North American Native Herps

We discussed this when we started the forum and it was dropped. We already have a bit to many subforums as it is and the main focus is on aquatic plants, animals and ecosystems.

Anyhow...Reptile and amphibian discussion is always welcome in the general discussion part of the site and is not in anyway discouraged..

You might want to post this in the "Questions, Bugs and Comments" forum.

Anyone have some good NA amphibian and reptile photos? Being trained as a Herpetologist it is just difficult for me to get away from them so I like to oggle over them :P

Here are a few from some various surveys I conducted over the past few years.

Fantastic pics. I have looked for herps as my area is full of canals (Doral/Miami) . Have found zillion Bufo Marinus-Cuban-treefrogs- non native iguanas think Haitan browns- Brown anoles (not a single native green) --red ear sliders and several water snakes .

Atleast the snakes were natives lol but any wildlife is okay with me native or not

Fantastic pics. I have looked for herps as my area is full of canals (Doral/Miami) . Have found zillion Bufo Marinus-Cuban-treefrogs- non native iguanas think Haitan browns- Brown anoles (not a single native green) --red ear sliders and several water snakes .

Atleast the snakes were natives lol but any wildlife is okay with me native or not

I've been to florida a lot since my uncle lives in orlando! I've caught a few green anoles but it is sad to see how quickly the brown anoles have taken over! I also catch a ton of cuban treefrogs and have olny caught two green treefrogs! It is really unfortunate that florida has to deal with these highly adaptive invaders!

Here's a pic of a 10-12 year old box turtle. Found him in the road. He has a blind eye and apparently had been hit by a car a year or more ago, since the crack in his plastron has healed a little bit. He also has a bit of carapace damage from his accident.

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Carapace damage:

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I can't help it, I gotta get in on the action with this thread.
I'll start with this one for all you midwesterners who appreciate blandings turtles. They are much rarer here in Ma. I was very lucky to stumble on these two.

Another critter that is super abundant elsewhere is getting scarce in northern Ma. Probably because it's at the northern edge of their range. They are quite common in the suburbs further south. Black racer.

One of my favorite snakes and still abundant here even into urban habitat. Eastern milk.


This big gravid female northern watersnake lives at the base of a dam where she gets plenty of fish that get stranded after going over the falls.

One thing the watersnake isn't likely to eat is this pickeral frog. They are very toxic.

Another rare turtle, at least in these parts, wood turtle.

Last, the Holy Grail of New England herps, the timber rattlesnake.

I love the rattler! I would keep some hot herps, but my parents would freak if I even got within 2ft of one.

I've been to florida a lot since my uncle lives in orlando! I've caught a few green anoles but it is sad to see how quickly the brown anoles have taken over! I also catch a ton of cuban treefrogs and have olny caught two green treefrogs! It is really unfortunate that florida has to deal with these highly adaptive invaders!

I think the non natives are able to adapt bit better with growing population and loss of habitat so perhaps it was either non natives or nothing. I think it was this which did in the natives not the non natives moving in.
I have not seen a single green treefrog ever but zillions of the Cuban treefrogs . Still lots 5 lined and ground skinks in my yard which is nice. Bufos are as common as feral cats another plight on the wildlife.

The night crew of geckoes is going strong ( I think they are native not sure) Green anoles are nowhere to be found anywhere my sister brother in law live 15 minutes away and even in their big yard with lots trees only brown anoles.

oh well still prefer brown anoles over 2 feet of snow lol

Hey everyone! Finally I have found something that I am familiar with! Here are some pics of herps that I have found over the summer. Enjoy!

1) Ground Skink
2) Toe-toed Amphiuma
3) Yellow Rat Snake

I hate snakes, ever since I got chased by a hoop snake! They also are the ones that have stings in their tails.

I hate snakes, ever since I got chased by a hoop snake! They also are the ones that have stings in their tails.

Yeah, those are nasty..but they can't hold a candle to snow snakes! (Snow snakes, when they shed their skin however, leave us those cool tubular hand muffs..so they DO have that going for em' at least!)

oh well still prefer brown anoles over 2 feet of snow lol

Haha Ya I probably would too! Thanks for rubbing it in! I hate snow! Especially because you can't collect for four to five months a year!

Haha Ya I probably would too! Thanks for rubbing it in! I hate snow! Especially because you can't collect for four to five months a year!

Sure, you can.

It's amazing how much is going on under the surface when the water temperature is in the low to mid thirties. The fish aren't migrating, for the most part anyway, so really it's just a matter of Homo sapiens wimping out.

You just have to be appropriately equipped.

Sure, you can.

It's amazing how much is going on under the surface when the water temperature is in the low to mid thirties. The fish aren't migrating, for the most part anyway, so really it's just a matter of Homo sapiens wimping out.

You just have to be appropriately equipped.

You can even get Herps.. I sample Mudpuppies from December until March out here and have seen Blanding turtles and our local specialty.... Butlers Garter snakes... every month of the year. Ambystoma Salamanders can still be found also on warmer days... There is a lot going on out there even in the dead of winter...

True but I don't know if i'm up for going out and cracking through the ice and freezing my butt off! Man, i've never even seen a live mudpuppy! I hate coldness! How do you find garter snakes in the winter?

Yeah, those are nasty..but they can't hold a candle to snow snakes! (Snow snakes, when they shed their skin however, leave us those cool tubular hand muffs..so they DO have that going for em' at least!)

Ha, I hadn't heard of those. Probably because we don't get snow down here

Anyway, I gotta go - before the milk snakes and coachwhips get into the barn...

True but I don't know if i'm up for going out and cracking through the ice and freezing my butt off! Man, i've never even seen a live mudpuppy! I hate coldness! How do you find garter snakes in the winter?

I've learned to embrace the coldness
There really is some cool stuff around in winter in Michigan.

Garters will come out for short bits around hibernacula on warmer (45-50 f) days. It is not unusual to see them out as long as the sun is up and warming the rocks a bit.

True but I don't know if i'm up for going out and cracking through the ice and freezing my butt off! Man, i've never even seen a live mudpuppy! I hate coldness! How do you find garter snakes in the winter?

lol yes I hate the coldness to thats the main reason I went down South. Its just not fun to collect in the cold not to mention nothing is out .
just walking my dog tonight in shorts in t shirt I saw 2 armidillos - 2 water snakes and 6000 feral cats lol

Here's a pic of a 10-12 year old box turtle. Found him in the road. He has a blind eye and apparently had been hit by a car a year or more ago, since the crack in his plastron has healed a little bit. He also has a bit of carapace damage from his accident.

 PICT0925.JPG   81.55KB   1 downloads

Carapace damage:

 PICT0922.JPG   53.15KB   1 downloads

fantastic box turtles I love box turtles . I had 3 - I used to feed when I lived in NY (suburb area with "forest" in area) . They hibernate late Oct/early Nov than come back up mid Spring.
The guy who bought my house is an animal lover and the owls,box turtles etc was what won him over I am glad as wouldnt have sold the house if yard was going to be cemented over.
I havent seen any box turtles in area (Miami) was thinking of buying a m/f for patio area (legal non native ofcourse)