Field Herp Forum

The short answer - You never can tell for sure. Let us now if it hatches and try to get pics! The long answer... I have seen perfect hatchlings crawl out of eggs covered in thick bright blue fuzz. I have also seen eggs get a barely visible grey film over them and have the whole clutch be sequentiall...

Awesome. Maybe bit long but some of those shots are incredible!

OK, first of all I will say that I am about to play devils advocate here a little bit. I do believe that it is likely that UV light may have many as of yet unknown beneficial AND deleterious effects on living things including snakes. You are correct that there has not been adequate research in this ...

How is it : Extra ? How is it possible for it to be extra? What are the fossorial species you speak of that have no contact with daylight in nature? Are you aware of photobiological impacts other than d3 serum levels? Have you ever observed and bred snakes day cycled with ultraviolet light on a lon...

I did not only say breeding success. I also said extreme longevity, and no sign whatsoever of disease or deficiency. They don't get soft bones. They don't lay eggs with thin uncalcified shells. They don't show any sign of ill health whatsoever. The eat, grow, breed, and thrive beautifully. So I ask ...

So what this study shows is that blood levels of vit D3 increase with exposure to UV light. Thats all. And its not that surprising. We know that vit D is activated to vit D3 in a multistep reaction, one of which occurs in the skin when exposed to UVB light. However this is not the only way to get vi...

Your ground boas are beautiful. I used to breed dums and have been thinking about adding some ground boas back to the collection...

How long a kingsnake goes between prelay shed and oviposition is highly dependent on how happy she is with her nesting options. Experienced females that are set up properly will often lay 4-8 days after a shed. If your snakes are constantly going 8-14 days past their shed you should probably look at...

This is an amazing video. I can't believe they caught that! 2 things regarding the strike distance... First of all it looks as if the momentum of the squirrels jump pulls the snake even further from its starting point. Second, as mentioned above, a defensive strike and a predatory strike are differe...

I have always donated a portion of the proceeds I make from breeding reptiles to various herp conservation organizations. I have found a variety of rewarding ways to do this. There are numerous herp specific organizations such as the Turtle Survival Alliance, Partners for Reptile and Amphibian Conse...

I was in the field last week and I found a complete freshly shed skin (still wet), but could not find its owner. By the size, color, and head scalation I can positively ID it as belonging to a black racer. The only other possibly confusing species in the area would be a back rat snake and the scales...

I will start by saying that I have never been to the barrens (going this weekend for the first time!!!). But in general in the north if you are in areas you don't know (IE you don't have good AC to check) you need to be out there when the snakes are most active. Your pics look like you are out in mi...

This year I have been finding rats since mid march up in northern NJ and southern NY. The key to finding them at this time of year is knowing where they den. They are starting to be pretty active on the warm days but they wont go far from their hibernaculum this early in the season when it can still...

I visited a spot today that should be a giant swamp/floodplain. Dry as a desert. Even under the biggest logs was barely moist. Crazy. I stopped flipping after a few because I didn't want to destroy what little moisture was left if I did manage to flip a saly. I don't know where all the amphibs are e...

There are a lot of newbs on any forum. There are quite a few Cham experts that frequent those boards. Lots of good info there in general.

Can I get on the list please? Also, i am on the score cards but I don't seem to have access to the members area.

looks like bird inflicted wounds to me. poor guy.

Welcome to the forum Larry. I had a ton of fun helping at amphibian crossings with you guys when I was at UVM. I am sure you will find a lot of eager people to help out here as well.

definitely calumma. There are a bunch of species that are tough to even find an image of. Your best bet is to post this on the chameleon forums. My personal best guess is C. boettgeri or C. malthe but it is not quite perfect for either...

Well joke or not I made this exact mistake today... for real. I have herped my whole life in the north east and never seen a venomous snake up here (never really targeted them either). I have been to this specific sight many times and never seen a copperhead, and they have never been reported from t...

I have seen corns do it. I have no basis for this theory but I always just thought it was a sign of agitation / high sympathetic tone. Kind of like a cat twitching its tail, or a person tapping their foot when they get excited.

Awesome. Thanks for the book recommendation.

How do you differentiate Western from plateau fence lizards?

Also, Northern whiptail from plateau whiptails?

Ugh. I cannot figure out why photobucket reduces the size of some of my pictures and not others. It is driving me crazy. All of those pics are with the same camera and downloaded together on the bulk uploader!

Every time I go out west I run into these types of lizards and it is always very difficult for me to ID them to the subspecies level. There is so much locality and individual variation in phenotype and none of my field guides contain a really great. resource for differentiating them. Even online it ...

Thanks dragon

Yeah I would love to know where to download the app.

I have just started using the NAFHA HERP database and I had two ideas that I was wondering if they had been discussed. I did a quick forum search and did not see anything obvious. I have been seeing a lot of really early season aquatic turtle activity here in the northeast, and I was thinking it wou...

I'm working on it man! Last week the county had 3 records. Go check it now!

Hey Dennis. I pm'd you last week about coming up to help out but haven't heard anything back yet. Please put my name down and pm the details. Cheers.

I was going to drive up from Bergen County NJ. I could bring a few people and Westchester isn't too far out of my way. I am still not sure if I can make both days but I was planning on doing at least Sunday. If I do go Saturday, is anyone planning on spending the night? What are your plans?

Hey everyone. My name is Zach Whitman and my reptile history is about as varied as it gets. Started off “herping” when I was a little kid in Bergen County NJ. Got my first pet snake, a cal king, when I was 8 years old. 20 years later I still have him today! For most of high school I was the manager ...

The only patch nose I ever found was very cooperative. It was still a little cool out...

This nondescript little guy was found in August in northern VA in a temporary stream running through a field. I have never herped VA before so I just wanted to double check.

Juvi northern green frog?

Yeah thats a good point. I often use my binoculars to ID basking turtles, so even though I am sure, there is no way my camera can get good enough pics from that distance. Oh well... this is citizen science... if someone wants to not believe me, what can I say?

Thanks for all the fast replies. One more question... how do you enter a report if there are too many to count? Ex tadpoles. Just put one and then write TNTC in the notes? Also, going back to the turtle example above... If I saw the same 8 turtles, at the same location, but took a separate voucher p...

OK... newb data entry questions... I am a little confused about how to use the quantity function. So lets say I see 8 painted turtles sitting on a log and I take 1 picture of all 8. When I enter them into the database am I supposed to enter 8 separate identical entries with the same voucher photo? T...

Thanks! Made it up to Westchester NY yesterday and can add a few more painteds and 3 huge black racers to my March list.

Here is my species list for March. I doubt I will get out again before the end of the month so this will probably do it for me. All of these were found in Bergen County NJ (which is surprisingly data deficient). The specifics are all already uploaded to the database for the curious. 1 Black Rat Snak...

Wow. What in incredible trip! Great pics too.

Well, I am getting pretty psyched about these temps and this rain we've been getting on the front range. Saw the first snakes of the season last weekend. I thought I would post some of the other rocky mountain wildlife that I like to get out and photograph when its too cold for herping. Anyone else ...

Hello all. I have been a lurker on this forum for quite a long time, and I thought it is about time I introduced myself. I am originally from the New York/ New Jersey/ Vermont areas, and the east is definitely where I am most comfortable herping. I currently live in Fort Collins CO where I am a vete...

Well its bee a crazy few weeks since I got back from my trip, but I finally have a few minutes to post. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped out both on the post and with private messages, that was awesome. We had an awesome time. Start off with the highlight of the trip... Almost step...

I wasn't kidding when I said that anything would make me happy. Since I have never found a snake in AZ, they are all on the list. Huge highlights would be kings and boas, but crots, and subterranean stuff would be sweet as well. Weather seems like it has been 80s during the day and mid 50's at night...

Thanks for the info. I figured that since it was so early in the season, the hotter areas might be better. Is that area just not good for snakes period? Or just not this time of year? One of the places I was planning on visiting is a little bit farther north, on the border of La Paz and Yuma county....

Zach Whitman
Fort Collins CO

Hi All This is my first post to the forum, although I have been lurking for many years. I am a Northeast herper, coming down to herp mecca next week for some camping and hopefully some herp photography. I am going to be at a few different sites mostly outside of Yuma. My main goal is finding and pho...