Great Wall of China!

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Scott Lupien
Posts: 56
Joined: June 15th, 2010, 5:15 am

Great Wall of China!

Post by Scott Lupien »

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here, but today was such a great day that I am eager to share my experience and photos! For those who have been following this forum for two years, you may recall my Great Wall of China posts from the summer of 2008. Unfortunately those posts appear to be gone now (and I had to re-register,) but in summary I live in Beijing and get out to some wild Great Wall sites when I can to do some herping with my kids and I routinely find a lot of snakes! The most common at my favorite site are Gloydius brevicaudus and Elaphe dione, with Elaphe anomala and Coluber spinalis also seen on occasion. Another Great Wall site (that has a stream) has Zaocys dhumnades, Rhabdophis tigrinis and Sybnophis chinensis. The most sought after snake (for me) is Elaphe davidi, one of the least known to science of all Elaphe in the world. Last year I was fortunate enough to catch a gravid female that laid 6 fertile eggs. All of them were female. I have tried many times to find a male and once found a big DOR male, but that was the only other E. davidi that I have seen other than the female I caught.

Last weekend I took two of my sons to my favorite location for a long hike and we had a good day. We found one Elaphe dione basking in the top of a bush alongside the Great Wall. Apparently it had just emerged from a crack in the wall and was getting some sun.
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That day we also saw five Gloydius brevicaudus. Here’s the only semi-decent photo I got:
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Today my friend Zhang, LuYang and three of my kids went with me for another hike at the same spot – in hopes, as usual, to find a mate for our female Elaphe davidi (but basically just looking forward to a good hike with some snakes!) The weather was ideal: it had rained yesterday and the sun was out. By the time we arrived (around 9 AM,) it was about 22 degrees C and topped out at 27 degrees when we were done at around 2 PM.

As soon as we stopped the van and got out, Zhang LuYang immediately found two Gloydius brevicaudus: one DOR and one sunning in the rocks on the side of the road.
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The hike from there to the Great Wall is about a half-mile and we generally don’t see much along that trail. Today was no different. But the first stretch of Wall is generally the best snake-finding spot of the whole hike and today was no exception! First I spotted this little viper:
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A few minutes later my boys, who had gone ahead, yelled out that there were two snakes on the Wall. Zhang and I ran up to them and one snake had already escaped. The other, however, was exactly what we were looking for! A mature male Elaphe davidi!!
He was just beginning to shed and looks terrible here, but we were ecstatic!
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Here’s me with the boys and our catch:
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And the boys in an old guard tower:
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The most snakes I’ve ever seen at this location in one day is six, on three separate occasions. And the most species I’ve ever seen in one day is four. That was the day Kevin Messenger and his parents went with me and we found Elaphe anomala, Elaphe dione, Gloydius brevicaudus and Coluber spinalis. This day turned out to be far better! Not only did we finally catch our much-sought after male Elaphe davidi, but we saw a total of 14 snakes and four species!

Eleven of the snakes were the ever-present vipers:
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Here’s Zhang LuYang photographing one of them:
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We also found this young Elaphe dione which had just consumed a family of mice:
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And the last snake was a Coluber spinalis that was on the road as we were driving out, but it was gone so quickly that we never had a chance to catch and photograph it.

When we got home we put the Elaphe davide in his own tank and he finished shedding. Now he looks much prettier, but not as nice as our female or her young daughters! We will introduce them to each other in a few days and hope they can produce some eggs this season!

If anyone wants to see photos from the last two years, I can post them.
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Kevin Messenger
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 3:00 pm
Location: Nanjing, China
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Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by Kevin Messenger »

geeze Scott, 14?!? And so far that one anomala has been the only one huh? Funny, seems like davidi is more common then that species now! That is incredible that you are still finding that species.
Yeah, about two weeks ago the Forum (the entire site) experienced a crash and everything was erased. Scott (one of the admins) has some sticky's on the top about the crash. I have been slowly re-releasing my China posts. Just posted #2 a few days ago. Going to post one once a week, so in about 6 months we will be caught up to the 2008 stuff!!

Anyway, great seeing you back on here and great to see all the pics. Find another anomala!
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Scott Lupien
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Joined: June 15th, 2010, 5:15 am

Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by Scott Lupien »

Hey, Kevin! Yeah, you are the only one who's found an anomala at that site that I know of. Today that davidi was in the exact same spot! It was about one meter to the right of where your anomala tried to go down a hole. And there was another snake with it -- which was probably a viper because the boys said it was tightly coiled up and not very long.
I hope you can make it back here for some more Great Wall herping!
That's a real shame about the crash. I tried to show somebody your posts and mine last week and that's when I discovered that they were gone. Bummer.
Scott
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justinm
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Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by justinm »

Scott I really enjoy the Great Wall posts and can't wait to get there someday. Congrats on the E. davidii I hope that he works out well for you.
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herpseeker1978
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Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by herpseeker1978 »

wow, great shots! I didn't see any herps when I went to the wall! Would love to see your previous pictures if you can get them up!

Josh
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Scott Lupien
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Joined: June 15th, 2010, 5:15 am

Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by Scott Lupien »

Thanks, Guys!
Sure, here are some of the previous photos I posted. I wish I had backed up the stories!!

Various vipers, Gloydius brevicaudus
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Elaphe dione
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Elaphe davidi
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Coluber spinalis
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Zaocys dhumnades
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Rhabdophis tigrinis
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Rhabdophis subminiatus (Hainan Island)
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Later I can post lizards and amphibs if anyone is interested -- and be sure to see Kevin's China posts once he gets them back online!

Scott
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reptilist
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 9:30 am
Location: Clifton, Arizona

Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by reptilist »

Very cool, thanks for posting these!
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dezertwerx
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:05 pm
Location: So Cal

Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by dezertwerx »

Love that grenn & orange!

Nice looking snakes.
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ratsnakehaven
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 9:08 am
Location: Southern Arizona

Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by ratsnakehaven »

Totally awesome...the China Connection!!

I'll have more time later to check it out more thoroughly, but I love what you're doing there. Your boys are getting much bigger too... ;)

Thanks...TC
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Biker Dave
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 7:56 pm
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Re: Great Wall of China!

Post by Biker Dave »

Great photos! Keep 'em coming......
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