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!







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!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

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

[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...


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!



Another garter in situ


Eddie with his bug-eye glasses on, with a female. All of the garters we found were about this size. Big girls!


Another female in situ... she let me come right up to her for some photos before slithering off when I poked her.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

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






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]

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.