Was a bit worried about a new arrival.

[GradStudentLeper]

So, I am visiting my best friend in Ft. Lauderdale, and we were at a local herp shop. They had a wild caught Nerodia fasciata. A gorgeous and even friendly animal. However he was a bit thin and dehydrated. Against my better judgement I forked over 15 bucks and obtained the snake.

I got him home and put him in his temporary quarters (a tupperware container), put some water in it (so he could soak and drink etc) and then decided to see if he would eat. He was obviously stressed afterall.

4 screaming leopard frogs later (I can still hear them crying...) and I am no longer worried about the snake, who I have named Jaws...



There he is, with 4 little frogs inside him.

[Zephyr]

Screaming frogs. XD
I'd drop the thing if a frog ever did that to me.

[GradStudentLeper]

Screaming frogs. XD
I'd drop the thing if a frog ever did that to me.

It is one of my favorite sounds.

Then again there is a reason I actually study the predator-prey interactions between frogs and natricine snakes...

[guidofatherof5]

Nice save. Beautiful snake.

I'll give you $17.50 for it. That's with shipping of course.

I'm getting a pair of Hypo's on Thursday. Can't wait.

[GradStudentLeper]

Nice save. Beautiful snake.

I'll give you $17.50 for it. That's with shipping of course.

I'm getting a pair of Hypo's on Thursday. Can't wait.

He is mine. Not for sale. I have already become attached. The funny part is, the little lumps you see are frog legs.

[Mommy2many]

Nice looking water snake.

[pitbulllady]

That's a nice-looking Banded! It is amazing just how variable this species is, appearance-wise, even those from the same area. I've got three, and they look nothing at all alike; even the belly markings are different. Within the week-old clutch that my hypo female just had, I can pick out probably four different "types", in terms of coloration and pattern. Of the three adults I have, two were extremely calm and docile from the get-go, even though I basically obtained all three fresh out of the wild. One would head-flatten and "pancake" for the first day, and made one sideways jab at my hand with her head(mouth closed) the first time I reached in her enclosure and picked her up, but none have musked(and I'd rather be bitten, honestly, than skunked-blood washes out of clothes a whole lot easier)as though to try and scare me into thinking she'd bite, but that was the extent of her defensiveness. My most recently-acquired Banded ate an unscented mouse a couple of days ago, apparently taking a cue from the Midland, who will eat ANYTHING you put in front of her on tongs, including a still-hot low-fat Vienna sausage that my brother made the mistake of sticking in her face, and that I had to get away from her(taking food, or what THEY consider food, from a Water Snake is easier said than done). They are really great snakes, and are terribly underrated and underappreciated. I wish I had a dime for every herper, especially field herpers, who have told me that these snakes are all, without exception, the meanest, nastiest, stinkiest, and most untamable snakes they've ever dealt with, bar none, and that includes many venomous keepers. I just haven't see it, and I've handled a lot of 'em. Besides, I don't have to make a nearly four-hour round trip drive to get mice for them(that's how far the rodent breeder who supplies me with mice and rats lives), since I can just pick up Salmon or Tilipia at the supermarket on the way home from work; I mean, that's almost as easy and convenient as buying food for your cat or dog!
Mine would probably like a frog or two now and then, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw a frog or toad, other than at reptile shows, and it's not because my memory is bad, either. They have just disappeared from around here. It's been a couple of years since I heard Spring Peepers, and I heard a Green Tree for the first time today in the entire summer(it was raining)in the town where I work. It's kinda sad and rather disturbing actually, that the frogs are gone. When I was a kid, my Hognoses lived "high on the hog", as we say, but I haven't seen any of THEM in years, either, since there's nothing for them to eat.

[GradStudentLeper]

Update: Another frog and a few days later, and this is probably the largest fecal mass I have ever seen. He is in temporary accommodations now (A tupperware container, open when i am in the room, closed when not... paper towel substrate, basking light, water bowl and a hiding spot... no escape attempts)

They are probably (well, the entire genus really) my favorite snakes in the universe. Garters are awesome, but nerodia take the cake. I have never met one I didnt like, and their reputation as aggressive is entirely undeserved. It all depends on how you handle them. If you act like a predator, roughly gripping them around the head or tail, yeah... they will be pissed off. If you are gentle though, even the most aggressive snake wont bite you, and only might musk you a little (I have actually grown to like the smell of musk. It is so familiar it is comforting). This particular snake I can pat on the head with a finger, and stroke like Dr. Evil strokes Mr. Bigglesworth...

As for the frogs, do you live in an urban area? I live in Arlington Texas, and the number of frogs I hear depends greatly on where exactly I am. Anywhere near a golf course or pond and I cant go out in the spring without hearing at least four species. That may be because there are a lot of urban parks (including several creeks and rivers that are maintained in a natural state) crisscrossing the area. It allows me to feed my little babies what they like most (though the staple of their diet is still small live fish of various types)

[pitbulllady]

Update: Another frog and a few days later, and this is probably the largest fecal mass I have ever seen. He is in temporary accommodations now (A tupperware container, open when i am in the room, closed when not... paper towel substrate, basking light, water bowl and a hiding spot... no escape attempts)

They are probably (well, the entire genus really) my favorite snakes in the universe. Garters are awesome, but nerodia take the cake. I have never met one I didnt like, and their reputation as aggressive is entirely undeserved. It all depends on how you handle them. If you act like a predator, roughly gripping them around the head or tail, yeah... they will be pissed off. If you are gentle though, even the most aggressive snake wont bite you, and only might musk you a little (I have actually grown to like the smell of musk. It is so familiar it is comforting). This particular snake I can pat on the head with a finger, and stroke like Dr. Evil strokes Mr. Bigglesworth...

As for the frogs, do you live in an urban area? I live in Arlington Texas, and the number of frogs I hear depends greatly on where exactly I am. Anywhere near a golf course or pond and I cant go out in the spring without hearing at least four species. That may be because there are a lot of urban parks (including several creeks and rivers that are maintained in a natural state) crisscrossing the area. It allows me to feed my little babies what they like most (though the staple of their diet is still small live fish of various types)

No, I'm in a very rural area. Three of the largest cities anywhere nearby probably wouldn't have the size or population of Arlington, TX, combined. This is a very agricultural region. Thing is, there's no standing water, not permanent, anyway. No ponds, no drainage ditches, no small streams. There's a river about six miles away, but the only spot with public fishing access is a very dangerous hang-out for gangs and crack-heads(yeah, we have those out here in the sticks, too), so it would not be safe hunting frogs under the bridge there. We have had several years of drought conditions, which have still not really been resolved even though this summer has seen fairly average rainfall, so the little marshy areas where frogs used to breed dried up long ago. I know that that has something to do with the scarcity of amphibians, but I don't know if there are other factors, too.

As for the way most herpers catch Water Snakes, yeah, it's no wonder they get bitten all the time. When your technique is basically a modified version of a hawk's "swoop and kill", I mean, DUH! That's how most people catch these snakes, just run up grab it, usually as roughly as possible. I slide my hand underneath and lift up, and rather than grab and restrain the snake, I just keep moving my hands underneath it to control its movement and sort of let it "run". The snake will quickly figure out that I'm not trying to eat it and settle down, and once that point is reached, you can basically just handle them like a Corn or any other snake that is generally thought of as a docile "beginnger's pet" species. I've never had one that took more than 12 hours to become completely tame. Every bite I've gotten from a Nerodia, with the exception of one little Northern that spazzed out over the approach of a very large timber wolf at a reptile show, has been a feeding response where the snake simply missed the intended target and got my hand instead, but that pales in comparison to the feeding response bite I got from a 6 1/2-foot Emerald Tree Boa several years ago, where I could actually hear those switchblade teeth grating on the bone and had to pour vinegar in her mouth to get her to turn loose and stop constricting my arm.

[GradStudentLeper]

Oh that explains it. Amphibians dont handle agricultural runoff very well. Not much standing water and any that is there is full of pesticides and other agrochemicals that can do things like sex-reverse the frogs, screw up reproductive pathways etc. Frogs would be better off in an urban area than an agricultural region...

A friend and I caught three more Fasciata last night along I 75. Only one of them so much as musked when my friend grabbed him (and he got bit twice). The others are already holdable...

The one I got the other day (the rescue) will curl up on my lap for an hour while I watch Babylon 5...