florida Field herping

[desertanimal]

That striped tree frog is very pretty!

 

[CarlyEliz]

wow
they r so amazing i live in florida but iv never seen half those animals in the wild

 

[pridecity]

Got to love the turtles.

Did you even notice you were being bitten at first? I know I didn't the last time I was bitten by a garter. Not until I looked down and saw the blood anyway.

 

[ratsnakehaven]

Cool herps! I have a couple friends that live in the Gainesville area and have herped there before.

We have Med geks where I live too and garters (different kinds). I like ratsnakes, of course, but also like studying the small fossorial snakes like sandsnakes, shovelnose, blackhead snakes, corals, etc.

:spinner:

 

[Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)]

I was enjoying the pix BIG time until I got to the alligators. Here I was, thinking, "How cool! It must be great living in FL!".

The gators quickly reminded me of one reason I'll never live there. Not that I don't like them--I love the feel of their skin (someone had one at a reptile show that I got to pet). I just don't want one snatching one of my Pomeranians or somesuch .

That, and hurricanes. Oh, yeah, and now, Gulf Coast oil.....

 

[Butch]

I was enjoying the pix BIG time until I got to the alligators. Here I was, thinking, "How cool! It must be great living in FL!".

The gators quickly reminded me of one reason I'll never live there. Not that I don't like them--I love the feel of their skin (someone had one at a reptile show that I got to pet). I just don't want one snatching one of my Pomeranians or somesuch .

That, and hurricanes. Oh, yeah, and now, Gulf Coast oil.....

:laugh01: I could never live anywhere else, heck most pomeranians I know are meaner than the biggest gators I've handled, as far as hurricanes and oil go, I'll only board up if it's at least a Cat 3 and I can always fish around the oil

 

[EsotericForest]

Awesome pics! I love the geckos and the tree frog

 

[strikerratt]

thanks for the nice comments guys

wow
they r so amazing i live in florida but iv never seen half those animals in the wild

just start looking under stuff out in the woods that's one way to find stuff in fl

Got to love the turtles.

Did you even notice you were being bitten at first? I know I didn't the last time I was bitten by a garter. Not until I looked down and saw the blood anyway.

believe me i noticed she was biteing me lol got me good my finger swelled really nice after that it was worth it though

I was enjoying the pix BIG time until I got to the alligators. Here I was, thinking, "How cool! It must be great living in FL!".

The gators quickly reminded me of one reason I'll never live there. Not that I don't like them--I love the feel of their skin (someone had one at a reptile show that I got to pet). I just don't want one snatching one of my Pomeranians or somesuch .

That, and hurricanes. Oh, yeah, and now, Gulf Coast oil.....

if you think about it are your Pomeranians really safe from any wild Animal :grabbit: lol but i know how you feel i have a Chihuahua

 

[TripleT]

WOW Great pics !

 

[Dinah]

I like the second pic in post #9. He is giving his warning that he means business!

That was also my favorite pic. I love it when a bitty little thing is feisty.

I was enjoying the pix BIG time until I got to the alligators. Here I was, thinking, "How cool! It must be great living in FL!".

The gators quickly reminded me of one reason I'll never live there. Not that I don't like them--I love the feel of their skin (someone had one at a reptile show that I got to pet). I just don't want one snatching one of my Pomeranian or somesuch .

That, and hurricanes. Oh, yeah, and now, Gulf Coast oil.....

I have a pommie! Typically I do not worry about her. Certainly I wouldn't walk her off leash, near a lake, in the dark or anything like that but otherwise I don't worry to much. Besides with small dogs gators are really the least of your problems a few years back a hawk swooped down and took off with a families chihuahua. But even with the occasional strange incident, by far the biggest threat to a dog here like most other places is heart worm or getting hit by a car.

The gators aren't interested in what we are up to. They are way to wise to be concerned with us. When I was about 6 we were up in the glades at a swimming area and a tourist ran into the water and grabbed me and pulled up on on the beach because he saw a gator. My Dad, thinking I was being kidnapped was about to beat the tar out of the man until he realized that the man thought he was saving me. What the guy didn't know is that my parents had swam there for years even before I was born and that gator was always there. My Parents called him Allen and Allen was a very polite gator who always kept a very respectful distance form the swimming area. They would have never been so reckless as to let me swim with a gator that was a stranger (or one that was getting close) but since it was just Allen nobody was worried. I always tell my kids that wild animals can hurt you but if you pay attention and give them enough space they probably won't. After all while some animals may have the ability to hurt a person typically speaking animals do not regard humans to be food. The sharks in the ocean consider fish to be much more tasty than human and likewise the gators would rather have a tasty bird.

If you want something to be afraid of in FL forget about the gators, and the hurricanes both are small potatoes. Gators aren't interested in you and hurricanes give lots of advance warning so you can get out of town if necessary. In FL the thing to worry about is lightening. At least a couple buildings a month are reported to be struck by lightening. The Amway center and a house in Oviedo were struck just this week, in addition to about 2-3 small brush fires started by lightening as well this week. Plus at least once or twice a year there is the obligatory person struck by lightening report. On the other hand I cannot even remember the last time I heard of anyone dying from a gator or shark. Yes occasional bites happen but rarely deaths.

The saying is "There is a price for paradise." The con column can list gators, sharks, lightening, hurricanes, incompetent elections, gulf oil spill, and as many other things as anyone can think of, but the pro column still has one very important item to list NO SNOW. Even with ocean/beach removed due to the recent unfortunateness in the gulf I still think that no price is to high to pay for the pro which is No snow! Of course it did snow lightly in some areas this winter and so we were all in a tizzy earlier this year because mother nature betrayed us and sent light snow LOL. Of course :idea: maybe we should all just be thanking BP for showing her who's boss and avenging the whole snow injustice that was inflicted on us this winter .

 

[Butch]

Dinah brings up a great point, just yesterday we had a steer killed by lightning, dropped him dead on the spot and let me tell ya an 800 pound steer requires a big hole to go in :spinner: The afternoon thunder storms are by far the thing I fear the most while out in FL backcountry, the number of close calls I've had with almost being struck is unbelieveable. You can bet your bottom dollar this time of year that a storm will roll up every afternoon as long as your 20 miles inland, just last year I was out on the water in a marsh 30 miles from the boat ramp, our airboat ran hot on us so we whipped up under an oak hammock and 20 minutes later while waiting on the motor to cool there was a storm on top of us, lightning crashing all over the place, it scared me enough to try my luck crossing open water with an airboat (nothing you want to do, even on a calm day). I can't even count the number of gators I've had my hands on, I've bumped it to numerous just in the water without warning and only been bit once, he was only about a foot long and I made a rookie mistake.

 

[Theo's Keeper]

really great pics, you must have a great location(s) in which to look.

 

[alan]

Nice herp hide! Is that in your yard? I need snakes in my yard.
Ringnecks are so hard to find here!
You live in a very rich area, I would be out all of the time.

 

[Cflaguy]

Really Alan?

Nice herp hide! Is that in your yard? I need snakes in my yard.
Ringnecks are so hard to find here!
You live in a very rich area, I would be out all of the time.

I can go outside and russel the leaves for ten minutes or so and come up with a Ringneck.

 

[alan]

Really, I hardly ever find them. I wouldn't mind being able to walk out of the house and find snakes.
You've got it too easy. While I can go less than a mile and a decent hike for snakes I've never seen a snake in my neighborhood, 20 years here.

 

[ratsnakehaven]

Alan, you can try making your yard more snake friendly by making some places for them to hide, etc. But maybe you live in a city with small lots and there just aren't any snakes around anywhere.

I've always had snakes in the yard, because we lived in the country with 20 acres, back in MI, and now we only have one acre in the desert in AZ, but we still get to see some snakes. Sometimes they're rattlers though...

 

[Nanci]

I've seen yellow rats and black racers and one cornsnake in my yard, and dug up a crowned snake under my front landing once. I didn't grow up in Florida, so I don't know _all_ the snakes, and the first juvie black racer I found I thought was a cornsnake hatchling (never having seen either!) He taught me how to differentiate between the two with my eyes closed, though!

 

[alan]

Alan, you can try making your yard more snake friendly by making some places for them to hide, etc. But maybe you live in a city with small lots and there just aren't any snakes around anywhere.

I've always had snakes in the yard, because we lived in the country with 20 acres, back in MI, and now we only have one acre in the desert in AZ, but we still get to see some snakes. Sometimes they're rattlers though...

My yard would actually be very herp-friendly with the exception of my dogs, there are hide areas with a wide range of temps. The reason that they're not here is because it's a tight little neighborhood that doesn't offer much for a snake. The nearest constant source of water is 3/4 mile away and across a few roads and parking lots. I live near the confluence of the Occoquan and Potomac rivers in VA, an area very rich in snakes. I take pictures of snakes almost every weekend, but not on my street. Believe me, I would know. Even if a neighbor saw one they would let me know.
I think garters or ribbon snakes could live right here in limited numbers, but there aren't enough lizards and rodents to support anything larger, it's a fairly clean neighborhood . I've often wondered why I can find garters less than a mile away almost any time I want in the summer and I've never seen one in my little neighborhood in 20 years. They just don't come here.

 

[ratsnakehaven]

Here's a little piece of our front yard...

...Snakes can live in or under wood piles and compost piles and other things, such as boards, rocks, and other human debris. Mostly they live underground though, so what attracts them are things like water, food, cool places to hang out...

 

[Nanci]

My yard is the polar opposite! This is where I recently released a yellow ratsnake that was terrorizing a suburban neighborhood. (He was probably happier there, but the home owners weren't!)