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Another snake, and more tarantulas - El Limón Totalco part 4

Sunday, May 7, 2006 | 0 comments

Read the previous part of this blog entry in: Tarantulas and snakes - El Limón Totalco part 3.

About 20 minutes after we had found our first snake, I found another one belonging to the same species, Conopsis lineata, and roughly the same size.

Esme holding a Conopsis lineata (Tolucan ground snake).
Esme holding a Conopsis lineata (Tolucan ground snake).

I asked Esme if she could hold the snake in such a way that I could take a picture of its belly. The belly has a greenish tint, which is very hard to see in the picture, but was noticeable when I saw the snake's belly.

Esme showing the belly of a C. lineata.
Esme showing the belly of a C. lineata.
More pictures I made of this snake. Click a thumbnail to see the entire and larger image.

Shortly after I had put the stone back in its place we found a tarantula. This one looked different from the ones we had seen before in this place, instead of a brown spot on its abdomen it looked like it had red hairs, a bit similar to the Brachypelma vagans (Mexican red rump), but I am quite sure this is not a B. vagans.

A tarantula.
A tarantula.
More pictures I made of this tarantula. Click a thumbnail to see the entire and larger image.

I let the tarantula walk upon my hand, which it did without any problems. Esme asked if she could have it on her hand as well, so I let it walk on her hand.

The tarantula on Esme's hand.
The tarantula on Esme's hand.

I put the stone back in its place, and we put the tarantula close to the stone, so it could go back underneath it. Not much later we found another tarantula, a smaller one, and a different species as far as I know, since this one had a brown spot on its abdomen.

Tarantula with brown spot on abdomen.
Tarantula with brown spot on abdomen.

I also took a picture a bit further away to provide a nice overview of the habitat, before I returned the stone back in its original place. Notice how dry the uncovered soil is, and that the soil that was covered by the volcanic rock looks much darker, a clear sign of moisture.

The tarantula in its habitat.
The tarantula in its habitat.

Read the final part of this blog entry in: Scorpions and a tarantula - El Limón Totalco part 5.

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