Langtry, the home of Judge Roy Bean in ages past, is a small hamlet situated where the Rio Grande throws a loop northward.  On the edge of town near I-90 sits Chamberlains', a rustic gas station and general store, and for years a famous stopping point for herpers.  The Chamberlains no longer owned the place (the sign out front reads BILL'S) but the name has stuck amongst the herping crowd.  It remains a nexus for those who come in search of the Grey Banded King and other west Texas species, and it lay near the southern end of our night's drive, the Pandale Dirt Road.

The folks about the place are friendly and are always willing to talk snakes and give advice.  We stopped for gas and drinks, and had a nice chat with Calvin behind the counter and some of the other locals.  We always get an earful of snake stories from local folk no matter where we go, and this place was no exception.  We heard about the rattlers we missed, and got plenty of warnings about staying on the road and off any ranch property.

While we were gassing up the Blazer, Rick noticed a pile of odds and ends behind the place and got permission for us to check it out.  Rick is like that - if he's awake, he's assessing the terrain for "herpability".  He takes some ribbing for it from the rest of us, but there's no doubting (or quenching) his enthusiasm or his results.  It was hot and the sun was still fairly high, but we didn't have anything better to do while we were waiting for the time to start our night of road cruising.

Out back of Bill's

There was a lot of good "herp" debris to check out - boards, corrugated roofing, old carpet, and so on, much of it in the shade under some scraggly mesquite trees.  Ken found a Banded Gecko (Coleonyx brevis) under an old wooden door frame, a pretty female.  Steve maintained a breeding colony of these little geckos, and this one would be a welcome addition.  Casting about further we turned up several Mediterranean Geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) under debris.  This introduced species seem to be holding its own here - we've even found them in road cuts.

Under a low and prickly screwbean mesquite, Rick and Ken turned over an old wooden jon boat to find a pair of large rats, along with a Texas Night Snake!  Unsure of the rats' next move, an uneasy moment passed before the rats scampered off and the snake was secured.  Hypsiglena torquata was a first for all of us, and we marveled at the tiny slit of a pupil within the coppery brown eyeball.  This little gem was bagged for further picture taking.

Nothing else was turned up in our little debris pile, so we bought another round of Gatorade and iced tea and headed up the Pandale Dirt Road.  It was time for another night of road cruising.