May snake

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pjfishpa
Posts: 123
Joined: June 2nd, 2013, 6:51 am
Location: NW Ohio / SE Michigan

May snake

Post by pjfishpa »

After spending most of my free time in April looking for spotted turtles and turkey hunting I decided to concentrate on looking for snakes in May. My kids were great handlers/helpers and together over several outings we were able to uncover many of the local players ... minus a much sought after fox snake.
I didn't take pics of all of them, just the "photogenic" ones. Here are the pics along with a few box turtles that were lookers and a newborn fawn we came across.

Out along Lake Erie we came upon this local favorite. T. sirtalis (melanistic)
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My first day out looking for racers I was without a helper. Problem solved by placing this beast of a Coulber in a sapling. He would have let me take pics all morning.

C. constrictor
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Here is another smaller one I found in the same area.
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This last racer came last weekend out looking with the kids. A really pretty blue one that had just recently shed. Absolutely gorgeous snake.

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We flipped this nice Northern Ringneck one morning the same weekend.
D. punctatus
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Here are some Hoggies. Nothing says summer like the smell of musk and bugspray! These are the most foul behaving snakes around imo!

H. platirhinos
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Finally some box turtles and a newborn fawn.

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Am going to spend the summer now focusing on fox snakes and a few other less common ones up here.
Question to other Ohio herpers -- found a smooth green down in Belmont Co. back in April turkey hunting (sorry, no pic - on hands and knees crawling through green briar!), a lifer for me. Are they rare everywhere or just down in that part of the state? Feel free to PM for specifics.

Thanks for looking! Good Luck the rest of the summer everyone!
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ratsnakehaven
Posts: 2272
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 9:08 am
Location: Southern Arizona

Re: May snake

Post by ratsnakehaven »

Wow, fantastic photography.. :shock:

I can't believe none else has commented, yet. There are some awesome herps there too. I remember herping in the area of L. Erie when I was much younger. That melanistic garter was one of my favorite finds. I loved your Eastern hognose too. Some would give certain body parts to see one like that in the field. Congrats and continued great herping....

:thumb: Terry
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JBBoiler
Posts: 147
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 11:53 am
Location: NW Indiana

Re: May snake

Post by JBBoiler »

Great herps and great photos. I have to travel over that direction someday for A black garter snake.
JB
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justinm
Posts: 3423
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:26 am
Location: Illinois
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Re: May snake

Post by justinm »

Super cool posts, I love the melanistic garter! The blue racer was very blue, I'm in range but most aren't as nice as that. The hoggies were cool, those are always neat to see. Great post.
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