G'day
Just a few thoughts that I have been having lately. About November last year I went to rottnest with a group of friends for a holiday. For anyone who isnt aware of rottnest it is a small island off the coast of Perth. Of course being a herper, curiosity got the better of me and i decided to go check out the local dugite population.
Me and a close friend did a good 20hours of walking through sand dunes and around the rock formations around the salt lakes, over a few days. We found a total of 12 snakes all up. Most of which were >40cm, and VERY dark in colour. Which is textbook stuff when it comes to the rotto population. Something I did find quite interesting though was the size of two individuals. I captured, measured and quickly released both. Both in the 180-190cm range. Far larger then the rotto subspecies is meant to get and a much lighter more chocolate colour, which very well could just be a more adultish colouration.
I had a chat about this to a well respected herper in Perth, and he said that it could be a possibility that some mainland dugited were introduced to sustain the rotto poulation? does anyone have any thoughts on this?
sorry I dont have any pics, was a spur of the moment type trek. Will be going back later this year to have another poke around/holiday.
Alex
I had a chat about
Just a few thoughts that I have been having lately. About November last year I went to rottnest with a group of friends for a holiday. For anyone who isnt aware of rottnest it is a small island off the coast of Perth. Of course being a herper, curiosity got the better of me and i decided to go check out the local dugite population.
Me and a close friend did a good 20hours of walking through sand dunes and around the rock formations around the salt lakes, over a few days. We found a total of 12 snakes all up. Most of which were >40cm, and VERY dark in colour. Which is textbook stuff when it comes to the rotto population. Something I did find quite interesting though was the size of two individuals. I captured, measured and quickly released both. Both in the 180-190cm range. Far larger then the rotto subspecies is meant to get and a much lighter more chocolate colour, which very well could just be a more adultish colouration.
I had a chat about this to a well respected herper in Perth, and he said that it could be a possibility that some mainland dugited were introduced to sustain the rotto poulation? does anyone have any thoughts on this?
sorry I dont have any pics, was a spur of the moment type trek. Will be going back later this year to have another poke around/holiday.
Alex
I had a chat about
