Critters
December 20, 2023
Our Top Ten Texas Critters of the Year
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . five feral hogs?
Snakes
Critters
November 8, 2023
The Texas Indigo Snake Eats Rattlers for Breakfast
That’s why farmers and ranchers consider it a friend.
Critters
April 24, 2023
Move Over, Snake Farm: Reptilandia Is the Hill Country’s Classy New Reptile Zoo
Ghostly axolotls float, sausage-fat skinks dive, and snakes slither in thoughtfully designed, naturalistic habitats at the new Johnson City zoo.
Books
April 7, 2023
Why ‘Lonesome Dove’ Gives Me the Creeps
A nightmarish scene in Larry McMurtry’s epic novel triggered my unshakable—and completely illogical—fear of snakes.
Meanwhile, in Texas
November 21, 2022
Why a Houston-Area Emergency Room Has a “Snake Bucket”
From the man responsible for emptying it.
Critters
May 16, 2022
It’s Easy to Buy a Snake in Texas. Maybe Too Easy.
Almost anyone can walk out of an exotic reptile and pet show with a snake, scorpion, or tarantula. But should you?
Meanwhile, in Texas
September 10, 2021
Meanwhile, in Texas: A Cobra Escaped in Grand Prairie
Plus, home security footage captured a deer hoof-fight over corn feed.
Critters
October 17, 2019
The 12 Most Dangerous Critters in Texas
These creatures—some creepy crawlers, some fearsome beasts, some microscopic threats—can and will kill you, maybe.
The Texanist
March 3, 2019
The Texanist: Why Are People Telling Me Not to Kill the Copperheads on My Property?
A newcomer to East Texas thinks it’s fine to dispatch venomous snakes on sight.
The Texanist
May 26, 2018
The Texanist: Should I Let My Kids Splash Around in a Snake-Infested Swimming Hole?
A Central Texas mom tries to strike a balance between innocent summertime fun and her worst slithering, venomous nightmare.
Critters
July 17, 2015
Let Us Remember The Austin Cobra
The cold-blooded killer met its unceremonious end off of I-35 and was found early on Friday morning.
Critters
July 3, 2014
A Big Rat Snake Is Ssslithering Through San Antonio’s Sssewer Lines
Probably not rats, though, if this guy is around.
Critters
May 16, 2014
A College Station Woman Found a Twelve-Foot Python in Her Freaking Bathtub
AAAAAAAAAAH!
Critters
June 1, 2011
Rattled!
My short, unfulfilling, momentarily terrifying career as a rattlesnake racer.
Feature
October 1, 2004
A Texas Survival Kit
What to do if you're bitten by fire ants, lost in the wilderness, sprayed by a skunk, attacked by a shark, stuck in a lightning storm, swept away by a riptide, or caught in any of eleven other worst-case scenarios.
Critters
April 1, 1998
Rattled
Nothing riles a Texan like a rattlesnake, whose aggression and toxicity account for endless horror stories. Some of them are even true.
Meanwhile, in Texas
January 1, 1996
Year of the Snake
At First the Count Was Ten U.S. Customs Service agents in Eagle Pass searched the driver and the passenger of a pickup and found eight live snakes wrapped in socks and pantyhose inside the two men’s underwear. Pass the Boysenberry Syrup or Start Saying Your Prayers Charles Bryant of Missouri
Health
June 30, 1981
Fangs
Now is the time to unlearn everything you’ve ever heard about snakebite.
Critters
June 30, 1976
Nobody Loves a Rattlesnake
Especially not in Sweetwater: the score at last count was Humans 10,000, Rattlers 0.