Stroll off the trail at Banner

Went for a walk this morning at Banner. I got off the trail and went and did some "flipping." I was able to find some things I have never found before. I'll just give you the pictures and then descriptions.


For me, this is every snake-hunters dream. A big piece of thrown-out carpet in the woods. Snakes love this kind of stuff. By the way, there was nothing there today, but just last week, I caught a 3.5 foot Fox Snake under this very piece of carpet. So you never know.

When I flipped this log, there were a couple of surprises waiting for me. This little Eastern Garter Snake was one of the things there. He was pretty funny. Because it is cool, he was really sluggish and slow. But he did open his mouth at me but he couldn't do much more than that.

Then under the same log was this little Small Mouth Salamander. This was very cool for me, because I have never caught a salamander in all my life...not once. So this was a special find for me. the crazy thing is I ended up finding five total this morning. Very cool.

Here's a shot of the other four Small Mouth Salamanders I found. They are the coolest creatures. The sleak black look of their bodies is just really nifty. I think salamanders are very cool creatures.

Now, this little guy is a Plains Leopard Frog. He was under another log I flipped and was only about maybe two inches in length. But he, like all the other finds of the morning wasn't really moving very fast at all.

This is a Neonate Northern Water Snake. He was curled up under a rock. He, too, was slow and sluggish on this cold morning. I really thought his coloration was beautiful.

All in all, this was a good little walk this morning. In my opinion, there's no better way to get exercise than to do a little herping while you're at it!

Various Snake Pics from 2007

I don't know the dates behind the following photos, I just know that these were all taken between spring and fall of 2007. There's not a ton of pics but a few different ones. Enjoy...
















You see a Brown Snake, a Three-Toed Box Turtle (our dearly departed "Church The Turtle"), and a Hog-nose Snake.

Quick Dash Out of the Office This Morning

Okay, me and my co-worker left for exactly a one hour excursion out of the office down to Banner. I really wanted to try and get a few pictures of the Northern Water Snake that I had seen there the two previous visits on her perch. We didn't see her out. But I did find the carcass of an Eastern Garter Snake, something had just eaten off the head of the snake (probably a raccoon). Here's a shot of it...
We moved on down a ways and listened to all the frogs raise their chorus around us. It really does get quite loud at times out there. It was also nice because the target range was closed, so no gun shot sounds were around us either.

We saw another (live) Eastern Garter Snake (didn't catch it) and then decided to leave. On our way out, stretched out on the road we saw a very large Eastern Garter Snake. This was a beautiful snake...probably 30 inches in length. I got a few shots before I moved it back off the road. Here's the pics...

April 22, 2008

Today I had to get out of my office for a little while this afternoon. I went down to Banner and walked some of the trails. It didn't take long and I came across my first find. A Northern Water Snake. I was going to get a picture of him, but as I approached him, he slid off the branches he was perched in and went straight into the water. Here's a shot of where he was perched though...

A little bit later I came across this little guy...a Brown Snake.


Just a little farther down the trail and I heard a rustling that I thought might be a snake at first, but no, it was a male Painted Turtle. And believe it or not, not even thirty feet away there was an even larger female I found. Here's a couple of pictures of both of them...


Just a little more walking down the trail and then I come across my second Eastern Garter Snake sighting. The first one I didn't get a picture of, but the second one I got close enough to snap a couple good shots of. Here's one of him just trying to get away from me...

This short office escape was capped off when I got back in my car only to drive a little way and save this Brown Snake from certain death if I hadn't moved him from his spot in the road where he was warming himself. Check him out...
Well, next time I have to get out of my office, I'll bring my camera along and I'll put up another post. This is not something where I will post on a weekly basis, but I will have something up every two to three weeks. So keep checking back. Thanks!

Welcome

Hey Thanks for showing up. We have been doing amateur herping for a long time now. With the onset of more media-driven Internet sites like this we have decided to add a blog to our portfolio for our hobby as well. I really appreciate all the help we've received from our favorite Reptile Site. We are not professionals, we just love reptiles. We really enjoy them in their native environment. Thanks for checking out the site.