# Calling all herptiles...



## MontcalmCounty (Apr 1, 2013)

My run in


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Lynn4316 said:


> If you feel like taking a herp survey road trip then the Allegan State Game Area has lots of good places for finding skinks, hognose, blue racers, and rat snakes. I've seen blanding's around the Koopman marsh. There are also supposed to be rattlesnakes but I haven't seen those.
> 
> Are you using the herp mapper app to add sightings to the database?


There use to be a lot of rattle snakes by the Ottowa marsh in the high banks area


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Smallmouth Chaser said:


> I am not sure of specific locations to find the rattlers but they tend to like floating bogs down here in Barry County. The snakes spend the winter in crayfish borrows in the bog.
> 
> The DNR was doing a study in the BSGA a few years ago and the biologist I talked to said that prime time to see them is warm days in the spring before the vegetation has had time to grow much. He also said that the scale pattern on the heads of the massasauga is unique and can be used to identify individual snakes. I have looked in the area that he told me to look, several times but have not seen one yet and this was in a location that the DNR believes holds one of the higher concentrations of the snakes in lower Michigan.
> 
> Eastern hognose will be in sandy areas and they like to eat toads. Hopefully this helps, I used to see lots of hognose in my area but haven't seen one in a couple years.


Look by Williams lake. I have saw several on the road that goes back to the lake in the spring and again in the fall. I have also found them in the cranberry bogs over that way


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## frenchriver1 (Jul 5, 2005)

Tawas seems to have a substantial number of blue tail skinks running around....


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## jem44357 (Jan 27, 2011)

Nice photos JJones! Welcome on all accounts!

I used to have 2 Iguanas. Not knowing any better at the time my female became gravid and egg bound eventually dying from liver failure. My male lived ~ 13 years was 4' long and somewhere between 10-15 lbs. They were litter trained. After my divorce I placed a shelf in my front room window where he spent most of his time except to climb down and use the litter tray.

Ok enough for my hyjack here are my picks.

In my garden










From my back fence










better focus...










more next post......


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## jem44357 (Jan 27, 2011)

From last spring I walked up on "her" on a path while Turkey hunting.










2 days later she came to visit me in my pop-up blind. It was about a 1/2 mile from the first sighting.










Jim


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## JJones (Aug 19, 2013)

Wow, guys. Just....wow.

Lynn, I'll likely be making a trip down that way next spring. Thanks for the advice. I put my data into the NAFHA database, although I'm _way_ behind right now.

MCounty, That's a pretty cool frog. I've seen _Hyla sp. _before, but there are still some cool species out here for me to see.

Scout 2 & Frenchriver 1, I appreciate your advice, as well. I'll pay closer attention to those areas while I'm scouting next year.

Jem, great pics and story. I also don't feel that you highjacked my thread. I welcome people to share any anecdotal counts that they have. Nice frog, BTW, but that snapper really makes me jealous.


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## MontcalmCounty (Apr 1, 2013)

Probably 1.5 feet long or so














Blandings turtle I believe







A little salamander


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## MontcalmCounty (Apr 1, 2013)

Another of that snapper


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## FishMichv2 (Oct 18, 2004)

Joshua, i love those crotalus shots from out west. ill add a few pics but they wont be nearly as high in quality.
i see a few saugas every now and then, here is one of my favorites...








an anaconda i no longer own...








blandings








large water snake lives by my dock i occasionally throw a fish to...








baby snapper








a couple shots from costa rica...
















my beast of a southern copperhead out for a cage cleaning...







one of her babies








and my beauty.


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## JJones (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for posting some excellent shots, guys. 

MCounty, those are some cool finds, two of which would be lifers for me. I've never seen snappers or Blanding's turtles (that is, in fact, a Blanding's in your photo) in the wild. Your sally is a Red-backed Salamander _(Plethodon cinereus)_. Is that a Red-eared Slider in your second photo? I've seen hundreds of them in Arizona, but never bothered to photograph them. The decrease in reptile varieties available for me to photograph has led to my recent attention spent on turtles and amphibs.

FishMich, those are some excellent shots. I used to keep some crotes, myself. The blue speck in my avatar is Lily. I've kept cerbs, winders, and specks; looked after a few WDBs, mohaves, blacktails, prairies, and tigers. If I start keeping again, I'll keep _Crotalus sp. _just out of habit probably, but my first purchase will be something from the _Agkistrodon_ or_ Bothriechis_ genera. Now that I'm able to keep exotics, I'm likely to expand to species other than rattlesnakes, but whose bites cab be treated with CroFab or AntiVypMin. (I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. :lol

As much as I want to see a massasauga in the wild, I'd have to say that I prefer the shots of your speck and your copperhead. Beautiful animals.


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## MontcalmCounty (Apr 1, 2013)

If you get pics of a rattlesnake , post em up I'd love to see them


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## man vs. fish (Sep 6, 2010)

FishMich, are thise snakes defanged or whatever makes then safe to handle, or are you just livin on the wild side?


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## FishKilla419 (Feb 22, 2008)

Little manistee river is full of water snakes. FULL
The surrounding woods is where I've seen the only skink in my life. The big salamanders are there too. Nice pics. I used to chase all them little critters around when I was a wee lad. I've never seen a couple of your snake pics.
Cool stuff..:thumbup:

Here fishy fishy..


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## FishMichv2 (Oct 18, 2004)

man vs. fish said:


> FishMich, are thise snakes defanged or whatever makes then safe to handle, or are you just livin on the wild side?


all my venomous are hot. very inhumane and expensive to remove the venom glands. also the surgery is not always done correctly and you may still become envenomated. along with that, handling a devenomized snake causes you to lower your gaurd and increases the odds of a bite from a snake. i dont handle these snakes without the proper equipment, im never close enough to get bit.

my big dusky pygmy(just over 2 feet)








my blacktail


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## JJones (Aug 19, 2013)

Sorry for the late reply, guys. Been out of town working fr the past week and didn't have computer access.

MCounty, I've got some rattlesnake shots at the bottom of the first page of this thread. Although I didn't succeed in seeing any massasaugas this year, rest assured that I'll be sure to post photos of some next year. I've got a lot of experience with researching and tracking down target species and I do not intend to get skunked two years running.:lol:

FishKilla, your kind words and advice are very much appreciated. There are also some new snake species for me to photograph down that way. I'll be sure to hit the Manistee rivers and forest in 2014.

FishMich, that's a beautiful pygmy. Do you ever have any close calls with that set-up? I used to keep some cerbs and specks in cages like that, but undoing the latches on the back of the lid always made me a little uneasy. I ended up switching to melamine cages. It's nice to see such a well thought out set-up, though. I've seen some pretty bad arrangements, but I see that that cage is set up to monitor temp/humidity, labeled, locked, and nicely arranged. Well done.


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## danikowa (Sep 12, 2008)

Just thought I would add a couple cool pictures to this thread. While out hunting on Nov 16th, I cam across this Box Turtle which was almost completely yellow. I've never seen this pattern before. We had frost the night before and I think it is pretty odd he is out this late in the season. I am guessing he might not make it ..?



-Dan


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## JJones (Aug 19, 2013)

Nice boxie, Dan. I've seen a lot of box turtles but, for some reason, I've never found one in Michigan. I hear that they're more rare up here. That yellow coloration is something I see a lot in photos of MI specimens. I'm guessing it's a male but, since I can't see the eyes or the plastron, that's really just a shot in the dark based on the coloration and pattern.

I'm sure he should have no problem getting through the winter. Turtles are notoriously cold tolerant (as far as reptiles go) and I'm sure this little fellow has multiple burrows extending _well_ below the frost line. He'll be cool (and probably a little slow) but still alive and happy, even through the coldest winter months. 

Thanks for posting. Feel free to post any other herp photos you might have.


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