Herping for snakes

[Cyclops]

What are the best places to find ringnecks and milks and dekay snakes in the piedmont region of Georgia in the USA

[LouB747]

I live in Southern California yet travel a lot and herp whenever I can. I've never spent any time in your area, however I'd expect to find Ringnecks and DeKays under debris and boards in open fields next to wooded areas. Ringnecks like artificial cover or rocks. The DeKays I've seen (Chicago area) were under artificial cover and tree bark. You typically won't see them out in the open. Same with the milks really. I've never found any of those out on the crawl. All of the ones I've seen (Kansas) were under rocks. Spring is the best flipping season, even if you don't get much of a winter. It stays releatively warm in Southern California, but the snakes still go underground until late February or early March. Don't look in heavily wooded areas. Not enough sunlight. Look around the open areas next to those areas. I believe some herpers follow train tracks through forested areas as they provide areas of open sunlight and there is debris along the tracks. Watch out for trains.

Look under stuff in the spring before it gets too hot. If it's too dry, that's not good either. A day or two after it rains seems to work best.

Maybe I'm telling you what you already know. I'm on YouTube at www.youtube.com/loub747 and post a lot of herping videos. The ones from Japan are typically "flipping" videos. Maybe they can help.

I look forward to hearing about your finds in the future.

[eminart]

I agree with most of what Lou said. But, not the part about not looking in heavily wooded areas. I live in northern Alabama and grew up in the northeast part of the state that is probably very similar to the area of GA you're in. Our most common small snakes were probably ring necks, and the vast majority of them I found in the woods. Look under flat rocks and logs on hillsides, preferably near streams. My experience with Dekay's is closer to what Lou said - usually around homes and more open areas. Both will almost always be found under cover, although I've found a few Dekay's hanging out in clumps of grass and stuff like that.

[akane]

Around water is where you mostly find snakes here. We don't have much rock or cave systems. The dekay's all use the rock of the streams to get deep enough for brumation so a field that isn't fully cut every year or woods along a creek is good and I saw mass numbers headed to brumate last fall in multiple locations on 2 different streams. Otherwise I mostly come across bull and water snakes when near a lake with the odd bull or garter snake in fields. You don't want to find something in the woods here... If you get far enough in the middle of nowhere it's more likely to be a timber rattlesnake lol Staying relatively near paths and fished waters is safest except we do have the occasional water moccasin so you need to know your water snake ID.

[Bandit]

I find ringnecks regularly in wooded areas which have a lot of logs lying around. Generally I find them under logs which are on higher ground and right up against trees. I'm still on the hunt for a milk snake, so I can't help you there. I can tell you that from what I've been told, milks (at least here in Louisiana) tend to hang out in rotted trees/stumps.

You should really get on Instagram and try to get in touch with some of the local herpers. I know there are a couple in Georgia and the surrounding areas who seem to find a lot of different species.