Chad Keates Archives
Whether you call them whip snakes, grass snakes or sand snakes, what these snakes all have in common is that they are slender, gorgeous and lightning quick. This post is dedicated to all the snakes from the sub-family Psammophiinae, that are found in the Eastern Cape. This group is large and incredibly diverse, with members of this sub-family being found from the tip of South Africa, all the way to India. While… Read More
This list contains all the snakes that can be found in the Eastern Cape. Several species have not been added to the list as I do not have good photos of them at this time. Snakes such as the black mamba, green mamba and vine snake have not been added to this list as they are only present at the southern border between Kwazulu Natal and Eastern Cape, and thus have a… Read More
On Saturday the 5th of May I hosted the second critter walk. The event was well received, with quite a few people coming on the day. The day started out with a short snake demonstration, in which I showcased some of the snakes I had captured the week before on callouts, and was followed by a two hour ‘critter walk’ on a nearby farm. We managed to find several interesting species of… Read More
Death-shamming, death-feigning, playing dead, and thanatosis are all words that describe the process whereby animals pretend to be dead in the hope of being left alone by a perceived threat. When encountered, the Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemechatus) will often take every opportunity to escape. When cornered they will lift nearly half of their body off the ground and spread a large hood in an attempt to intimidate the perceived threat. Once hooded, the… Read More
The painted reed frog is the most widespread species of reed frog in Southern Africa, with a distribution that stretches from mid Western Cape, along the coast, to the top of Mozambique. Painted reed frogs are generally quite small with a maximum body size of approximately 33mm. Although restricted to the reeds and similar vegetation, along the fringes of waterbodies, the species is widespread and can be found in grassland, savannah, forest… Read More
On Wednesday the 14th of February I delivered two back-to-back snake awareness talks at Victoria Girls High School (VGHS) in Grahamstown. The talks, which touched on snake anatomy, behaviour and ecology, were very well received by both classes. Although many of the girls were frightened by the sight of a live snake, most of them took the opportunity to interact with the live snakes on display. Thanks goes to VGHS, and more… Read More
Chad Keates 