Bizarre Creatures of Texas!

What's going on Coyote Pack? Right now we're on location in Cleveland, Texas, staying at the Chain of Lakes Resort. We thought it'd be really cool to go out and explore the grounds at night to see how many creatures we could find. We've got Mario behind the light. Hey Mario. Hey. We've got Mark right there behind the camera as usual. Hey guys. And if you guys out there watching are ready, we're gonna head off and see what we can find. I've got a net, I've got my snake hook, and anything is possible. You ready? Let's do it. Okay, let's go. Snake, snake, snake. Wow. Got it. Wow. Yes. Oh my gosh. Holy. Oh, look at that. There's a gecko. Oh, it's going up the side. There's a gecko right there. Go around here. I'm gonna gently flip him down with my snake stick. Watch this. I keep, oh, he's not going away. Perfect. Got it. Oh, nice. Yes. Excellent. Look at that. Woo. Look at that. Oh, he's trying to bite me. Look at you trying to bite me. One vicious little gecko. Now that is a Mediterranean gecko. Oh, he's nipping me. Look at that. Those little tiny teeth. You don't want me, buddy. You want to eat the moths and the bugs that are flying around. Ow, ow, ow. This is actually an invasive species here in Texas. But either way, that is pretty cool looking, isn't it? Wow, our first catch of the night. And we are just a few minutes into the introduction. I love geckos. They are so cool. Their eyes look like the eyes of a dinosaur. All geckos have these sticky little pads on their toes. Maybe too small for you to see it with your camera there, Mark. No, I can see them. But these geckos can run right up the side of the glass. And when I let him go, I'm actually gonna put him on the glass so you guys can see that. There he is. Look at that, sticks right to the glass. All right, let's keep going. Oh, there's another little gecko right there. Tiny one. There's one. Where? Right there, right there. Oh, you're right. Look at that. Good spotting, Mario. Oh, that's a nice one. That's a big one. It's probably sleeping, so as long as I'm pretty quiet. Got him. Yes. Nice. Whoa, don't fall off the edge, Coyote. Ah, look at that. Now, this one can give you a pretty good bite. Oh, that is good size. All right, coming back. Yeah. Oh, super cool. Look at that. Now, we've done an episode before on brown anoles, but the green anole is not invasive here in Texas. This is a naturally occurring species. Look at that. It's actually changing color in my fingers. Ow! Ooh, look at that. We reached right around the side and grabbed onto my finger. Now, the gecko bit me, and those teeth were too small to break skin. And I don't think this guy's gonna break skin, but ooh, that does hurt a little bit. Hold on. Just like that. Oh, and this one's beautiful. Look at that duet. Oh, wait for it. Oh, how pretty is that? That is so cool. Now, I don't know if you can see there in your camera, Mark. Look at the blue coloration around the side of the eyes. That is my favorite feature of the green anole. All right, let's let him go. Okay, I'm gonna climb back under there. All right. There he goes. And off he goes. All right. You know what? At this juncture, I think we should head away from the lodge and off into the darkness and see what we find out there. You guys ready? Let's do it. All right. Coyote, why do they call this place Chain of Lakes? Oh, that's a great question. Well, we are literally staying in an area that is a bunch of lakes tied together by little pieces of land. This is perfect because you'll find aquatic and non-aquatic species both living in the same areas. What I wanna do now is actually get away from the lodge and head off into the darkness to see what we can find. All right, let's do it. Flashlights on. Oh, there's a turtle. That's pretty deep in there. You gonna get in there? Oh, got it. Got it. Wow. Went all the way in. Got a little wet. Talk about going for the gold. Wow. Look at that. Hold on. Face full of water. That is a razorback musk turtle. Oh, he is musky. Oh, he stinks. Soaking wet. Look at that. His little face. Looks like a little snapping turtle. So, are they related to snapping turtles? They're not, although it would be really easy to misidentify this as a snapping turtle. You see, it's got the very sharp hooked beak and then let's look at the underside. The plastron is actually very small. You see, the turtle can't completely tuck into its shell. You have a lot of exposed meat, just like a snapping turtle, but actually musk turtles are not related to snapping turtles at all. Let's see its tail. Its tail's kind of stubby, not like a snapping turtle. Nope, it's not. Snappers have very long tails. Look at that. Still has a bunch of little spikes on the tail. It stinks. Now, these musk turtles get their names because one of their defenses, if they're caught, is to musk, but it's a razorback musk turtle and can you see that ridge line that runs right down the center of the carapace? Almost looks like saw teeth. Wow! How awesome was that? That was a great grab. I didn't think you were gonna go in. I wasn't expecting that. Nope, mouthful of water, but totally worth it to catch this turtle. All right, let's let it go and see what else we can find along the edge of the pond. Snake, snake, snake! What do you got? Oh, it's a garter snake! No, no, no! Oh my gosh, it's a ribbon snake! Wow, look at that! That snake is blue! Oh my gosh! Well, there are some color morphs of garter snakes that can be blue, but based on how slender this snake is, I'm about 100% certain it is a ribbon snake. Look at the belly. That is like a beautiful sky blue. This has gotta be the coolest-looking snake I have ever caught! Mark, have you ever seen a blue snake before? No, definitely not in this part of the world either. That is crazy. Let me see if I can just get to kinda sit on my hand there. It's being very, very calm. Now, the snake was hunting along the side of the pond, but this is a terrestrial species. It's not often that you would see this snake in the water, but they can swim. Do you wanna see what that looks like? Sure. Oh, you can see the blue really good there. Look at it go. That is beautiful. Just like a ribbon. Wow. It does, it almost looks like ribbon candy with that blue coloration and that striping. Come right towards me, Mark, don't worry. Non-venomous. Let me bring it back here. Based on the location we're in right now, close to the Gulf of Mexico, I am going to guess that this is a Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake. Super cool. Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, I'm gonna put it back down on the embankment, allow it to keep hunting, and we're gonna head this way. Look at how clear that water is. So, Coyote, what are we looking for here? Really, anything that is moving under the surface of the water. You've got a fish right here, it looks like a gar. Hold on a second, keep the light right there. You see it swimming? Yeah. I'm gonna try to catch it. Keep your light on it. Nice. Whoa! Woo! Look at that! That is a gar! No way! How did you catch that? A little bit of patience pays off. Hold on, it's very slippery. Okay, there you go. There we go. Whoa, look at those teeth. Yeah, that will rip apart your hand. Wow, okay, well, you guys are always asking for more fish, and they are very difficult to catch, and I just slowly slinked into the water there. I think it was sleeping, which I think helped the situation. And look at those teeth. Wow, they are needle sharp. Now, this is not an alligator gar. I do believe it is a spotted gar, and the way I can tell that is look at the spots on top of the head. Wow, this fish is strong! Woo, I can only keep it out of the water for a couple of minutes here, and it feels like it is armor plated. I cannot believe that. It is incredibly slimy. Look at that. It looks like a dinosaur. Wow, it does look like a dinosaur. These fish are incredibly ancient. They get significantly bigger than this. But wow, my heart is racing right now. This is so cool. I've never seen one before. You wanna touch it? Feel it, feel it. It's like armor plating. Is it? Yep. Oh wow, it's like super bony. Yeah, it's like not soft at all. Yeah, that is not a fish that you would ever wanna try to eat. And they are predators. You could see from that mouth. This fish certainly is prehistoric looking. So cool to get up close with one. I can't believe I caught it with that net. That was awesome. All right, we're gonna get it back off into the water. I'm gonna do this very slowly, and watch how quickly this animal takes off. Go ahead, light it from over top there, Mario. Just wanna get some water going back through his skittles. There it goes. Look at that. Good as new. Woo! That was seriously amazing. Dude. Slimy high five there, Mario. Awesome. Great job. Okay, well. So cool. I think we've found pretty much everything we're gonna find around this lake. It's only been about 35 minutes. Yeah, all right, let's head deeper to the far edge of the property, and get into the swamp, and see what we can find there. Wow, there are so many creatures out and about in this cypress swamp. Can you see this? Just let's just take a look around. This is ancient. Pretty eerie, actually. It is pretty eerie. I feel like if I wasn't so preoccupied with looking for animals, you're out here by yourself, you would kind of be like, really creeped out. Whoa. You don't wanna get any closer than that. Those are super dangerous, right? Well, if we disturb that, we are going to be swarmed by inch and a half long, extremely painful stinging wasps. Look at the size of those things. This is one of the many biological landmines out here. It's why you walk slow, and you do not just rifle through the underbrush. I mean, you could be down here exploring, come up through this, disturb these wasps, and you would literally be swarmed in seconds. I don't even know how you would get those all off of you, because it's not like a bee. It's not like it stings once, and the stinger comes off. They can sting over and over and over. They have little hooks on the sides of their legs. They basically latch on and sting you again and again and again. Okay, that is like a living nightmare right there. Let's keep going this way. Oh, guys, right here. Now, let me see. Coyote, Coyote, look at this one right here. Seriously. Where? Right here. Come over here. That one's doable. He's a monster. Where? Oh, jeez. There he is. You got him? All right, I'm gonna swoop down in front of him and try to get him in the net. That is a huge frog. You ready? One, two. Got him. Wow. Yes. Holy mackerel. Look at the size of that frog. Okay. This has got to be the biggest bullfrog I have ever captured. Hold on, let me get a hold of it. Whoa. Are you believing this? Look at the size of its legs. Oh, my gosh, have you ever seen a bullfrog that big before? No way. That's like a small cat. Oh, my gosh. I don't think there's any way I could have caught this frog by hand. Look how big around its back legs are. That thing is enormous. It dwarfs the bullfrogs that I catch in Ohio. Wow. Look at you. Now, this is a frog that I would consider a predator and not prey. Now, certainly an alligator would eat it, but a frog of this size is actually big enough to eat other frogs and even small snakes. Look at you. Wow. Let's look at the belly. Look at the speckling on the belly. Can you see that? Wow, it's like a leopard. Absolutely gorgeous. So, is this a bullfrog? It looks way different. This is. This is an American bullfrog, and I would guess that this coloration is based on the habitat that it lives in. All this duckweed and all of this mud is probably what has forced it to create a camouflage that blends it in perfectly to this swamp atmosphere. I am so excited right now. I'll tell you what. When I was a kid, if I had caught this frog, I guarantee you that I would have won the local frog jumping contest. Well, how cool is this? Spending the night, just about an hour now, exploring out here in the wilds of Texas, and we came across so many amazing animals, including the biggest bullfrog that I have ever seen. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see you on the next location. All right, I'm gonna set the frog down on the ground, and let's see how far it can jump. You ready? Oh! He hit me. Jeez, he jumped right into the camera. He did. It took off like a lightning bolt. Wow, that was awesome. If you enjoyed this night herping challenge, make sure to go back and watch Creepy Desert Creatures. And don't forget, subscribe, so you can join me and the crew on our next location. We're getting just back to the house. Pup, you back there? All right, you're behind the cameras. We've got a Western Dimeback rattlesnake right here. I'm gonna move up slow. Oh, look at the scorpion coming down right here next to us, too.