Herp Adventures: 2012

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Unbelievable Luck

While climbing in Lake Tahoe, my brother and I saw something I would never have imagined seeing. I was walking along a small trail when I heard an alarm call coming from some sort of squirrel. It sounded like a squirrel trying to distract me aways from its babies. After not being able to find the source of the sound, I looked down at my feet and saw not only my FIRST rubber boa on the crawl (all previous boas had been flipped under boards) but a rubber boa that was squeezing the life out of its freshly caught meal, a huge chipmunk!! I can't explain how psyched I was, so I'll just post the photos.

We also saw a bear that was treed by some dogs! Sadly, I only had my super wide angled zoom lens at the time:

Summer 2012

So much happened this summer that there are too many words to write, so here are mainly just the photos.

More San Mateo rattlers:

Then it was off to the East Coast! First, in Northern Florida, I finally saw my a Gopher Tortoise and got a cool shot of an anole:

Next I spent a week in Georgia working with Loggerhead Sea Turtles and I happened on many other cool herps:

There was a pond filled with 4-8 baby gators that were very fun to watch. They rarely showed any change in behavior due to my presence and I was able to watch them learn how to catch frogs!

Mom always made sure to show herself if we got to close:

Here is what they were after: Southern Leopard Frogs

Then I saw some really neat behavior. A snake I had been dying to see (Black Racer) showed up right on the pond's edge and the baby gators were clearly interested.

One lunged and grabbed the snake by the very tip of the tail. The gator barely had a hold of the snake, but proceeded to drag it into the pond and swim with it:

In the end, the gator realized the snake was too big for it and let it go, practically unharmed.

Here is one final non-herp photo taken from Georgia:

Saturday, June 23, 2012

I just got back from an incredibly successful trip to San Mateo County! 16 snakes in total and 5 different species! I had been given a tip that there was a possible rattlesnake den that needed to be checked out, so I went early in the morning hoping the snakes would be sunning. While scrounging through some tall grass to look at a large piece of concrete, I soon found myself within feet of a mound of venomous serpents and knew I had found the den.

6 Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes were visible but as one slid under the large concrete, many began to rattle, so one can only imagine how many more there were.

Next I rummaged through a dump for a nursery and only further added to the excitement of today. 10 to 20 snake skins were found under a couple boards and I knew eventually the living snakes would come. Within the next 20 minutes I found 6 of the most beautiful coast garters ever seen (they had just shed), a large gopher snake, my first ever Santa Cruz garter snake and a rubber boa which I had never expected! The boa just made the day. However, not many photos were taken because I was on my own in the nursery and so I couldn't calm down the snakes and then back up to get a photo before they slithered off. Here are a couple though.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

The other day I herped the city with a couple guys and I found my first SF Ringneck! That makes two species of snakes that I have found in San Francisco! Now I just need a Gopher Snake.

Also, recently I came across old photos of a salamander found in our yard! It wasn't the normal slender salamander, but instead a large Arboreal Salamander!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Ok now came spring and I actually became a real herper. I made constant finds of new species for me and searched in many new areas. Too many things to say, so I will just post the photos. The big highlights were my first rattlesnakes (7 total by the time i'm writing this) and Northern Rubber Boas!!

Western Skink (Marin County)