Herpetofauna: One Life's List

Salvadora grahamiae grahamiae
Mountain Patchnosed Snake

Val Verde Co., Texas. May 19, 1999

We found this snake crossing the Pandale Dirt Road at dusk.  I jumped out of the window (I was riding on the door with the window rolled down, hanging onto the luggage rack) and slapped hands on this gem before it could streak off into the thornscrub.  What pretty little snakes they are; this one did not offer to bite.  Note the upturned and enlarged rostral scale, useful, perhaps, for poking around in burrows and cracks and crevices in search of prey.  They are related to the racers (Coluber) and as such are fast-moving and active during the day. They primarily eat lizards, birds, and young rodents.