the first year that radio tracking was experimented with this species, and that's why we were so lucky in finding such a place.

In particular I remember a strange thing happened to me in that place: I was walking near the wood-edges, in grass, when I heard and spotted what seemed to me a "normal snake". It seemed to me as big as our H.viridiflavus (to say an example) and was rather "banded" (this was my impression in the grass). I supposed to find myself behind a Ptyas mucosus. I walked toward this snakes as something incredible happened: the "snake" began to run and to disappear, and a really huge dark brown snake (maybe 4 meter long) appeared from nothing and run in a fraction of second over a big stone wall which separeted myself from the wood, disappearing. Obviously it was a male king cobra. But what I have seen before was really a Ptyas or only the banded tail of the huge king? :-) I really don't know!

Two pictures of one male king that was found on the roof of a house in Agumbe.

cobra1.jpg
Cobra male resting

cobra2.jpg
Cobra male resting with slime!
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