Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

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brick911
Posts: 3488
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:52 am
Location: Morrisville, PA

Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by brick911 »

I figure with the dawn of some warm days and people finding sporadic snakes, it was about time I summarized my snakes of 2012. Last year was a year of obsession and almost nonstop herping. I netted over 455 snake records in NAHERP, resulting in over 500 finds. I say this not to brag, but to demonstrate how much time I actually spent in the field. A good friend recently said to me that herping is a humbling experience which requires a lot of luck. I agree wholeheartedly. Anyway, I'll share some samples of what I turned up with some details mixed in.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the musk...

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Mmm... Ringneck by brick911

Northern Copperhead... Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen

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Norhtern Copperhead by brick911

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Northern Copperhead by brick911

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Norhtern Copperhead by brick911

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Norhthern Copperhead by brick911

Eastern Wormsnake... Carphophis amoenus amoenus

This snake actually played dead. When I flipped it over, this was the most upright I could get it to stay.

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Eastern Wormsnake by brick911

I somehow managed to find three different locations for wormsnakes in PA this past year. In fact they were spread out by 40 miles. How's that for dumb luck? Here's Lily with some that we found at the first spot. We found 11 here.

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Lily with PA Worms by brick911

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Eastern Wormsnake by brick911

Here's another PA spot with habitat in background. ...a lot different than South Jersey!

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Eastern Wormsnake by brick911

And here's the third spot I found them in.

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Lily and Nate with Wormsnakes by brick911

Upon flipping this wormsnake, I released it to let it crawl back under cover. Instead, it felt my nasty sneaker was a better choice, climbed up my foot and in.

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Eastern Wormsnake, hiding in the wrong place by brick911

This one was practically white.

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Eastern Wormsnake by brick911

Northern Scarlet Snake... Cemophora coccinea copei

LIFER! I actually found two of these this year. The one was in shed. BOOOO.

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Scarlet Snake by brick911

Northern Black Racer... Coluber constrictor constrictor

Flipped this one in shed and it struck a pose for me.

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Northern Black Racer in shed by brick911

I walked up on this basking racer at lunch one day. It darted away and up into a tree, providing me with this capture.

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Black Racer fleeing up a tree by brick911

This racer actually fooled me into thinking it was a rat from as close as fifteen feet.

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Black Racer by brick911

Wes with Racer

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Wes with Racer by brick911

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Northern Black Racer by brick911

I enjoy herping with kids. Even though they may cost me a few finds...

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Kids with Racer by brick911

As flipped...

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Black Racer, as flipped by brick911

Nate is definitely my bravest herp-soldier.

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Nate with juvenile Racer by brick911

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Northern Black Racer by brick911

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Northern Black Racer by brick911

Don't tell me how you're scared to be bit by a racer. I ain't hearin' it.

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Lily with Racer by brick911

Nighttime flip, perfectly posed without any help from me.

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Juvenile Racer by brick911

Timber Rattlesnake... Crotalus horridus

One hike I went on was the worst half mile of my life. Phil and I found three rattlesnakes there, but honestly, unless you told me there was gonna be a fifteen snake pile-up, I wouldn't do it again. :lol: Here's one of the sub-adults poking its head out of a crevice.

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Sub-adult Timber by brick911

Gotta love looking down from a big boulder and seeing this. I was gonna move the stick for the photo's sake, but Julie told me no. Women! pffft...

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Three Timbers by brick911

Speaking of Julie... haha. She looks like she might actually come within 20 feet of a timber, but trust me, that hook got no use. It was Phil's.

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Julie by brick911

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

Here's a good picture to show the difference between a freshly shed individual and one that needs a shed.

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Timber Rattlesnakes (one in shed) by brick911

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

This might not be my best, but its my favorite pic from all of last year.

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

Three in this one. And I'm pretty sure one was yawning.

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Three Timber Rattlesnakes by brick911

In blue...

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Timber in blue by brick911

I love spotting these guys without the hint of rattling. I wish I could say it happened all the time.

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

This one was the complete opposite. I stepped onto a boulder in a scree slide and this thing exploded from in between boulders and off under this rock! My heart pounded for two minutes, I was so startled. I came back later to see it peeking out.

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Timber Rattlesnake by brick911

I do well with timbers in the mountains, and therefore I don't bother looking for them in the pines. This year, I tried once and scored with a post-partum female, a few of her babies and a big adult male. I only have half decent pictures of some. The others weren't in a great spot for pics.

The Mama - She actually looked to still have afterbirth glistening from her backside. I'm pretty sure she gave birth that morning. It's a big no-no to stress out a female (even more so than the males). I snapped a quick shot and got out of her way.

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Post-partum Timber by brick911

Here's one of her offspring. Again, not the best shot as it was right near the Mom and I felt guilty enough being there when I'm sure she was stressed enough.

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Timber Neo by brick911

Northern Ring-necked Snake... Diadophis punctatus edwardsii

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Northern Ringnecks by brick911

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Northern Ringneck by brick911

Northern "zone" showing some speckling.

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Northern Ringneck, showing that I am in an integration zone by brick911

Nate actually found this basking ringneck on the abandoned road in Centralia. Centralia is an abandoned coal mining town where an underground fire causes cracks and the ground to collapse from time to time. You can see this road looks like an earthquake hit it. Very cool... unless you lived there.

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Basking Ringneck by brick911

Southern Ring-necked Snake... Diadophis punctatus punctatus

(Yes I know we are in an intergradationianary zone.) :)

As flipped...

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Ringneck in situ by brick911

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Southern Ringneck by brick911

Eastern Hog-nosed Snake... Heterodon platirhinos

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Eastern Hognose by brick911

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Eastern Hognose by brick911

This isn't the best picture, but it just downpoured.

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Eastern Hognose in shed by brick911

Eastern Kingsnake... Lampropeltis getula getula

Youngin' in shed...

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Eastern Kingsnake by brick911

This was a nice hefty female that I flipped a garage door away from a racer. I kinda wonder if I ruined a meal. Anyway, this is about all she would do for the camera.

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Eastern Kingsnake by brick911

And here's me with her, getting exactly what I deserve (look at my wrist). Sorry for the blur. Kids and cameras don't mix.

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Me and King by brick911

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Eastern Kingsnake by brick911

This was actually the first king I found on the crawl.

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Eastern Kingsnake by brick911

Eastern Milksnake... Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum

These are probably my favorite snakes in the area. This is the first individual I flipped in early April (a lot earlier than in previous years).

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

This was actually a pretty sizeable sub-adult holding red. Check out the following picture of Zach getting bit by a larger adult. You'll see he has this red one in his hand too, for comparison.

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

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Zach getting bit by Milk by brick911

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

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Eastern Milksnake by brick911

The kids and I set up this shed with some cover around it earlier in the year and it landed us this milk in May.

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Milksnake, Kids, and Habitat by brick911

Here's Nate with it on the opposite side of the shed. As you can see the habitat set up was perfect. I hope to see more this year.

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Nate with Milk by brick911

Before

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Lily with Milksnake by brick911

After

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Lily after Milk bite by brick911

...It hardly bled.

This was an interesting milk found from the fall zone in Delaware.

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Milksnake from the fall zone by brick911

Did I say I loved milks?

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Milk vs. Zach by brick911

Coastal Plains Milksnake... Lampropeltis triangulum notlookingtodebate

I've been looking for these freaking things forever. I finally found four. In all different spots too. I'm not even gonna lie and say I didn't revisit a spot. But for whatever reason the herpGods finally gave me a break and gave me four spots that have proven coastals.

This first one is ugly as sin, but it was from the coastal plain, so coastal it is!

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Coastal Milksnake by brick911

These next three were amazing to me. I'm sure the coastal-heads have their favorites and whatnot, but at this point I don't care. I was happy with every milksnake the Pines was letting me find.

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Coastal Milksnake by brick911

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Coastal Milksnake by brick911

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Coastal Milksnake by brick911

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Coastal Milksnake by brick911

Northern Watersnake... Nerodia sipedon sipedon

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Northern Watersnake by brick911

This was pretty awesome. I watched this snake come nose to nose with a bullfrog about ten minutes before he found something a little more suitable to his size.

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Watersnake and American Toad by brick911

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Northern Watersnake by brick911

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Northern Watersnake juvenile by brick911

Nom nom nom...

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Northern Watersnake being typical by brick911

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Northern Watersnake by brick911

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Lily with Nerodia by brick911

Here's some pics showing the ventrals.

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Northern Watersnake by brick911

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Northern Watersnake by brick911

Rough Greensnake... Opheodrys aestivus

I didn't have many lifers this year. This was one of them. Thank God I got this off my back!

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Rough Greensnake by brick911

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Rough Greensnake by brick911

Smooth Greensnake... Opheodrys vernalis vernalis

These are a favorite not only for me, but among my slew of kids. I can even talk Julie into a herping trip with them as a promise.

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Smooth Greensnake by brick911

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Smooth Greensnake by brick911

This pic shows off how brilliant these can be.

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Smooth Greensnake by brick911

Lily and Nate...

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Lily and Nate with Smooth Greens by brick911

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Lily and Smooth Green by brick911

Zach and Wesley...

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Zach and Wes with Smooth Greens by brick911

Red Cornsnake... Pantherophis guttatus

Here was the ugliest individual of the year.

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Corn Snake by brick911

As flipped...

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Corn Snake as flipped by brick911

Another as flipped individual. (I promise to post some nice looking ones soon.)

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Corn Snake as flipped, in shed by brick911

This baby still hadn't shed for the first time.

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Corn Snake by brick911

As promised. I found this one on the crawl and startled it quite a bit. I never even touched it. I'm sure he would have chilled out upon capture, but they are endangered so...

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Corn Snake, defensive posture by brick911

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Corn Snake by brick911

Black Ratsnake... Pantherophis obsoletus obsoletus

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Black Ratsnake by brick911

Great singing voice...

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Black Ratsnake by brick911

Unfortunately, it was in a bad spot to do it justice. But after hanging with this rat, it crawled away and up into a rotten tree. It was the largest snake I've seen to date in the wild. It was an easy seven feet. I took video of it, but with the sun shining on my camera screen, I couldn't tell if I was doing any good. It turns out I wasn't and the video was worthless. At least I got a pic.

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Black Ratsnake by brick911

One of my strangest observations of the year was this ratsnake. It was October 27th. I was in WV on the way home from green salamandering. It was 4:30 in the evening, 60 degrees and overcast. What this snake thought it was doing, I don't know.

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Ratsnake Eating #1 of 3 by brick911

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Ratsnake Eating #2 of 3 by brick911

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Ratsnake Eating #3 of 3 by brick911

Wes with a rat on his birthday.

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Wes with Ratsnake by brick911

Northern Pinesnake... Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus

Here's a pic of a sub-adult my kids and I found basking one day. That's my five year old, Lily.

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Lily with Pine Snake by brick911

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Northern Pinesnake by brick911

This was a surprise find. I was hauling ass down a road in the pines, trying to get to my next spot. It was early October around 9:00 at night. I see a branch laying in the road, and as I straddle it, realize its a snake. I pull the quickest U-turn ever and in those four seconds, figured it was probably a garter or black rat. Nope. It turned out to be a YOY pine! At night. Roadcruised! Woot! (It wasn't as happy as I was.)

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Roadcruised Pinesnake by brick911


Queensnake... Regina septemvittata

Despite my efforts, I was unable to turn up any new queen spots this past year. I'm still hopeful for 2013 and will keep checking the places I had in mind. That said, I only found two at a traditional place for finding them.

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Queen Snake by brick911

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Queen Snake Ventral by brick911

Northern Brownsnake... Storeria dekayii

Flipped this one under a newly placed board. I am not a believer that boards need to "age." I find stuff under fresh boards all the time. Most are in shed and I'm assuming, like the moisture of the grass dying. But a snake is a snake.

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Northern Brown Snake, as flipped by brick911

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Northern Brownsnake by brick911

Northern Red-bellied Snake... Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata

I've said it before and I'll say it again. These just never get old to me. The variability still keeps me interested in flipping rocks for small snakes on multiple occasions every year.

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Northern Redbellied Snake by brick911

Gravid...

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Redbellied Snake - gravid by brick911

Baby in August

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Redbelly Neo by brick911

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Northern Redbelly by brick911

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Nate with Redbelly by brick911

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Northern Redbellied Snake by brick911

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Northern Redbellied Snake by brick911

Variability

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Redbelly variability by brick911


Eastern Gartersnake... Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis

Of course I found tons of these. One of the highlights of last winter was finding garters at a local den over 30 times between 12/22/11 and 3/20/12. That alone was pretty awesome, and I learned a lot about the hardiness of the species. It also gave me a great reason to get out of the office every lunch break.

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Eastern Garter by brick911

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Eastern Garter by brick911

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Eastern Garter by brick911

This rusty individual was found foraging in a bog while I looked for spotted turtles. (Found two.)

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Eastern Garter by brick911

I found this garter while walking down a hillside. For whatever reason, I just like the color scheme here. This was en situ.

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Eastern Garter by brick911

In mid-March (much different than this year), I was out surveying some breeding toads. I heard a call that wasn't a breeding or release call. I guess you could call it a distress-call.

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Eastern Garter and American Toad by brick911

I'm a big fan of the diminished dorsal stripe on garters. This was an individual as found laid out on a trail in a Pocono's SGL.

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Eastern Garter - diminished dorsal stripe by brick911

And keeping with that theme, this was probably my favorite garter of the year.

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Eastern Garter - no dorsal stripe by brick911

Although some may argue that this was the best looking snake of the year.

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2012 Beautiful Snake Winner! by brick911

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Eastern Gartersnake by brick911

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Eastern Gartersnake by brick911

Haha. I love when the kids get bit.

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Wes getting bit by Garter by brick911

Smooth Earthsnake... Virginia valeriae valeriae

This was actually species #70 for me last year in the NE. *I got to 72. :)

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Smooth Earthsnake by brick911

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Smooth Earthsnake ventral by brick911

And that's all I have to say about that.
MCHerper
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Joined: September 22nd, 2012, 6:13 pm

Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by MCHerper »

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!
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chrisr
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by chrisr »

I know you are a fellow "northeast" herper but parts of this post make me feel like we are worlds apart. Those parts also make me jealous. Great stuff, thanks so much,

C
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spinifer
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by spinifer »

No Ribbons? Weak. What an amateur effort. :lol: :lol:
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ZantiMissKnit
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Joined: September 14th, 2012, 9:43 am
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

Awesome.

I LOLed at the picture of the wee water snake trying to nom your big ol' knuckle.

I'd love to see a Queen Snake in the wild. They are gorgeous.
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mike h
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by mike h »

What a stunning assortment of photos! The Smooth Green peeking over your girl's painted nails is among my favorite pics EVER!!!

Fantastic set!
herper1
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by herper1 »

Thats good work. I love the Corns, Milks, and a Queen snake? Thats crazy! What does year like that leave you for goals for 2013?
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Jared Cain
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by Jared Cain »

Just amazing. Really good pics too! Jealous!!!! :thumb:
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SAGlines
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by SAGlines »

Great post! Awesome pics!
bgorum
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by bgorum »

That first copperhead and first rough green snake pics are awesome!!
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incuhead2000
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by incuhead2000 »

As always you don't disappoint! I enjoyed this thread just as much as I am enjoying looking at the pic you took of the Northern Red bellied snake everyday I look at my calendar this month!
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Carl Koch
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by Carl Koch »

Sweet post, man! Especially love the dark timbers and the creativity you put into your photography.

Carl
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Duggles
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by Duggles »

Awesome pice, Brick911! The "Timber in Blue" is fantastic, and "Zach vs Milk" still has me laughing. Thanks for sharing!

Duggles
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MarcLinsalata
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by MarcLinsalata »

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Baby rats are awesome looking - I always loved finding them (I found one once..........)
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ZantiMissKnit
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

MarcLinsalata wrote::thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Baby rats are awesome looking - I always loved finding them (I found one once..........)
The only rat I have ever seen was a baby...I have yet to find an adult.
asapp915
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Joined: March 7th, 2013, 8:11 am

Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by asapp915 »

Amazing Pics! Your kids look like they really have fun lol
I love the Kingsnake! still lookin' for My 1st eastern. Hope to see more pics this year
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paturtlelover
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Re: Snakes of 2012 - Northeast

Post by paturtlelover »

Awesome!!!! I hope Lily had some icecream after that attack!!
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