Herpin' Connecticut style

[DaveDragon]

To make a short story long... Today we brought our Yellow Footed Tortoise to a local rescue. When we pulled into the driveway we found one of my wifes former students. Then we met the rest of the family. We brought our big Red Tegu because most people have never seen one. We all hit it off great. They let the tortoise wander around the house along with the Tegu. Then we took them outside. We all basked in the sun until the clouds took over. Some how we left with more critters than we came with!!(??) Our kids were given a couple of 2 year old Russian Tortoises. Here we go again!!! After lunch at Arby's we took the Red Tegu to a local pet store to show him off. As usual most kids were fascinated and most adults were terrified!

To get on topic, when we got home the kids did a little herpin' in the back yard. They found a "fierce" Northern Brown snake and a "huge" toad.

Thanks for not laughing!! Even if you did!

 

[Mvskokee]

that snake is very cool looking

 

[DaveDragon]

that snake is very cool looking

It was only about a foot long but the kids were proud they found it.

 

[PuffDragon]

Nice...I've been wanting to start a "What's in your backyard" thread. I was just gonna wait until I went herpin so I could post some pics along with the topic.

Cool finds!

 

[ThrillHouse]

wow, what a cool toad! what kind is that?

 

[mastroj]

That sounds like an awesome time, you must have to look long and hard to find fellow herpers in CT. Almost everyone I know is put off by them.

 

[Pikey]

thats an awesome snake i've never seen one like that in NY i wish i did.... But thats a big Bufo Americanus (looks about 3 1/2"?) e have 2 of them ones a li'l darker than that one and the other is black/brown & red

 

[DaveDragon]

I can't believe it's been over 2 years since we found those!!

 

[ThrillHouse]

thats an awesome snake i've never seen one like that in NY i wish i did.... But thats a big Bufo Americanus (looks about 3 1/2"?) e have 2 of them ones a li'l darker than that one and the other is black/brown & red

thanks for answering!

 

[ashesc212]

Dave those pics are awesome!

I recently came back from AZ on a herping trip with Chris and I loved how you could go for a hike, get exercise, and be herping at the same time. Anyway, when I got back to NJ I started to get depressed that I never see reptiles around here. I was even complaining on the morning that we went on a hike recently. It's like my wishes were granted because we stumbled upon a large black rat snake while hiking! It was awesome. I'll have to post up my pics soon.

 

[carcharios]

Herpin Maryland Style...

Here are some reptiles I've taken photos of at Flag's Pond Nature Center in Southern MD. If you head out in the morning, you can find all sorts of critters running along the boardwalk that leads to the Chesapeake Bay. Shown here are a hognose snake, a black rat snake (or a racer) - not sure, an eastern fence lizard, and the cousin of our tegu, the racerunner. The black snake was up about 15 feet in a tree. It freaked out the family that was ahead of me on the trail. It's not often that I see snakes in trees around here. In Costa Rica I'd expect that but not so much in southern MD.

I've also seen copperheads and hundreds of 5 lined skinks on this trail as well, not to mention several species of frogs and two species of toads. We used to have a ton of green tree frogs in the area but two summers ago they vanished. I went from seeing an average of 6 or 7 a night to only two specimens all last summer. This summer I've yet to see one, even with the unseasonably warm weather. We still get plenty of gray tree frogs and spring peepers. Makes you wonder what is going on...

 

[SjRrMc]

hey char i live in maryland also where did you go herping at?

 

[carcharios]

All these specimens are from Flag Pond's Nature Center. Its about 1/2 south of Annapolis on the Western Shore. Beautiful part that leads out to the Bay so you can hit both the forest as well as the beach habitats. The racerunners are only found close to the beach, as they prefer sandy soils, etc. Super fast too!