GTF City!!!

[BROWNS]

Most mornings when the temps start heating up outside around 8-9 am i always go for a cruise around my verandah to look for herps,in particular spotted tree monitors Nth Qld form since i saw one and just miseed catching him a few months ago now.Anyway i went for a look and saw heaps of skinks but no monitor although on nearly every beam and some areas there were GTF's evrywhere from about 1/3 adult size and upwards.There's hundreds of even smaller ones that have been appearing each night lately also,i wonder what the gathering is all about.
Anyway here's a few pics,not very clear but you can see what i'm talking about...enjoy
http://www.aussiepythons.com/albums/browns/
2005_0419frogsters0021.jpg

The one below had a few hite spots similar to the more Northern variety around Port Douglas etc

I reckon they're all sitting ther having a good session after munching on a few gold tops :lol:

 

[Stevo]

They are probably after those hundreds of tail-less house geckos you get on veranda

 

[deano351]

Browns "I reckon they're all sitting ther having a good session after munching on a few gold tops"

Did they find your "garden" Browns ?

 

[BROWNS]

I don't have a garden at the moment just a few trees and heaps of weeds :lol: There are a few cow paddocks just down the road :wink:

 

[trader]

:shock: :shock: unbelievable!! You are soooo lucky to see them in the 'wild' like that!!!! Thank you for showing us those awesome pictures!
Brings back memories of my holiday to Australia in '96, we spent some time on Hook Island in the Whitsundays and at Airlie Beach...and I remember Daavid pointing out the GTFs on the walls of the toilets? by the beach (Airlie Beach) at nite where they gathered catching the moths flying into the light. I wasn't 'into' herps much back then...too bad I would have appreciated it more... :roll:

good on ya Browns! :wink:

 

[dobermanmick]

You are very lucky to see that many at once ,Thanks for posting those pics

 

[BROWNS]

Thanks trader,I love seeing these guys i huge numbers here,at the moment there's just heaps of all sizes evrywhere around the house in many different shades of green from dull to almostbright fluro yellowy green to brown and occasionaly a light blue colour.The only down side is they make a huge mess but keep the bugs in control along with the thousands of house geckos

Airlie Beach has changed a bit since then still a nice sall coastal town.Interestingly there's a topic on moreliapythons.com in the M Spilota section called "JAG THEORY" where someone states that a friend of theirs has seen carpets which are an isolated population on Whitsunday Island whch is the largest of 74 islands and Hook Island is about 10 minutes boat ride at the closest points and apparently they are carpets with the same patterning etc as jags,which is a crock of you know what,but i presume they may be referring to the Proserpine carpets we get up her which are similar in pattern,i have a wild caught one on video and some have yellow.Anyway just thought you might find that interesting.....there's heaps of laceys on the islands"heaps" but in all my time up here i've only ever seen a few tree snakes on any of the islands and i grew up fishing and camping etc on all 74 of them.I'm sure there's a variety of snakes on some islands but many are quite small,although with the many big resorts on some of the islands i'm sure carpets and taipans and who knows what has made it's way to those islands on barges etc over the years!

 

[trader]

Airlie Beach has changed a bit since then still a nice sall coastal town.

We went back with the kids (fresh from Canada) in 2000 and noticed quite a few changes. We also spent a week with them on Hook Island camping in the lil cabins there...you bring your own food and do your own cooking, very cheap holiday and had the kids experience snorkling...We enjoyed the goannas trying to eat our breakfast every morning, while cooking it on the barbies on the beach

but i presume they may be referring to the Proserpine carpets

We did see Proserpine carpets while on the Island...*sigh* It apparently has changed to a National Park now with no camping and the 'resort' is gone...I feel VERY priviledged to have experienced Hook Island and the Islands near by...

 

[BROWNS]

You did see a carpet on Hook did you?I know the little cabins and small resort and the observatory is still there and the rest is all National Parks,it's the 2nd biggest in the group and has some beautiful coral reef for snorkelling.There's a place ther called Butterfly Bay where at a certain time each year there's just thousands and thousands of beautiful butterflies......haven't actually seen the sight in a long time but it still happens yearly.

We enjoyed the goannas trying to eat our breakfast every morning, while cooking it on the barbies on the beach

Yep they would've been laceys,we used to feed them chicken drumsticks and put a leash around their neck and walk them down the beach,till they decide to crawl up a tree :lol: very friendly with people that's for sure.

 

[trader]

I have a couple of pix taken back in 2000 of the Carpet and the very friendly lacies... It is so good to chat with someone who has been to Hook Island, gawd it brings back such awesome memories of a VERY special place!

Here are a few ...I have more if you want to see them but I should get to bed.. See ya Browns nice chatting with you.

Judy

 

[BROWNS]

Well there you go but that's just your regular looking carpet we get here not what is called a Proserpine...very different,more jungle like with jungle head pattern.You were lucky to see a carpet on the island,great stuff!!!Thanx for the pics Judy and if you have any more of that carpet or close ups i'd love too see them when you get a chance....i have some pics of local carpets but my scanner doesn't work.....big variation!

 

[pugsly]

that carpet pattern is really nice, what type is it then??

 

[instar]

Nices pics Andy, lucky Mug! GTF'S are great!

 

[Linus]

I have been to airlie beach 5 or 6 times and have been to 4 or 5 of the islands including hook. I never saw one snake in the wild! :?

Last visit was to peppers palm bay (long island it think)where there were supposed to be loads of snakes. never saw more than a gecko.

Love the gtfs browns

 

[herptrader]

Re: RE: GTF City!!!

that carpet pattern is really nice, what type is it then??

That would be your Hook Island carpet ;-)

Judy and I have very fond memories of Hook Island. You wake up in the morning, streach, grab the snorkle and gogles, walk 20 paces to the water and check out the coral reef for a while before coming back and cooking up breakfast in the outdoor kitchen. One morning we followed a huge turtle around the reef for about 20 minutes. It was hanging out with two beautiful bat fish. Pretty special stuff!

As for herps on Hook island in addition to the Hook Island carpet I have also seen children's pythons, brown tree snakes, Lace monitors, sand goanas, countless skinks and lots of those imported asian house geckos.