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Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:42 pm
by Mourits Løvholt
I know that this is a European forum, but anyway I wanted to share the experience with you. Just delete if it's inappropriate

My friend Mathias Holm and I were in Thailand for a few days this week.

But what happened when we were just going to drive to the airport? My camera broke! And it couldn't be repaired immediately.. I had to borrow a camera instead, a Canon EOS 20D.. a camera that I didn't have any experience using... that's why some of my pics maybe isn't in the best quality.

We stayed in Hua Hin in a big hotel at the beach.

First some pics of some of the extremely common house geckos (Probably Hemidactylus platyurus):

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The tokays were sadly almost extinct in the area due to the capture for the terrarium hobby...
A man told us that 3 tokays could fetch up to 10,000 baht! (About 250 EURO) A lot for a poor family in Thailand!

But luckily we found some fused trees with a big hole that made a perfect habitat for minimum 10 tokays in different sizes, even skeletons from the last generations could be found in the hole. Probably one of the only spots in the area for tokays Gekko gecko:

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Just outside of the hotel resort we found some big stumps that we flipped.

We flipped a few Dixonius siamensis [LIFER]:

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And some Lygosoma bowringii [LIFER]

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In the evenings we found a lot of amphibians to, although their breeding ponds was limited to ornamental ponds and fountains.

We found a lot of the common toads, Duttaphrynus melanosticus:

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And also some of the very nice treefrogs, Polypedates leucomystax [LIFER]:

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Here some tadpoles, probably same species:

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We did also found a lot of the really cool frog, Kaloula pulchra! In the first evenings we did only found hatchlings, but it rained the last night and there it was teeming with them! Btw, the make the most fantastic croaking I've ever heard!:

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In the rainy evening we did also found some Limnonectes limnocharis, with- and without backstripe:

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Mathias photographing one:

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We did also see a lot Calotes versicolor's! But they were behind a big locked fence, and they were very hard to photograph.. But one day when we were going out to eat on a restaurant, we saw an individual in a tree, we caught it and took some fast snapshots:

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We did also found an young lavish beautiful Ahaetulla nasuta [LIFER]:

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At the beach one day we found these strange creatures, anyone know what it is?

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We were riding elephants, watching cobra / crocodile show, held a Crocodylus porosus, and stuff like that:

Mathias:

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Me:

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We spend the last day in Bangkok were we visited a park that I discovered last year, a park with a lot of turtles and really big water monitors, some of them about 10 feet long!

Here a Malayemys subtrujuga with a injured shell, maybe a monitor had tried to eat it?:

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A mediumsized Varanus salvator:

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Some eating monitors:

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We caught a small monitor, probably in it's first shed:

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In the park we flipped;

1 Ramphotyphlops braminus:

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Mathias holding it:

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2 Riopa punctatus [LIFER]:

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And 3 Lygosoma quadrupes [LIFER]:

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Species seen but not photographed: Chitra chitra, Mabuya multifasciata, Trachemys scripta elegans, Leiolepis belliana

Thanks for watching!

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:37 am
by Jürgen Gebhart
Great findings, Congrats! and some nice shots! I like to close up of the melanosticus most!

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:55 am
by Mario Schweiger
Why not ;)
It should be possible, to post also some reports/images from your "vacations" :lol:
Therefore, I´ve made a section "vacations" now and put this threat into it!
Mourits, I used your melanosticus portrait as section image - I hope, this is ok :shock:

Beside, I think your first melanosticus isnt one, looks like more than "Bufo" parvus :!:

Anyway great shots for a borrowed camera :P

Mario

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 8:26 am
by Peter Oefinger
great vacation shots - giving a feeling of the impressive biodiversity of that area.

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:02 am
by Mourits Løvholt
Thanks guys! :D
It's ok Mario. :)
You ain't the first one to tell me that the first melanostictus looks like another species. But i am actually pretty sure about it. I think the youngsters just haven't got the appearance of the adult yet, such as the black pattern in the face.

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:13 am
by Mario Schweiger
Mourits,

its not only the heavy contrast of colours!
Look at the relation eye-/tympanic membrane and the ridges in front of the latter, on the edge upper/lateral side in front of the eye and the gland.

Mario

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:26 am
by Mourits Løvholt
Yeah that's right, but it's actually a hatchling, probably from this year, so it can vary a lot in morphological traits from the adults. Anyway, i'm not sure at all, my intuition and scant experience in the species just maked me believe so. :)

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:32 am
by Francesco Tri
Mathias Congratulations, very good, and lucky!

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:41 am
by Mourits Løvholt
Mario, sorry, I'm convinced, I agree on Bufo parvus, thanks! :)


Francesco, Thanks :) Btw, I'm not Mathias, I'm Mourits ;)

Re: Thai-Herping with Mathias

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 8:13 pm
by Guillaume Gomard
Congrats for those very good shots! (even if it was not made with your favorite camera...). It would have been a pity not to share this. It's really sad what you are reporting about Gekko gecko. The insects you found close to the beach are intriguing...I'll try to find something on them if I manage.

++

Guillaume