Reptiles Magazine Community / Reptile Forums / Into The Wild

Saba

opal — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:26:38 GMT

one of the best herping trips ever. You should go sometime. great finds there.

Field Guides

sgtpepper0 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:23:31 GMT

I am taking a hands-on herpetology course this spring and I need an excellent field guide. I currently own the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians, but it doesn't have any pictures of skulls.

Who here knows of a field guide with good skulls pictures, or even illustrations?

herping in michigan

jaredscorns6794 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:30:39 GMT

i have been walking around my woods for ever it seems like. my main goal is to find at least one snake every time i go out. i would walk for hours and hours and usually find noting. the only snake i ever found while looking was a blue racer i had rescued from a beer can the year before. i have never found anything besides that racer except four different east. hog noses i found while not even looking for snakes, i was just getting the mail or mowing the lawn when i found those. any tips for herping in michigan?!?!?

My finds

fred60655 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:46:11 GMT

Iwent herping and i found: 7 Baby Garters, 3 adults, one having just finished giving birth to the 7 babies, and one that could've been a bull or a garter

Clearing a brush pile in the back.

mississippiensisman — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:30:31 GMT

We cleared a brush/wood/metal scrap pile on our property. There was two yellow bellied water snakes(presumably), at least one garter snake, one small unidentified black snake, and most exciting, a cottonmouth! The first hot snake on the property confirmed! About two feet long, he/she was very bright, almost copperhead-y in color, but was definately an agkistradon piscivorus. Unfortunately, none were caught, as they dissapeared quickly.

herping in CA

Lord of the Frogs — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:50:58 GMT

I live in San jose and I have a backyaerd with No herps practically except for lizards that i caught and bred in my yard and 1 kingsnake sight.

I live not in an urban city but in a neiborhood by stevenscreek reservoir. Any ideas on places i can go herping

field herping

pythonman14 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:13:41 GMT

i do a decent amount of field herping and decided to start a topic to discuss this almost gone herping season and past ones aswell

also equipment like i use a big apple 42" snake hook with a midwest M1 40" tong with the super tong option and a 5 gallon bucket for the hots

this year was light on hots for me only 1 which was a juvinile AZ black rattler but some good size gopher snakes and of course a bunch of garters and a couple striped whipsnakes

Snapping Turtle

rtindell — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:09:44 GMT

Was driving home from church and saw this bad boy in the road...couldnt just leave him there to get hit....so opted to get out and get some nice pics and help him off the highway

2 of my favorite pics

Maximum — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:55:25 GMT

These are two of my pictures from out in the feild. They are an American toad and a Bullfrog. Enjoy

Accidental Herping

Orochimaru — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:40:32 GMT

The front door on our house isn't sealed right; in fact, it has an 1/2" gap at the widest part. Night before last when we came home after dark and were going to look after our tree frog collection, I spied a large tarantula behind the glass. He was quite comfy there. Today my boyfriend found another tarantula in a seldom-used part of the house. He was on the windowsill, and very comfy as well. And just before that, an alligator lizard was hanging out on one of our sword's hilt! It was difficult catching him to release outside. He scrambled down, ran behind the door, then under the blankets of our bed, then into the dark and cluttered closet where my boyfriend finally cornered him in one of my shoes. What an exciting day!

American Toad

kritter keeper — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:43:33 GMT

I found a very lethargic American toad in my neighbor's pool filter. I rinsed him off and put him near a drainpipe right outside my house where a toad already lived. I didn't think he would make it, but to this day he still lives in my drainpipe. A fowler's toad has even joined the two.

Easter Egg Hunt Gone Bad......

Cflaguy — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:22:23 GMT

Actually I didn't mind he showed up. My MIL did however.

We took my 2yo over to the in-laws for her first Easter Egg hunt. When this guy crashed the festivities......

OK not the best pic, here are some more.....

My MIL was upset at the snake for eating the frog. I told her I'd remove the snake but she got more upset at me. Seems that Racer has lived in their yard for 8 years.

catching kingsnakes

gecko121 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:49:50 GMT

i live near tampa,fl and i wanted to know where i should look for some kingsnakes

green iguana 0.0.1

scarlet kingsnake 0.0.1

leopard geckos 4.6.0

lesser siren 0.0.1

sand boa 0.0.1

fire belly toad 2.4.0

hERPING

fred60655 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:59:54 GMT

I live in suburban chicago, where should i look for herps?

catching green iguanas in the keys

gecko121 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:39:48 GMT

2 weeks ago i went to the florida keys , to my surprise there were baby iguanas everywhere. it was fun trying to catch these little guys,anyone else ever try to catch them? also i saw a wierd lizard down there as well,it looked like a large fence lizard but the wierd thing about it was that when it ran away it lifted its tail like a scorpion and ran off into a burrow.anybody know what this mystery herp is ? sorry couldnt get pics.

leopard geckos 4.6.0

kenyan sand boa 0.1.0

green iguana 0.0.1

lesser siren 0.0.1

A beautiful day for herping

Sorrak — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:08:41 GMT

A gorgeaus summer day could only be paired with herping.I explored around my yard.All I had was my camera,my eye for hiding animals,and a hope they wouldn't freak and run.I was outside for about and hour and a half and let me tell you I got a lot of dud pics.Only 5 pictures actually turned out good enough to be posted.

This little fella here was sitting in my neighbor's hose and that little dude sat still for quite a few pictures before leaving to do some lizard things.Only two though,were RC worthy.

This one is my favorite,I just love that it looks so professional.The brown anole is a little tricky to see on my tree,but that's the awesome part of it in my opinion.

Galapagos/Ecuador Adventure

Bugman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:16:39 GMT

i recently got back from a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos that I took with a group from my school. It was an amazing trip! Along the trip I got to see many interesting animals and plants, including some amazing herps.

Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)

Lava Lizards (Microlophus (Tropidurus) spc.)

Looking for some wild herps

the herptile master — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:43:03 GMT

All summer, i have been looking for 3 diffrent species of herp. These are the five-lined skink, spring peeper, and the smooth green snake. I have been looking for them in a park called little minomonee park trail. It is a huge park. With plenty of woods, springs, and even a tall grass prarie here and there. Here i have caought toads, snakes, and frogs. But i have not seen these herps. Even though all the books ive read say they live in areas like this. Should i be looking in another area or what??

huge lizards

opal — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:20:31 GMT

when I was in st.martenns, a friend and I tried to catch a lizard that was about as thick as a fist and about a foot long. it had a green tail and it had white specs on the green. the rest of the body was black the tail was half of it's body.

Probably the dumbest question ever here to be asked

Sorrak — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:58:09 GMT

What is herping?

Herping in the OBX

amberlini95 — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:15:02 GMT

So, my family and I went on vacation to the Outer Banks over the past week. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't get to do a lot of herping at all due to out-of-town family members being down and me wanting to spend time with them.

I did go out herping though, but I only was able to do it on the sand dunes. All I was able to find were a couple of anoles and Six-Lined Racers. (about 2 dozen 6-lined racers to be exact)

I wasn't able to get the pictures to work with the anole, so I didn't get any pictures. Sorry.

And those of you who have ever herped for six-lined racers know that they are lightning fast. My camera is not very fast, so unfortunately, I have no pictures of them.

Into the Wild on the West Coast

Grant — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:00:16 GMT

During my trip driving from San Jose, California to Seattle, Washington, we stopped at a few points along the way - San Fransisco, California; Eugene, Oregon; Portland, Oregon and many roadside stops. At one of the stops, I found the only wild reptile I saw during the entire trip. I found him at the top of a cliff high over a rocky shore in extreme northern California.

I believe that he is Elgaria multicarinata scincicauda, also known as the Oregon southern alligator lizard. He was still young, only around four to six inches.

Last Week in Las Vegas

tspuckler — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:10:18 GMT

The following photo essay covers some of the reptiles and amphibians I encountered while herping Las Vegas from May 28 to June 8, 2009. The weather was cooler than usual and often overcast with occasional wind and rain. Nine different types of snakes were found, consisting of: Great Basin Gopher, Longnose Snakes, Glossy, Night Snake, Western Blind, Ground Snake, Coachwhip, Sidewinder and Speckled Rattlesnake. Twelve types of lizards were found: Chuckwallas, a Desert Iguana, Side-blotched Lizards, Western Whiptails, Banded Geckos, Night Lizards, Collared Lizards, Horned Lizards, an Ornate Tree Lizard, Sagebrush Lizard, Spiny Lizards and Zebratails. There were also two species of toad and one Desert Tortoise encountered on this trip.

My trip started off well - I checked into my hotel at 8:00PM and then went out to do some roadhunting. I was quickly rewarded by finding my first "lifer" of the trip - a Longnose Snake.
Not long afterwards I found a decent-sized Glossy Snake. I then moved to another road, where a second Longnose turned up, this one being more faded and speckled than the first.

The following day, Sideblotched Lizards (both the standard and the striped versions) were commonly found.

A road trip to Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge yielded "lifer" #2 - a Woodhouse's Toad. I found several. Previously the only toads I've found in the Las Vegas area were Red-spots.

On the way to Pahranagat, I saw this Great Basin Gopher snake on the shoulder of the road. The speed light was 70mph and as I pulled off the road to turn around, I saw the car behind me swerve to miss it. Unfortunately there were two additional cars behind that one and the snake was fatally wounded by the time I got to it.

A trip to Red Rock Canyon was made on an overcast day. I did see one Collared Lizard, several Red-spotted Toads and the first Blind Snake I've ever encountered in Nevada.

A visit to Chloride, Arizona netted the third "lifer" of the trip - an Ornate Tree Lizard. From what I understand, Tree Lizards are more often found on rocks than on trees.

The cooler weather caused me to not think I'd see a lot of Chuckwallas, but there were a few out. Desert Iguanas were far less common - I only saw one.

Upon returning from Chloride and chilling in my friend from Boulder City's backyard, I noticed something crawling along a brick wall. Lifer #4 - Ground Snake. And a very pretty one too.

This Desert Tortoise was found at a construction area (the hotline was called and the tortoise was picked up for relocation).

Two nocturnal lizards (Banded Geckos and Night Lizards) were regularly found under artificial cover. I also saw a few geckos while roadhunting.

Some other commonly seen lizards were Whiptails and Zebratails. Zebras seem to prefer warmer temperatures, but the weather sure was good for Whiptails - I may have seen more of those than Sideblotches.

A roap trip to China Ranch in California turned up two Horned Lizards - here's one.

These big beetles are frequently encountered - like Giant Mealworm Beetles, they can give off a stinky smell.

The temperature was quite cool on Mt. Charleston, but I did manage to turn up a Sagebrush Lizard.

An Arizona Sidewinder found while roadhunting.

I also found this Night Snake on a relatively cool evening.

The final find was on the last full day of the trip. I was exploring the backroads of Valley of Fire Park and I came across "lifer" #5 - Speckled Rattlesnake.

It was one action packed trip!

Tim

Ok.... Weird Story Time!!!

iguana lover for life — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:06:21 GMT

so one day (like a week ago) i took a shower and we have a window in our bath room. so i look out, and something on the top of the tree caught my eye. "it's and Iguana!!!" i thought. so i put on my cothes (after the worlds shortest shower), and run outside. than my mom stops me and says," what r u doing?" i told her and she said" u need proper climbing shoes" so she drug me back in the house, and 5 min. later i run for the dorr and craig (my stepdad) says," it's already gone... but it wasn't an iguana.... but a squirrle." (sorry for the sp... it's late) i got real bummed out. i didn't believe him though.

as reblious as i am i ran back out htere to see what i could find. i found the rodent, which crushed my spirits, but i did find one real interesting herp. a collared lizard. this one was a female. i could tell because the previous year (idk if you guys rememmber) i found a male collard lizard. and this was definately a female. she was much smaller.

she let me get relitively close so i could examine her. too bad i didn't have a cam with me i would have taken pics.

so i went inside, still proud at the end of the day that i found duch a rare lizard to see up close.... in the WILD!!!

so if any of you guys have any simalier encounters, please feel free to post them. im asking with open arms!

.:NOTE:. ~~~> again please excuse the mis-spelling of words. it's 11:10 pm over here right now and im in need of rest. this is my last post of the night so there you go.

ENJOY!

Two venomous snakes in one day.

mississippiensisman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:04:21 GMT

In the same day (if not hour) I almost ran over a cottonmouth AND a copperhead with my bike. I would never do that intentionally, of course, and swerved as soon as I saw them. Fast little guys, I swear the copperhead would have been toast if he didn't have his lightning reflex neck muscles. It was dusk, and they were both babies. Gray and brown trail in the middle of a forest didn't help much either.

watch out for the large venomous rope!

opal — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:25:52 GMT

one day I was out side and saw a nice large rope on the ground. leaning over to pick it up, it moves. a copperhead 2 inches from my hand.
and that is it!

The threesome

Mike Future — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:14:19 GMT

It's not often you find even one of these species in my section of the state, but on a wet and chilly spring day last week I found all three.

Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene c. carolina)

Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata). This female was nesting in a sandy opening.

Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta)

Thanks for looking.

My newest catch

the herptile master — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:48:28 GMT

So i was out at this really good herping spot near a large creek. I was looking in the tall grass and i saw in the wet mud a snake track. I know that it was a snake becouse i saw the scale pattern and it was to large to be any worm. I went back to the trail and i happened to glance to my right and i saw a snake quickly slither into the tall grass. I lunged and attempted to grab it by the tail. I did have it by the mid-body. I pulled it up so i could see it better. That was then that i saw that it was a red-sided garter snake. I noticed that it was 1ft long. At first i thought it was a male. But then i realized that it had no red on the side. The red often carryed by males. Then i noticed that its tail was to thin to be a male. So i concluded it was a young female. She was thrashing alot. But i had a good grip and i knew she was not interested in biteing. Insteed she musked my hand. Something her species dose. She was healthy and had a buetiful tuequose green belly. She also had bright alert eyes. I also noticed that she had a healed wound on her belly. After i made sure she was ok and i savered the momment. And after my dad offered me to keep it, i relesed this young female back in the exact saame spot i found her in. So guys what do you think?????

Just some finds

GeckoNewt — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:04:29 GMT

My neighbors found the most colorful box turtle (the found him in the road) I have ever seen in the wild. We brought the turtle to the wooded/shrubby area near my yard and released him. A couple weeks ago I found a painted turtle near the woods in the school's athletic fields. And along with a toad , yesterday I found a stripeless gray snake(I'm assuming garter) under a log.

Turtle saving in southern Illinois

visor97 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:55:38 GMT

Two weeks ago I went to southern Illinois for wild life. The first animal I saved was a three legged box turtle witch is quite sad what was happening to his habitat. The box turtles habitat was being farmed he mad a pretty fast dash in front of our car. We stoped to make shore he was OK. He had some minor damage to the top of his carapice wich healed. the bottom also had some damage. Aparently he lost a leg in a run in with foresting. He had to drag himself with his front legs. He is now in a forty inch by 18 inch by 9 inch plastic container wich has ben upraded to be a perfect habitat for him. His leg is perfectly healed and the scratches and cuts on his shell healed other then that he is perfectly heathy (don't worry we took him to the vet).

Crazy methods for catching herps

kccannon — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:10:01 GMT

I caught a Gopher tortoise with a beer bottle (not mine) by making it ram the top of it until it was out of it's burrow enough to get my arm behind it, I've tail a scorpion with a cell phone, and I'm working on catching a rattlesnake with my shoe (not going to explain that it's really a good way to get bitten if not done right) Anyone else got an original/"that's all I" had story for catching herps.

Toads?

2manyherps — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:53:09 GMT

I live in Marion, Ohio and I would like to know where I should look for Toads.

Red-Bellied Water Snake

Auballagh — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:50:57 GMT

You never know when things are gonna happen. I'm known as the 'snake guy' where I work. Fortunately, a friend called on his cell phone to my office, and told me about a little crowd starting to gather around a snake they had discovered near the parking lot. Off I went! (Made sure my cape was on and adjusted correctly..... *grin*)
And there before me, was a yearling-sized Nerodia erythrogaster, the Red Bellied Water Snake!
!!YIKES!!
One of my all-time favorite herps. And, not a moment to soon, one of those manly goons was ready to put the ol' Timberlands to work in a gesture sure to please the ladies, by squashing this little snake. NOT Happening!
So, a couple minutes later, the little baby-sized Red Belly, is tucked safely away in the bottom of a five gallon bucket, and I've got an opportunity to get some photos.
Inside a 5 gallon bucket,

And another of him a bit more stretched out. It's easy to see that dry skin on his neck, and the loose eye cap on his right. But, he was mighty upset at this point, so I elected to leave that dry skin well enough alone,

A shot of the 'red' belly. At this age it's more of a tannish/orange....

I safely released him at the edge of some nearby woods, that has a nice, wet swampy section nearby. I would have loved to take this little feller home and raise him up. Around here, the adults turn jet black in color on top, and the red belly on this species develops into an amazing, brilliant crimson coloration. They're beautiful!
Oh well, I sure hope he beats the odds out in the wild, and survives to adult-hood!
- Here's an interesting You Tube Video of a baby, Red-Bellied water snake. Skittish? He's a BITER, man!
- And another, You Tube Video of an adult-sized, Red-Bellied water snake. This one displays a much calmer disposition, with adult size.....

swampy tennessee

Wallbey — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:29:13 GMT

ok so i live in a swamp in tullahoma tennessee and i went into the flooded woods behind my house its a beautiful place its peacul and quiet but any when i got there i got 5 bullfrog tadpoles 1 baby alligator snapper a small crawfish and a legs full of leaches

first herping of the year

SP — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:42:11 GMT

So we decided to get the dog on a walk and hit all the good frog spots in the area and see if we could get a good look at a few. Its just getting warm here and we know there are alot of frogs hiding so it was a safe bet we'd come across a few. we went to the pond first, heard alot of them and saw some splashing but didnt see any of them so we checked the next place a little way from the pond and there were two, one big one a little smaller but really bright green, we held him for a few minutes then put him back, they both just jumped into the clear water and watched us until we left, they were really cool. then we saw a few more and heard even more on the way home. then we decided to hunt down a few salamanders. we found 3 and saw another one, all diffrent sizes but all the same type. a sort of seep red with no markings and gills on the sides of their heads. they were really cool and quick. we put them all back after having them each out only a few minutes or less. they were beautiful. then we went home... we will go again, last year we relocated a big female bull frog to the pond from an unsafe road and she was huge, maybe we will see her or some of her offspring this summer. But next up we will hunt for some toads... and remember the camera.

Birds, Birds, and more Birds

2manyherps — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:59:32 GMT

This is just for fun post your best bird photos

Last Weekend in Southern Ohio

tspuckler — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:53:47 GMT

From April 30 - May 2, 2009 I accompanied 18 students from the Independence High School Biology Society to Hocking Hills. There was a lot of rain, which made conditions ideal for finding salamanders. We stayed at Lake Hope, which is in south-central Ohio.

Located within the 26,824-acre Zaleski State Forest, Lake Hope offers many opportunities to observe nature.

Spring Peepers were out calling in full force.

A night hike near Lake Hope's Furnace turned up Green Frogs, Red Efts, Spring Peepers, Redback Salamanders, and several of these - Longtail Salamanders.

The first snake I found on the trip was this Midwest Worm Snake - it's the first time I've ever encountered one.

Northern Water Snakes were the most commonly encountered reptile.

Probably the most blue I've ever seen on a "pure" Jefferson's - and the only one I've ever found outside of breeding season.

A Black Racer found patrolling the shoreline of Lake Hope.

And a Stinkpot found in the lake.

Slimy Salamanders were relatively common (though nowhere near as common as redbacks).

A Black Rat Snake in situ (and surrounded by poison ivy).

This Spring Salamander was found - you guessed it - in a spring.

And finally, another Black Rat (posed) found near the first.

baby toad

Wallbey — Sun, 10 May 2009 07:27:29 GMT

last night i was out herping (night is the best time to do it) and i found this baby toad sitting on my steps (have no pics) he was a little bigger than my thumb and was really unhappy to see me (he pee'd all over me) so i put it near my pond this morning and he seems very very happy now and he has lots of friends cause i got frogs and other toads near my pond also a couple of salamanders and a few newts in the pond.

Herping the Santa Cruz Mountains Last Week

tspuckler — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:18:19 GMT

The following photo essay covers some of the reptiles and amphibians I encountered while herping California from April 2-12, 2009. The weather was mostly cool (mid 40s - mid-60s), windy and rainy. Despite less-than-ideal conditions, 16 snakes were found, consisting of: Pacific Gophers (5), Santa Cruz Garters (3), Sharptailed Snake (1), Yellowbelley Racer (1) and Pacific Ringneck Snakes (6).

This Pacific Gopher Snake was the first herp I found on the trip - and in 2009.

The best looking Northern Alligator Lizard I've ever seen.

When the sun was out and it wasn't too windy, you could count on finding Fence Lizards.

I was lucky enough to find a pair of the single-striped variety of Santa Cruz Garters (male in photo below).

The large size of adult Arboreal Salamanders make them fun to find.

A large, relatively fat, Sharp-tail Snake.

I witnessed my first California Newt migration, seeing 88 crossing a dirt path in a half mile stretch.

This newt had no eyes, but appeared to otherwise be healthy.

One of last year's Pacific Gopher Snakes.

An adult pair of Gophers was found under artificial cover.

Male:

Female:

Ensatinas were a relatively common sight.

We found a spot in San Francisco that had an abundance of Pacific Ringnecks:

This Western Toad was somewhat colorful.

The only Racer found on the trip was so cold that it made a good photography subject.

Pacific Chorus Frogs were seen under cover in the daytime and calling at night.

And last, but certainly not least, this Santa Cruz Black Salamander was a "lifer" for me.

share your storys from the field

pythonman14 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:55:26 GMT

here is one of mine well my freinds but ya lol

ok well him and some of his other buds are out harvesting wild blackberrys and he goes for one and he finds a 5' blacktail rattler they got the gear out tonged it somehow it slips away under the bush they look for it and it comes up on one of his buds feet well they quickly tong it just to get it away from him then they get it in a secure container and the snake was not harmed and so where any humans