2011 Herping Pics

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hi Guys!! I went out and did some field herping today, I had a great time at my favorite lake. The garters that live at this lake are absolutely, positively, MASSIVE, every one I found was a solid 2.5 foot or large and heavily gravid. The garter population thrives at this lake because it is a very remote lake with few visitors and a toad population so thick you struggle not to step on a toad with every step you take! Right now, they are tadpoles, and the entire coast of the lake is so thick with tadpoles you can't see into the water! In a few months there will be so many baby toads you will step on them no matter how hard you try not to. A lot of the garters I found today had recently eaten a large toad.

It was an overcast day but perfect, the snakes were all out and about. One interesting thing for me to note is that all of the garters I found today were sitting out in plain sight in the grass, curled up, and always with another snake, I only found 2 that were alone. They would not move until they were SURE I was coming for them, in fact I did not miss a single snake I dove for today. I found 6 ringnecks, 1 redbellied snake, a bushel of gravid female eastern garters, 1 HUGE female water snake, 6 or 7 male water snakes, and 1 large female smooth green snake (that was basking right out in the open).

I also caught the largest garter snake I have EVER caught today. absolutely massive... the pictures I got of her, do not do her size any justice, her thickest part was as thick as my own wrist... picture a large captive raised female that has eaten mice it's entire life... this snake was probably bigger yet. Big enough to eat a small rat! And she wasn't even aggressive, didn't musk, didn't flip out, she was totally confident I wasn't gonna eat her. Even my boyfriend just could not believe the size of that snake. It would have been tempting to keep her just for show but a snake that has grown to that size and has survived long enough to grow to that size deserved to live the rest of her life out right there. She was gravid and will probably produce 50-60 babies easily.

So here are a few photos from today!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140643.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140644.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140683-1.jpg

This water snake was not afraid, in fact when I stretched out my hand towards him and wriggled my finger, he stretched outward to investigate me and even touched me!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140684-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140648.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140652.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140653.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140656.jpg

This weird bee-thing was just chillen on this rock, it was completely upset with me for wanting a photo.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140665.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140673.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140676.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140677.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

two female garters basking, I was within feet of these girls and they didn't budge. This was typical, all but two of the garters I found were paired together just like this, sitting out in the open. Almost like they have a buddy system hehe...
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140657.jpg

This beautiful lady had a flaming red stomach, you can't see it in the picture, but the red comes up her sides and fades into the brown, giving her sides this weird dark maroon color. She is beautiful!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140661.jpg

Another garter in situ
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140664.jpg

Eddie with his bug-eye glasses on, with a female. All of the garters we found were about this size. Big girls!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140687-1.jpg

Another female in situ... she let me come right up to her for some photos before slithering off when I poked her.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140694-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140696-1.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

The massive garter, it's too bad these pics don't do her size any justice!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140701.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140699.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/P1140697-1.jpg

all finished :)

[reptile65]

AWESOME pics! Looks like you had a great time!

[guidofatherof5]

Looks like it was a good trip.
Thanks for posting your adventure.

[Didymus20X6]

http://i51.tinypic.com/2dmdt2.jpg

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[zooplan]

I would like to have a place like that close to my home.
Or could anybody build a bridge over the Atlantic? ( a short one)

[Spankenstyne]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

[PINJOHN]

great stuff Shannon, i can not thank you and the other members enough; who go through the trouble of sharing your adventures with us.
when logging on if i see a thread with a mention of herping in the title the all the other threads have to wait , besides the great photos i really enjoyed the info about the toads, do all garters have a tolerance of toad venom? the reason i ask is because the grassnake in Britain and [ perhaps in mainland Europe] seems to be split into those that will eat toads and those that wont; from what i have read the toad eaters dont just tolerate toads but specialize in them, the others i assume not finding the toad toxins to their liking.

[PINJOHN]

you also mentioned diving after the snakes, a little less of that please young lady, in your condition you will worry us to death,

[RdubSnider]

Awesome pictures. You don't see big girls like that very often.

[charles parenteau]

Very nice Shannon !!Those garter snake are very big indeed....By the way I never see ringneck basking very good find!!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Very nice Shannon !!Those garter snake are very big indeed....By the way I never see ringneck basking very good find!!


haha I wish they were basking but they were all found under rocks hiding. I found those three under rocks that were right next to each other and I set them all on the ground like that to release them... but they held still so I snapped a photo :)

[RedSidedSPR]

NICE!! The water snake is awesome. BIG garter snakes! Wow. How long did you spend out there??

I found a brown water snake, bunch of river cooters yesterday but that's it. I've never been that lucky!!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

great stuff Shannon, i can not thank you and the other members enough; who go through the trouble of sharing your adventures with us.
when logging on if i see a thread with a mention of herping in the title the all the other threads have to wait , besides the great photos i really enjoyed the info about the toads, do all garters have a tolerance of toad venom? the reason i ask is because the grassnake in Britain and [ perhaps in mainland Europe] seems to be split into those that will eat toads and those that wont; from what i have read the toad eaters dont just tolerate toads but specialize in them, the others i assume not finding the toad toxins to their liking.

I would have to assume that these snakes tolerate it without an issue.... because I know that's what they are eating. There are toads EVERYWHERE! Hopping in the grass, under the rocks, in the lake... and then soon, all of those tadpoles! There must be a billion of them in total. Strange that I saw no snakes taking advantage of that easy meal! The next time I go back, there will be baby toads... so thick that stepping on them will be unavoidable (I always feel bad about that) I don't see any other types of garter prey readily available there... hardly any earthworms at all, rarely a frog, and the garters frequent the other side of the damn which is lined with rocks, no fish. It's perfect mice habitat and I am sure mice live there, but I haven't seen any. I can tell you one thing, the garters around my house are eating mostly earthworms... there aren't many toads or other things but there are TONS of worms. None of the garters around here are nearly as large.

[RedSidedSPR]

perfect garter habitat (except for the lack of fish) I wish I had a place like that.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

you also mentioned diving after the snakes, a little less of that please young lady, in your condition you will worry us to death,


hahaha you sound like my mom and Eddie's mom! I am only like, 2 months pregnant... I'll be fine! I am not going to be one of those women who are afraid to do anything because of pregnancy. I have a friend who is pregnant also, apparently she's not even feeding her leopard geckos anymore, she's making him do it because she's afraid! :rolleyes:

I'll stick to the basics though...avoiding alcohol, advil, the litter box and bird droppings, caffeine, so on and so forth!

[Stefan-A]

The massive garter, it's too bad these pics don't do her size any justice!
The massive garter is damn beautiful.

[drache]

beautiful animals
great photos
thanks Shannon

[ConcinusMan]

Holy crud Shannon, sounds like an awesome day of herping! Awesome pics! Sounds like a spot I know of where huge 3-3.5 foot concinnus' are the rule but instead of stepping on toads, the place is teeming with bullfrogs and rodents.

And just for the record, yes, that huge thick garter snake does make YOU look fat. (said with love) Tee hee.:p