Eastern And Western Cape - February , South Africa 2012.

In the early hours of January 25th 2012 i set off on our Journey Through The Eastern Cape Eventually finding our way to our final destination of George in the Western Cape.
We covered all most 2000km's over 8 day's Stopping in many one Horse towns, long nights and even longer Karoo roads not something all that welcome when you need to stay awake.
We traversed through the Eastern Cape Grasslands , Thicket , Western Cape Fynbos , Nama Karoo , and eventually some Montane Habitat in the Western Cape.




To cut a long story short here is a comprehensive list of Reptile and Amphibian Species we Encountered During The time.

Amphibians.
Amietia fuscigula - Cape river Frog
Amietophrynus rangeri - Racous Toad
Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad
Cacosternum boettgeri - Boettger's Dainty Frog
Heleophryne regis - Southern Ghost Frog
Hyperolius marmoratus verrucosus - Painted Reed Frog ( Southern Sub Species)
Strongylopus grayii - Clicking Stream Frog
Tomopterna tandyi - Tandy's Sand Frog

Snakes
Aspidelaps lubricus - Cape Coral Snake
Bitis arietans - Puff Adder
Bitis atropos - Berg Adder.
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake
Dispholidus typus - Boomslang
Duberria lutrix - Southern Slug Eater
Lycodonomorphus inornatus - Olive Snake
Naja nivea - Cape Cobra
Pseudaspis cana - Mole Snake

Lizards/Skinks/Geckos/Tortoises
Acontias melagris - Cape Legless Skink
Afrogecko porphyreus - Marbled Leaf Toed Gecko
Agama aculeata - Southern ground Agama
Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna dwarf chameleon
Bradypodion gutturale - Robertson/Little Karoo Dwarf Chameleon
Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise
Chondrodactylus bibronii - Bibrons Gecko
Lygodactylus capensis - Cape Dwarf gecko ( Not Naturally Occurring In Western Cape ,
Ninurta coeruleopunctatus - Blue Spotted Girdled Lizard
Pachydactylus maculatus - Spotted gecko
Trachylepis sulcata - Western Rock Skink Juvinile
Pedioplanis lineoocellata - Spotted Sand Lizard
Pelomedusa subrufa- Marsh terrapin
Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard Tortoise
Trachylepis capensis -Cape Skink
Tetradactylus seps - Short Legged seps


Acontias melagris - Cape Legless Skink


Afrogecko porphyreus - Marbled Leaf Toed Gecko


Agama aculeata - Southern ground Agama




Pelomedusa subrufa- Marsh terrapin


Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad


Amietia fuscigula - Cape river Frog


Trachylepis sulcat - Western Rock Skink Juvinile




Pedioplanis lineoocellata - Spotted Sand Lizard



Amietophrynus rangeri - Racous Toad


Male Calling for Females


Chondrodactylus bibronii - Bibrons Gecko




Pachydactylus maculatus - Spotted gecko
Specimen from Eastern Cape


Another Specimen from the Western Cape


Bradypodion gutturale - Robertson/Little Karoo Dwarf Chameleon
A tricky chameleon to find , we only found a few thankfully it was quite obliged to having it's photo's taken.




Cacosternum boettgeri - Boettger's Dainty Frog
Very small species of frog again differing in colour somewhat from what i am used to seeing in Kwa Zulu Natal


Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard Tortoise


An Unlucky one


Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise


Bitis arietans - Puff Adder


Long Road to nowhere.


Dispholidus typus - Boomslang




Pseudaspis cana - Mole Snake





Roughing In - Escaping The Mid Day heat.


Heleophryne regis - Southern Ghost Frog
Habitat - Note the dark colour of the water , although it seems dirty the water is actually crystal clean.





Extremely flat head of the Ghost Frog




Strongylopus grayii - Clicking Stream Frog
Unusually darker then normal because of the very dark rich waters of the forest where it was found.


Tomopterna tandyi - Tandy's Sand Frog


Aspidelaps lubricus - Cape Coral Snake

This we found interesting, we came across this snake crossing the road when we confronted it it hooded and hissed like most do, after a short while it fell flat to the ground rolled up into a loose 8 shape ( much like the Shovel Snout snakes do) and just lay still. At this point we thought it was dead upon closer inspection and rolling the snake out it then returned to the loose 8 position once more. I handled the snake and it showed no signs of life at all.
Thinking we could use the snake as a nice preserved specimen we put it in a small container only to notice upon closing the lid the snake raised up hooded and started to hiss as almost back to normal. Has any one ever heard or seen these snakes display this type of behavior almost as if it shammed death?

In the almost comatose position








Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake DOR


Another DOR


Common Pancake Phase - Cape Coral Snake


Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake.
Herald snakes from the Western Cape are much more olive in colour and allot prettier then their Kwa Zulu Natal counterparts.




Lycodonomorphus inornatus - Olive Snake



Duberria lutrix - Southern Slug Eater


Lygodactylus capensis - Cape Dwarf gecko
Interesting species to find, as their distribution doesn't naturally include the Western Cape at All. These were found in abundance in a Suburban garden in George.




Naja nivea - Cape Cobra.









Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink


Hyperolius marmoratus verisocus - Painted Reed Frog ( Southern Sub species)
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Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna Dwarf Chameleon
The colour difference between individuals males and females is astounding.





Close Up on Skin


Females are not nearly as vibrant as the males.


Male Displaying To Another Male


Ninurta coeruleopunctatus - Blue Spotted Girdled Lizard
Strange adaption these Lizards actually have several BLUE scales scattered around their body which glint in the sun when they bask during the day.



Taking a break on a Koppie over looking some small town along the way.



(Already posted in Bitis section)
Habitat of Bitis atropos - Berg Adder.




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For Size Indication




Thanks for looking.

Tyrone.

Very impressive!!!
Great finds of nice animals.

Gtz JT

WOW...very beautiful shots, and also a lot of them
Great finds of animals and wonderful landscape. Must be really nice to herp in South Africa. Too bad that is so far away

Uhuuuuu thx for the great pictures

Great, that´s what I call ,,a very good result!´´ amazing! And btw. very good shots!
Thanks for posting them here!

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

This guy looks somewhat like a Coral Cobra,,,,probably not though...

looks like you got a nice trip, very interesting species you found, congrats and thanks for sharing the pics
regards

Great, thanks for sharing.

Paul Behan wrote:

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

This guy looks somewhat like a Coral Cobra,,,,probably not though...

Paul it is indeed, Cape Coral/Coral Cobra/Coral Shield Cobra all variations of the common name.


Thanks for the comments.

What a trip...

Thanks for sharing!

Tyrone Ping wrote:

Paul Behan wrote:

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

This guy looks somewhat like a Coral Cobra,,,,probably not though...

Paul it is indeed, Cape Coral/Coral Cobra/Coral Shield Cobra all variations of the common name.


Thanks for the comments.

Thanks for the clarification Tyrone. These are beautiful Cobra's and are said to be somewhat placid in comparison to other Cobra species.

Again, fantasic pics and thanks for sharing.

Not sure how I missed this... damn dude. Awesome shots. I'd kill to find and photo some of those animals. The lubricus and the nivea are screamers.