I love the bright orange ring! What a cool little guy. It looks so tiny compared to those acorns!
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Ahh! Itās a worm!
Waiting to get a call for removal, since it has such a high reward ratio XāD, plus you get to do something useful.
I roadcruise a lot just because I drive and cycle a lot, so I make time for the return journey to be slow, and using the smaller roads in better habitat.
I have a love/hate relationship with flipping. I much prefer being on foot to driving, and having the opportunity to see other things, but you really have to choose the rock well. Those that are well sealed into the soil, you can never put back perfectly, however careful you are. And it disturbs not just snakes but also scorpions and spiders.
If you can find the right rock (loose, lightweight, easily replaced) I see less harm in it, I once found the same individual under exactly one of these types of rocks, at an interval of a few days, which I take to mean that it wasnāt that bothered.
However I also donāt like to be seen to be flipping, lest it encourage other people. The number of rocks I find rolled down the hill or the wrong way up has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I no longer flip unless it is artifical cover intended for the purpose, that either myself or others have put down.
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Road cruising for herps is fun and often productive. In arid lands such as where I live, cruising in the early evening after a late afternoon monsoon rain is best. Blacktop roads with little traffic and safe shoulders where you can pull over are ideal. Some of the roads I used to cruise have become too busy and I avoid them for safety reasons. If you do it, just keep in mind that you can be easily distracted by whatās in the road and not with the other vehicles you might encounter.
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Regarding flipping cover material such as rocks and logs: I agree it can be disruptive to habitat and Iāve seen evidence of that in places that were heavily surveyed by herp class field trips. Generally though if youāre conscientious and return cover materials to as you found them, the disruption is minimized. Some past surveys Iāve been on involved ripping old rotten logs for salamanders and thatās now avoided.
On the flip side (no pun intended), Iāve moved a lot of rocks and logs that were sunk in the ground and had no underside gaps for animals to use, so in those cases I likely created some accessible cover habitat.
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I always try to be careful while flipping light rocks or logs, put them back the exact way they were. I also do love roadcruising but donāt road cruise as often.
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Found 2 Rough Earthsnakes today. Didnāt get any photos but I am editing photos of some Fence Lizards I found on my trip to Arkansas last Sunday.
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Found my first Scarletsnake of the year plus the first black swampsnake Iāve seen in years this month!
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Scarlet snakes might be my favorite snake, just so beautiful! Congrats!
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They are special! Come on down to FL lol, they are fairly common down here.
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Only a few reptiles and amphibians here, namely the Asian common toad, rock dragons, Oriental garden lizards, geckos, and a few bhraminy blindsnakes. Did see a Chunam tree frog one, and a whole bunch of bush frogs while traveling.
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Here are all my reptiles:
(please ignore the on-screen-keyboard, some of my keyboard keys arenāt working)
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Thoughts on captive/pet reptiles? I personally own a Leopard Gecko and a African Fat Tail Gecko.
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My thoughts are that I want one hehe.
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Depends on the species, how you care for it, and where you obtained them, but I had a female brown anole for about four years before she passed away and I enjoyed having her! She got me interested in anoles as a species. I think Iād get a reptile again
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I think this would suffice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Uvmf9iTpY&list=PL5vZEY2A9f_h1WEcKKbo-RoY7Y4GjkuUy
I used to work for an educational place that had about 100 reptiles and amphibians, nearly all of them were former pets that had been surrendered by their owners (usually kids) because they got bored of them, or they went off to college and didnāt want to take them, etc. Iām not totally against keeping them as pets, but after dealing with this for a few years, Iām of the opinion they donāt make great pets, they can live a really long time so getting one should be a serious decision, and there are a lot of ethical issues with the industry in general. IMO a truly domesticated animal like a cat or a dog is a better choice, although obviously there are issues with those as well.
FWIW I grew up in Hawaii and was obsessed with reptiles and amphibians. I would have totally gotten one as a pet if most werenāt illegal to have there, so I understand the appeal. I kept wild caught anoles a few times but they were always clearly unhappy so I never kept them for more than a few weeks.
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I grew up keeping herps as pets, mostly wild-caught, and it was a major part of my developing an interest in herpetology and guiding my career path in zoology and wildlife conservation. As an adult I kept rattlesnakes for a while. Nowadays I have no herp pets and donāt want any as they require a fair amount of care and maintenance that Iām not willing to provide. My enjoyment has shifted from capture and keep to seeing and photoāing them in the wild. I wouldnāt discourage others from having the same experiences that shaped my interests but I would caution that keeping herps can become a burden.
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I like the fact that in Hawaii you can have geckos and anoles living on your house, sometimes in it, and they arenāt captive and you donāt need to feed or clean up after them. They are āpetsā in a way but free-ranging pets.
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