Chad Keates Archives
Recently I visited Durban, and more specifically Westville to see my cousins after a long year of work. While I was excited to see my cousins, and catch up, I was also excited to see some new ‘herps’ in Kwazulu Natal, one of the provinces with the highest diversity of reptiles and amphibians in South Africa. What I didn’t expect was just how much I would see. Westville Whilst there I spent… Read More
This red-lipped herald (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) was found in the process of eating a guttural toad (Amietophrynus gutturalis) last night (9 december 2016) in Westville, Kwazulu Natal. The toad was still alive when the snake started eating it but died during the process of consumption. The snake took over an hour to consume the entire toad.
This list contains all the water snakes that can be found in and around water in the Grahamstown area. As the names suggest, this means that these snakes are usually found in close proximity to water because of their diets that mostly consist of frogs, tadpoles and fish. Although not as closely related to water as the other snakes on this list, the red-lipped herald has been listed at the end because it is closely associated with… Read More
Once again I found myself in Hogsback, and this time I was determined to catch and photograph (properly) the Amatola Flat Gecko (Afroedura amatolica). This trip to Hogsback was however not intended for herping or adventure but rather as a farewell for the Rhodes Zoology Honours class of 2016 who were staying on a nearby Hogsback farm for the weekend. Unlike my classmates who sought to study in the spare time between… Read More
This list includes all the green snakes that can be found in the Eastern Cape. Barring the boomslang (Dispholidus typus) and the many-spotted reed snake (Amplorhinus multimaculatus), all the individuals listed come from the genus Philothamnus and they are all closely related. In the Eastern Cape, the boomslang is not uniform green. Females are olive and males are green/yellow with black barring. Irrespective of this, the boomslang has been included at the end of… Read More
Chad Keates 