So I havent posted in this topic for a while for two reasons; firstly I havent been herping much and secondly even when I have gone herping, I havent found much to write home about.
This past weekend I decided that it was time to get a lifer under the old belt for the first time in a while so I drove to the west coast in search on Bitis peringueyi. Most dwarf Bitis actually bore me, but there has always been something about B. peringueyi which had tickled my fancy. Probably their strange morphology with the eyes being so weird.
So off I set for two days to the coast in search of this little gem.
During my search I spotted three sets of tracks so characteristic of this little adder, it's side-winding locomotion.
So after two sets of tracks ran dry over harder, gravelly patches, I again tracked the third set of tracks to another such hard patch, but then I realised....who is to say I am actually tracking in the right direction? The tracks have no real sense of direction so I set off in the opposite direction. back to where I started and then further in the other direction.
After Brian Maritz's recent studies on Bitis schneideri showed that they dont move much per day, I was expecting peringueyi to be the same, but I SERIOUSLY followed these track for like 200m. That is 200m it must have traveled in one night as it was very windy the previous night. For a 20cm snake that is INSANE!
So after nearly giving up hope, I saw a little spot in the flawless desert sand which looked disrupted so I approached expectantly... Could you believe it, my first Bitis peringueyi! all alonw in the desert I literally screamed with excitement/relief/pleasure once I saw the snake was still in there. Super chuffed.
Without further ado, here are some in-situ shots of Bitis peringueyi.
Here is the little disrupted spot I saw from a distance.
The little guy snuggled up in the sand.
And that's pretty much it. Hope you enjoyed the pics as much as I enjoyed finding the snake! I know they are relatively common, but there's nothing like ticking a lifer off the list.
Cheers
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin