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Herpin day two... (Murphy's Law steps in)

Cflaguy

Cflaguy

Old School Snakeman
Lisa and I had a job to do today. Last year a family came into the pet store she worked at with a .50 size Gopher Tortoise in a wins glass full of water. Two days under a heat lamp and he was O.K. Today we turned him lose at Withlacoochee. And went herpin both there and at the Green Swamp. We had a good day. Pics to follow- found 4 snakes today!
Typical Withlacoochee habitat. :crazy02:
 

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Before we arrived...

at the place we scouted to release Gully II, Lisa spotted a snake DOR. I pulled around and at first thought we had a color morph of a mud snake. It turned out to be the grandma of Banded Water snakes. Odd color and BTW, my flipflop is size 13.
 

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We said our goodbye...

to Gully II. We drove around the forest during the hot part of the day. There was plenty of evidence of snakes, big snakes crossing the road...
 

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On to the Green Swamp...

We walked down the newly opened Western Trac of the Green Swamp. There is a limerock road leading to a small horse camp. We found a Brown Snake and a Ringneck both freshly killed.
BTW, the Banded Water had a few inches of tail missing.
 

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Lets try that again...

Hope this one is better...
 

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I love Green Swamp. On the bike trail, you don't cross a road for the first ten miles. I've seen some great snakes there. And gators. And otters.

Nanci
 
That pic is so far away, how come you didn't get a real close up macro shot.... :grin01: Really, it looked like a fun day out, and well worth the two hour drive :D Actually that sounds like another field trip....
 
This is a little closer Joe....

I have a few of me lifting her I'll post a bit later. That is where the Murph Law comes in.
 

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Nanci are you talking about...

Nanci said:
I love Green Swamp. On the bike trail, you don't cross a road for the first ten miles. I've seen some great snakes there. And gators. And otters.

Nanci
Click to expand...
Van Fleet?

Joe, I was handing Lisa something and we were talking about the DOR Ringneck when I looked ahead and saw her crawling across the trail.
I said and I quote, "Diamondback." The first thing out of Lisa's mouth; and I quote, "Don't catch it!" The reason. They say there are no big Diamondbacks left but she was at least 5 and a half. She was a mellow non-aggressive snake. I pinned her several times but Lisa kept yelling; and I quote, " I WANT MY CHILD TO HAVE A FATHER!"
So I figured I would just pick her up on the hook, grab the tail and get a quick pic. She was to heavy to lift with the stick and wouldn't turn for me to grab the tail. She was mellow but stubborn. So I went ahead and caught her and struck a pose. Then the flippin batteries in the camera died.
More pics as I resize them for the web.
 

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Yes, Van Fleet. That's a great snake! I don't know who says there aren't any big ones left- there are in Alachua County...

Nanci
 
Van Fleet is great I agree...

Nanci said:
Yes, Van Fleet. That's a great snake! I don't know who says there aren't any big ones left- there are in Alachua County...

Nanci
Click to expand...
Not only was General Fleet A Florida Gator, but he liked nature as well. We like heading to the Green Swamp to road cruise and usually walk up Fleet before the sun goes down. We've seen Pygmy Rattlers, Yellow Rats, Racers, and just about any variety of water snake you want.
 
Did you say field trip?

CaptBogart said:
That pic is so far away, how come you didn't get a real close up macro shot.... :grin01: Really, it looked like a fun day out, and well worth the two hour drive :D Actually that sounds like another field trip....
Click to expand...
I agree, as I remember on the sheet at the Richloam trailhead it stated Withlacoochee is 179,000 acres. Plenty of field trip material.
 

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That would be so cool to have an actual herping field trip...

Pygmy Rattlers inflict 50% of the venomous bites in Florida!

(I learned from my new Venomous Snakes of the Southeast book that arrived yesterday...)

Nanci
 
Thanx folks...

Cassandra it was great for me. It has been a decade or so since I've seen an ED in the wild.
Chris after we move I say we go ahead and plan a trip while road cruisin and herpin are still good and it is still somewhat cool; good for early evening or morning herpin.
Nanci you're invited of course but this is late notice and getting late already for good herpin. Any field trip I would assume would also include a drive around the forest during the hot part of the day.
Jeff hurry, they are getting harder to find.
 

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Just got back from road cruisin...

And Murphy bit me in the butt again. Lisa hit me with road cruisin tonight. She hates cruisin. But this was a great surprise and I jumped on it. It was 6:30 and gettin late so we flew out the door. Forgetting the camera.
What crossed our path tonight?
A deer.
An armadillo
Turkey
Several cows.
And two Florida Cottonmouths. One about three and a half. The other about 15." And red/orange as could be. The cottonmouths were on the road at the same time 50 ft apart. I got out and caught the smaller one. Lisa points out the big girl. A truck comes by and asked what we were doing. I said and I quote, "There is another cottonmouth up there I'll get it in a sec. Don't run her over." The m#*^%&!@$*^r drove right down there and ran her over. :angry01: She was still alive but I made the call and euthanized her.
 
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