Iphimpi

[BushSnake]

My first reaction would definitely have been Mfezi. Only the belly gives a more accurate identification and after a bit of inspection the keeled scales. Nice photos and a stunning snake!

[MrG]

Thanks Andre, the caller also identified it as a Mfezi. The colour is something different to the normal grey and black we get here. This one was caught in the middle of town with a lot of rain over the past few days and maybe its just his colour?

[Rob]

Really nice snake. Love your pics MrG.

Mongoose - Bill Branch's Field Guides, both the most recent edition and the one prior, have all the same pics, in virtually identical order, barring the collection of extra pics at the end. I dont particularly mind as long as they good pics, the books are not made to satisfy us as collectors but rather to help the layperson identify a snake when they encounter them.

Some of Johan Marais' pics were repeated in his second edition of Snakes of Southern Africa too but again, they show the snake well so you can understand why he would reuse them.

Having said all that, his 2 most recent books, "What is that snake" and "Reptiles of Southern Africa" both have loads of new pics which I really enjoyed going through.

[Bushviper]

MrG please hang on to the snake until it sheds and see if this is a normal colour. I have had one that was similar in colour but after shedding it was grey again. This is irrelevant because when someone has been bitten and they describe the snake as red above with a black belly it will confuse you trying to help the person. It is important to keep this in mind when you get the late phone calls.

MrG I still think some of your pics could happily be in a book.

[MrG]

Thanks BV. (I am sharing my pics for others to enjoy and to learn from, identifying etc.....)
I try different angles to get something that is not seen everyday and some will like it others not....
......and at a ripe age of 42 I have learned that the biggest mistake one can make is to judge someone and you yourself have nothing to show. Lol.

[Niels v.d. H.]

WOW, amazing nice Rinkhals!

[boing]

I expect to see a lot of new pictures in Bill's new book (which he is reputed to be working on now he is back from Angola) as he made a comment not too long ago about how all his old photos are on slides and he no longer uses them very much. He had so many digital ones now, I am sure that many of the pics in the book will come from these!

[BushSnake]

Photographs were repeated in books, but remember, 10 years ago photos were still taken on slide so nobody kept 50 different photos of 20 different snakes...it cost money! Nowadays its all for free (excluding initial cost) and there are more photographers with good equipment, so there will be more variation in the books. It would be interesting to see how far Bill gets with retaking all his pics. He is bound to get alot of help from the other herpers though.

[armata]

Photos taken for field guides have to show salient features, plus perhaps a close up of head and juveniles (mole snake comes to mind).

Over-sharpening in PS can spoil a photo and if you crop, unless you have a high end SLR then the reduced size would not be suitable for publication.

The answer is to get THE shot when shooting in the first place.

[gino]

True, i know Johan has TONS of photos and when i was younger i also asked the question "why you using the same photos?" and he said they identify the snakes best..
All of them get help from other photographers anyway and not just use their own photos.
Him and Dillan are working on a photo library where excellent photographers like MR G can sell there photos and make bucs doing what they love. Publishers will buy and download their copyrighted photos then to use in books and sites etc.
Might work

[BOOGY]

First of all Mr G that is realy great pics.I think the main objective in a book will be to easely I.D the snake from the pic and that is the case!

Gino please do keep us posted!

[pitviper95]

This is a very unusual colour,kinda red hey.I have never seen a rinkhals in this colour before,it's stunning.I have a young rinkhals which is a very light grey,it's almost white,also vey good looking,but it does'nt beat your beauty lol