I like your answer the best, Bernice, as it's SPOT ON! :lol: We had a species of these in Arizona that was commonly known as a Sun spider (despite their being nocturnal). In almost every encounter I ever had with those guys, I would be out on my back patio late at night smoking a cigarette (barefoot...

The field herping has come to a screeching halt here, so I haven't had anything to post in a while. I was going through some photos today, though, and I found some that I thought some of you might enjoy. The following are some of the four-legged denizens of the local area. Fallow deer https://farm4....

Sorry to be Johnny-come-lately, but I haven't been on in a while. C. durissus (and subspecies thereof) can be really tricky to identify with no locality info. The subspecies are always being shuffled around and some are extremely variable in both pattern and color. I think you're correct in your ID ...

I think Jamster got the closest. If you have a boa, no garter is going to give you many problems. Watching them hunt for fish is also something every herper should get to do once, anyway. With regard to kings, milks, and rats, they are notorious biters, though for different reasons. Kings and milks ...

Thanks, guys.

Wes, I'm not sure what research there is on the subject, but I'd wager that you hit the nail on the head. I've noticed that many of the more plainly patterned snakes around here have this trait. When they're huffing and puffing, the flashes of color sure get your attention.

Thanks for looking, guys. I'm glad you enjoyed. :D Predator, these guys are known for being quick to hood. I've heard that the young hood up and hiss immediately upon hatching. While I couldn't say for sure if that's true or not (I've never seen these guys hatch), I can say that these guys have one ...

Took these photos today and I thought that maybe you guys might enjoy them. This is Heterodon platyrhinos , the Eastern Hog-nosed snake. https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15289339421_6f8cd90819_c.jpg https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3923/15292488125_4275a8137e_c.jpg Thanks for looking, guys. Hope yo...

predator678 wrote:A bite from a fangless snake is really insignificant. I think a bite from a large gecko or agamid is worse on average.
Large pythons and boas are obviously a different story.

^^^This.^^^

Thanks, Mitton. Aside from the last one, that's my favorite, too. :D Wes, I've often made similar comparisons, but it's funny you bring that up with this species, in particular. With these, it's actually considered good form to refer to them informally as the American Five-lined skink, in order to d...

Thanks, guys. :D Saturn, my camera really isn't anything special. It's a Fuji Finepix S4830. Herald, I wish I could call it patience, but it's usually just pure dumb luck. A lifetime of big game hunting has left me with a very quiet stride, so I usually walk right up on these animals before either o...

Fall is coming up on us pretty fast here in Northern Michigan. I thought I'd give an update on some of the stuff I've been seeing this summer before I get too engrossed in the end-of-the-season rush. Not all of these are shots of herps but, collectively, they show a pretty good cross section of this...

Great stuff, Wes! That hoggie is insane.

Would the two "black" subspecies still have so much speckling on them? It's absolutely possible. In Southern AZ, L. g. nigrita can be extremely difficult to distinguish from the splendida found there. They regularly intergrade in these areas (as most getula subspecies with overlapping ran...

Without exact locality info, there's actually no way of knowing what subspecies of L. getula this is. That snake could be an Eastern black, A Mexican black, a desert king (even though it lacks the typical "sockhead" marking), or even a Florida king. For my money, I'd go with an Eastern. I ...

Jamster wrote:Croteseeker, is that heat you are refering to due to decomposition? Like when you put hand in a bag of day old grass cuttings?

I'm pretty sure you've got it right, Jamster. (BTW, that's another good example that you provided.)