Herping methods?

[DDW]

I was just curious, how do you go about finding snakes/lizzards? What is the safest way to do so? (There are several venomous snakes in my area) I don't want to pick them up(unless it's a garter, grass,ribbon, or lizzard), I just want to find them and take pics. where are the best places to find them. I'm tired of being the only one not to find any kind of snake. It really seems like those who don't want to find snakes do but those who do, dont. Any other tips are nice. Thank you.

[DDW]

Well, there may be another thread. I guess field herping is in general flipping stuff over but I wonder what your methods are. I was just wanting to go out in the forestish area near my house. Plus I'm going to be picking dew berries soon and I'll have a chance then.

[DDW]

And I will not be keeping any wild caught animals btw

[FWK]

Well the first thing is to study up on the animals native to your area. Learn about their natural history. What they eat, the type of habitat they prefer, etc. Spend some time looking at pictures of each snake found in your area, lots of repetition will make ID'ing them in the field much easier.

As far as safety, use common sense. Don't touch any animal that you aren't 100% confident as to what it is. Don't put your hands or feet anywhere you can't see. Use a hook or other tool to flip cover. If you will be walking in tall grass or otherwise can't see where you are putting your feet wear snake boots.

Do not destroy cover. If you flip a rock be sure to put it right back where it was, and that there are no critters under it (don't crush a frog). Don't tear apart stumps or otherwise damage habitat.

The real trick to herping is just to invest a lot of time in the field. The animals you are looking for are experts at not being seen. I can walk out into my backyard knowing for a fact that there are at least a half dozen species and probably dozens of specimens within a couple hundred yards of me at any given time, but I'll be lucky to find just one of them (other than Rough Greens, those guys are easy to find around here). Many snakes spend most of their time in places inaccessible to you (underground, a hole in a tree, etc.), others will know you are coming long before you get there and book it. Still others are so well camouflaged you can look right at them and never know they where there. They have been practicing not being seen for millions of years. The more time you spend in the field the more little things you will start to notice. What habitat produces certain species, what times of day and night are most productive, how the weather affects your luck. Even if you know everything there is to know about the critters you are looking for you still could come up empty, the only way to turn the odds in your favor is to invest a lot of time. The best thing about herping is that even on a "bad" day, a day when you see not a single snake, you still got to spend time outdoors and probably saw lots of other wildlife along the way.

[pet_snake_78]

Well most snakes aren't just running around in the open, they are hiding in shelters where the prowl for mice and/or thermoregulate beneath cover objects. You need to move the snake out from under the shelter though, set it back down, then allow it to crawl back under the object. There's no harm in touching most snakes and they typically are stunned for a few moments after the cover object is removed. I gently move the venomous ones with a stick, just stay out of striking range and you'll be fine. Lizards... some hide under rocks and such, too, otherwise are out basking at the right times of day and very easy to see. In some areas, driving around on roads in the late evening to night is productive, in other areas it's kind of a waste of gas without much being seen. Finally, the pit vipers can often be seen when the gravid females are hiding in rock crevices before giving birth. For amphibians, the frogs and toads can be located by their calls in the breeding season, the mole salamander family tend to congregate at ponds and cross roads during specific times of the year.

[DDW]

Originally Posted by FWK

Well the first thing is to study up on the animals native to your area. Learn about their natural history. What they eat, the type of habitat they prefer, etc. Spend some time looking at pictures of each snake found in your area, lots of repetition will make ID'ing them in the field much easier.

As far as safety, use common sense. Don't touch any animal that you aren't 100% confident as to what it is. Don't put your hands or feet anywhere you can't see. Use a hook or other tool to flip cover. If you will be walking in tall grass or otherwise can't see where you are putting your feet wear snake boots.

Do not destroy cover. If you flip a rock be sure to put it right back where it was, and that there are no critters under it (don't crush a frog). Don't tear apart stumps or otherwise damage habitat.

The real trick to herping is just to invest a lot of time in the field. The animals you are looking for are experts at not being seen. I can walk out into my backyard knowing for a fact that there are at least a half dozen species and probably dozens of specimens within a couple hundred yards of me at any given time, but I'll be lucky to find just one of them (other than Rough Greens, those guys are easy to find around here). Many snakes spend most of their time in places inaccessible to you (underground, a hole in a tree, etc.), others will know you are coming long before you get there and book it. Still others are so well camouflaged you can look right at them and never know they where there. They have been practicing not being seen for millions of years. The more time you spend in the field the more little things you will start to notice. What habitat produces certain species, what times of day and night are most productive, how the weather affects your luck. Even if you know everything there is to know about the critters you are looking for you still could come up empty, the only way to turn the odds in your favor is to invest a lot of time. The best thing about herping is that even on a "bad" day, a day when you see not a single snake, you still got to spend time outdoors and probably saw lots of other wildlife along the way.

Thanks, I should have thought of this (my mind went blank in the hopes of even seeing a snake in its natural habitat) I was starting to think nobody was going to answer (hence the two times I re posted on this thread) there is a wide variaty of snakes where I live (my family finds mostly cotton moughs, copper heads, and water snakes.(sadly which usually get killed by a shovel. There is nothing I can do about it since it's their property)I think there are rattles too. Occasionally the elusive speckled kingsnake(my favorite local snake). I think we have some milks or maybe corals. I've read there are hog noses here but haven't seen any. Then there are the regular garter/grass/and ribbon (I think) snakes.

[Pogie]

If you lived by me all you would have to do is walk out my back door and see all the garter snakes you wanted rotfl.

[DDW]

Originally Posted by Pogie

If you lived by me all you would have to do is walk out my back door and see all the garter snakes you wanted rotfl.

Lol, I think you've mentioned that somewhere else(if that was you im thinking abou) XD I wish, I have cats and dogs that would kill them (I regret that I once accidently run over one with the riding mower in my back yard last year) but i would love to see that lol (the garters that is) I (and family/friends) have mostly run into the venomous ones. Mostly coperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlers,which usually end up killed (one of my dogs killed a cotton mouth once, luckily no bites) the coper heads are easy to identify, but the cotton mouths are very similar looking to the water snakes that like our yards and ponds. We have only seen one lonely speckled kings name (that also got killed because my sister has chickens) :/ I can't do anything about it.

[DDW]

Originally Posted by pet_snake_78

Well most snakes aren't just running around in the open, they are hiding in shelters where the prowl for mice and/or thermoregulate beneath cover objects. You need to move the snake out from under the shelter though, set it back down, then allow it to crawl back under the object. There's no harm in touching most snakes and they typically are stunned for a few moments after the cover object is removed. I gently move the venomous ones with a stick, just stay out of striking range and you'll be fine. Lizards... some hide under rocks and such, too, otherwise are out basking at the right times of day and very easy to see. In some areas, driving around on roads in the late evening to night is productive, in other areas it's kind of a waste of gas without much being seen. Finally, the pit vipers can often be seen when the gravid females are hiding in rock crevices before giving birth. For amphibians, the frogs and toads can be located by their calls in the breeding season, the mole salamander family tend to congregate at ponds and cross roads during specific times of the year.

Thankyou^.=.^ (I am not going to be doing anything to the venomous ones, as far as my mom is concerned evenot a dead snake isn't a good snake. she isn't even happy with me handling garters) :/btw, sorry for taking so long to reply. I didn't realize you had commented.

[pet_snake_78]

Good luck out there

[DDW]

Originally Posted by pet_snake_78

Good luck out there

Thank you going to be picking dew berries in the morning hopefully so I might get a chance to out and see some snakes (mostly garters and kings hopefully)