Reptiles (and a few frogs) of Borneo

[anguskennedy]

I thought I would post up a few photos of some of the reptiles and amphibians we saw on a recent trip to Malaysian Borneo. It is a reasonable guide to what you can see without getting off the beaten track - we hardly left a path over the trip (mainly due to time constraints!).

I tried to identify some of the reptiles from a little field guide I bought over there (it only covers 170 of the approx. 280 reptile species). I didn't bother with the frogs...I couldn't afford the guide! (buy more water dragons people....haha)

Anyway here they are. In fact, the more interesting photos are probably of the bugs, so if anyone wants to see them let me know and i'll put some up.

Cheers,
Angus

 

[anguskennedy]

More...

 

[anguskennedy]

And more....

 

[anguskennedy]

How not to pick up a goanna! Yes I know, i'm a goon, but both the monitor and myself were OK! (it had been eating eggs, so the guy decided the best way to scare it off was to poke it with a rake, and for some unknown reason it refused to climb the fence again, so I said "sure, i've handled my tame hatchling lacey a bit, I can handle this 1.5m wild v. salvatorii, i'll just pick it up and put it over the fence..." haha

 

[anguskennedy]

More photos...

 

[anguskennedy]

More..

 

[anguskennedy]

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[anguskennedy]

Others...

 

[anguskennedy]

Some more photos...

 

[anguskennedy]

Some more.......

 

[anguskennedy]

More photos

 

[anguskennedy]

Some more!

 

[anguskennedy]

Nearly there...

 

[anguskennedy]

And the last ones! Funny story with the photo of the colubrid (striped bronzeback treesnake).. I had gone off the path a bit and into the jungle to try get a better photo. As I was standing on the edge of an enbankment taking photos, I felt something crawl over my ankle (I was wearing shorts), so I looked down and it was an inch long yellow bug, it kept going, so I thought nothing of it, I was too excited about the snake anyway. Anyway about 3 seconds later I felt something land on my knee, then it stung me. i looked down, and hundreds of inch long yellow wasps were swarming out of their nest, which I was standing on!! I ran faster than I have ever run before, and was lucky enough to get stung only twice, but damn they hurt! Apparently swarms of these guys have killed people before, but thats true for many wasps. Not as funny as it sounds!

 

[froggyboy86]

Great photos, I've been thinking of travelling to Borneo this year. Can't help much with the frog id's past the genus level. Looks like you had fun moving the monitor lol

Aaron