You almost stepped on that green mamba
Written: Dec 24 '08 (Updated Dec 24 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well organized, all Texas snakes, great for identification
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: This book is great for identification and is also interesting. It is good to know about snakes when you are out in the wilderness.
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| texas-swede's Full Review: Alan Tennant - Lone Star Guide to Texas Snakes |
"Dad, you almost stepped on that Green Mamba". That is what my 4-year old (sitting on my shoulders) told me when we were walking in Dinosaur Valley state park and I almost stepped on a greenish snake (Dinosaur Valley state park is located south of Dallas, Texas). Luckily it was not a green mamba. Using the second edition of this book I was able to identify the snake as the "Rough Green Snake" when I got home. I am glad there are no Green Mambas in Texas (in the wild), however, there are still some very poisonous snakes to watch out for in Texas. Seven species of rattle snake, two species of Massasauga, and a pygmy rattle snake (ten rattlers in total), plus cottonmouth (water moccasin), three species of copperhead, and the Texas Coral snake. The Texas Coral snake is the most poisonous of the snakes in Texas (but it is not aggressive). Another very poisonous snake is the Mojave Rattle Snake which can kill six adults (lives only in West Texas). There are 105 species of snakes all in all in Texas.
About the book
This edition (third edition) has essentially the same pictures and information as the second edition, but the third edition is organized better, it is a little bit bigger, and updated. What I really like about this book is that for each of the snakes it has a map of Texas showing the distribution of the snake. The book is also well organized and the photos are good. In addition it is an interesting book to read, it contains a lot of facts about the various snakes. Once you start reading about the various snakes, and looking at the pictures and the distribution maps, you just can't put it down. The book tickles your curiosity. Compared to other Texas snake books that I have seen this one is the most interesting and the best organized of them all. If you quickly need to identify a snake this is the right book.
The book begins with a few introductory chapters, "Snakes and the law", "introduction", "The evolution of snakes", and "Texas snake habitats", "Snake venom poisoning", "Scalation", and an "identification key". In "Snakes and the law" we learn that there three distinct classes of snakes (with respect to the law):
(1) Non-protected nongame
(2) Protected or threatened non-game
(3) Endangered
We also learn that there are no restrictions regarding means and methods for hunting snakes in Texas, provided a person is hunting on private property. In the chapter on "Texas snake habitats" the books presents a table which states all the different habitats for each of the 105 Texas snakes. The "Snake venom poisoning" chapter contains a venom potency table.
Finally, starting on page 57 each snake is described in detail, one section for each of the 105 snakes. In addition there is one high quality picture for each snake in the middle of the book. Each section describes how the snake looks like (size, scale form, coloration), its prey, habitat, reproduction and abundance. Each section also states where the snake can be found (geographically) and this paragraph is accompanied by a map. The 105 sections take up one or two pages each. The sections are grouped together as follows; blind snakes, small burrowing snakes, lined, garter and ribbon snakes, aquatic snakes, patched-nosed snakes, green snakes, whipsnakes, racers, and indigo snakes, brown-blotched terrestrial snakes, glossy snakes, rat snakes, large kingsnakes, red and black-banded milk and kingsnakes, mildly venomous rear-fanged snakes, coral snakes (super poisonous), moccasins (copperheads, cottonmouth), and rattle snakes (10 species of rattle snake).
Final recommendation
This is good book to use for identification of snakes in Texas. It is a valuable item to any Texan. If you are interested in snakes, this is also a book for you. Many of the snakes described in this book lives in many other places in North America. It is well organized and easy to use when you need to identify a snake.
Finally I would like to thank Patsy (pestyside) for adding this item to the data base
Recommended:
Yes
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