Went down to SC for a week with my daughter to visit family and friends. I got to get out a few times and do some herping some by myself, with my dad and sister and with my friend Matt (happyherper). Most of the week was nice weather but twords the end it was a little to cool for herps but we did manage to find a few things here and there.

Jan 5
4 Marbled Sallys
2 Slimys (atlantic probably)
2 Dwarf Waterdogs
1 S Ringneck
1 Pine Tree Frog?

The start of the day I went out a while by  myself then meet up with Matt at a local spot to walk around while while Kyra and my Mom played at the park. I think the big success of the day was Matt flipping the ringneck . First snake of the year.

The morning:
Marbleds

Slimy

Pine Tree Frog

Out with Matt:
Slimy

S. Ringneck

Kyra with a waterdog:

Jan 6
2 unided tadpoles
1 Spotted Turtle
Jan 7
2 Adult Marbleds
4 Marbled Larvae
4 Eurycea Larvae (possible two-lined or three-lined)
5+ Unided tadpoles (1 possible Bullfrog)

Went out with my dad and sister to the creek for a few mins to see what we could find.

Marbleds

Eurycea Larvae

Unknown tadpoles 1

Unknown Tadpoles 2

Jan 8
5+ Yellow Bellied Sliders
1 Anole

At the zoo with my mom and kyra

Jan 9
1 Eurycea larvae
1 Dwarf Waterdog
10+ Anoles

Meet back up with Matt for a little morning outing. Was a little to cold the night before so the day was not as productive as we would have liked but we still going something, and on the way home I found a few more anoles out sunning by a swamp.

Eurycea larvae

Dwarf Waterdog

Anoles

The Snake Charmer: A life and death pursuit of knowledge

I’m fairly late on reviewing this book, and I have finally got the time to sit and finish it up.

Although it was still too dark to see well, Joe absentmindedly thrust his right hand into the sack to extract the specimen and have a look. Immediately, he winced with pain and yanked out his hand. A tiny black-and-white banded snake, less than ten inches long, was dangling limply from his middle finger, its fangs still sunk into his flesh. Joe looked at it in quiet horror. Without the hope of a doubt, he said, “That’s a fucking krait.”

Written by Jamie James, The snake charmer is a look in to the life of the herpetologist Joe Slowinski. I had heard of Joe, his work and his tragedy, but in the book it goes in to great insight in to his life, starting with his childhood and where his first interest in herps fired his passion, then though college, his career and the to the point of his expedition to Burma. While reading the last section of the book, you get the feeling that you are on the trip with them, but you know the tension is coming and what will soon be a tragic ending.

The book was a good read and easy to follow. I highly recommend it. I learned a lot about Joe and his work and was very inspirational.

You can find out mroe about the book at snakecharmerbook.com

Tempature: 68F
Humidity: 82%
Pressure: 30.08 in.
Overcast and slight drizzle of rain.

My lower back has been giving me a lot of trouble all week, knotted muscles or something. So I didn’t get out much expt like a little 15 min hike here an there. I had invited my friend Bob C. up to a few of my local areas to have a look around and see if we could find anything and our main target was Box turtles. I had an area from alst year I wanted to check out, though my back told me NO, I decided not to make that climb and just check out some other areas for other things.

Well about 30 mins in to our walk though a part were there are some pools and wetland areas and checking out some ravine and spotted habitat I saw what we were looking for.

Male eastern box turtle:

Bob:

Other Stuff encountered:
Spotted Salamander (same as before)
2 Ravine Salamanders
10+ Bull Frog Tads
Peepers Calling
1 DOR Garter

Meet up wit Bob C. today at 9:30 to do some things for a exhibit tommorow at one of the local colleges. Had a pretty good time there. Then we were definatly in herp mode today and took a trip a little more south to Fayette County.

Hit a few spots myself and John have been to a few times. Lost time for two hours then we desided to check on the copperhead population that everyone knows exist but noone I know has ever seen one. Good thing Bob was there cause I would have never found them where they were. But it was alot of searching to find one then we were on a roll.

Westmoreland County
10+ Redbacks Salamander
10+ Twolineds Salamander
5+ Northern Duskys Salamander
5+ Mtn. Duskys Salamander
2 Slimy Salamander

3 Pickerel Frogs
5+ Green Frogs

Fayette County
10 + Green Frogs

5+ Twolineds Salamander
1 Seal Salamander
5+ Redbacks Salamander
5+ Mtn Duskys Salamander
1 Slimy Salamander
1 Newt
4 unided Ambystoma Resently transformed (maybe spotteds will see)

1 Garter snake- Bob
1 Queen snake- Bob
3 Copperhead -Only two photographed* Have to give bob credit for these.
1 Copperhead Shed
1 Garter Shed
3 Queen Sheds

Bob Looking for the “Poisonous snakes” The Sign told us about. LOL

Copperhead Shed – I think we are getting warmer-

Bob saw this a little ways down – Copper 1

Copper 2

Little Queen that Bob caught

Giant Slimy

Newt

Unided Ambystoma

Pickerel

Green Frog

Yeah I know. Havnt seen me post any of these in a while. I did find one here an there and me and kyra found one last weekend but i didnt post it.
Slowly starting to see some activity again.

Here are two found under a rock.

Adult found under a peice of metal.

Another juvi

An another juvi emerging from tunnel.

A rather successful day. I was scheduled to meet up with one of my herping buddies, but we had to reschedule for next week, so off I went to one of the local spots to see if a group of Ravines were out and about. Was getting late so I decided not to stay to long and just flip a rock or two. The 1st rocks I flip was a Spotted Salamander *Lifer.  Not really expecting to see one around this area and I gave up on finding them at this area awhile back after checking the vernal pools a few times on the other side of the ridge. I was quite content, but decided to search a little longer with no other results. I think my itinerary may have changed for the weekend.

Time:7:00PM
Air Temps-73f
Ground Temps-66f
Clear skies.

Spotted Salamander – 5.5cm

Till next time. Happy Herping.

Went to do a normal routine check of a Ravine Salamander spot and was going to pass though and try a new location, but I desided to do a little flipping around the Ravine spot first and with the 1st rock I flipped a Longtailed Salamander *Lifer. As much as I have researched this area the longtail was far from my mind of finding today. So I set up to take a photo…. Then my camera says No CF card. AH I left it at home. Now what? So I run back to the house grab my card and come back to take a few photos. Supriced by this find I started searching the area and came up with another longtail not far from the first one. Two in one day not bad for a lifer.

77F Cloudy

2 – Longtail Salamanders ****Lifer
5+ Northern Dusky Salamanders
1 Slimy Salamander
2 American Toads

Slimy:

Longtail one – 6.5cm

Longtail two – 12 cm

9 Pickerel Frogs
1 Northern Lepoard Frog
5+ Green Frogs

Pickerel Frogs

Northern Lepoard Frog