Forks Of Salmon

A Field Guide to Texas Snakes (Texas Monthly Field Guides)

Description

This field guide deftly describes the 105 species of snakes in Texas, the state with the largest number of different species in the nation. Learn facts about the biology and behavior of these creatures, plus the latest findings on abundance, reproduction,

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-23
Summary: "Cottonmouth on the Rio Grande?"

This field guide is thorough with excellent photographs of representative species as well as useful information on classification, abundance, behavior and species with which a given snake might be mistaken. There are also useful and easy to interpret distribution maps.

No field guid is perfect, however. I live right on the Rio Grande in South Texas. There is an agricultureal canal passing through my property. The distribution maps in this field guide indicate that the only species of water snake in my area is the diamondback watersnake. Indeed, the canal is filled with diamondback watersnakes and, until a couple of days ago, that is the only kind of 'watersnake' I've seen there. Yes, I've seen a few garter snakes and Indigo snakes swimming in the canal but no other species. Anyway, I spotted a snake in the canal that wasn't any of these preceding species. I saw it at a range of 25 feet. It floated high and kept its head about an inch above the water. It was black with narrow yellow transverse stripes. It was about four feet long and, although fairly heavy bodied, was perhaps a little more gracile than cottonmouths I've encountered in Louisiana [and I've encountered a lot of them]. Still, its a possibility, but, because of distance, I couldn't tell if the head had the characteristic cottonmouth lateral dark stripe.

This field guide's map indicates that the blotched watersnake--which this snake somewhat resembled--shouldn't be in my area, either, although, according to the map, they should occur about 75 miles north. Anyway, if anyone out there has an idea, comment on this post.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2006-09-19
Summary: "Great book, check used prices"

I came to this site to buy this book, but after seeing the prices I called a local non-discount book store (the one with Star Bucks in it) and bought it new for $24.95. What's with the inflated prices for a used paperback? Makes no sense to me.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2005-08-03
Summary: "Detailed and Example Pictures"

Very thorough research, orderly referenced example pictures, and easy to use.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2005-07-07
Summary: "Don't kill 'em all !!"

We have snakes. Lots of them. But rather than "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out", as my husband prefers, I take this book with me during ourdoor activities and literally look up the snake I'm looking at. The photos are extremely helpful, limited only by my own perceptual problems---for example, Texas brown snakes look like rat snakes look like copperheads to me, even in the pictures. But the majority of the snakes in Texas and in the book do NOT deserve to die...life imprisonment, maybe...this is a very comforting book to own.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2003-11-15
Summary: "Excellent field guide great pictures & information!"

This field guide on snakes is excellent. The pictures of each snake are clear and you can identify them easily when you see them in the wild (or in you're house). The organization of this book splits up into two sections venomous and nonvenomous which allows a very quick way to tell if you should be anywhere near the snake. The infromation on each type is plentiful and everything you need to know is included. There are maps of where to find each type and whether they are endangered or protected in the state of Texas. A system is given in the beginning of the book for how to easily determine a snake and also what to do if you happen to be bit by a venomous type. The only thing I would like to see in the next revision is the striking distance of each snake which isn't given in this book.