Questions: herping in Florida

[Pareeeee]

My husband and I are visiting Ft. Lauderdale this spring for our 10th wedding anniversary.

For the first time ever I will be able to go herping in the southern US (one of my dreams come true ).

What I want to know is if anyone has any tips about herping in South Florida. What are the laws for picking up herps? Are there any species (other than hots which I won't be handling anyway) that are illegal to touch? I already know that there is a no-touch, no-interference rule in the everglades. Are there other places where it's illegal or is that only in the glades?

I have also researched and familiarized myself with the native venomous snakes. That is something I don't take lightly!

Definitely would appreciate any tips and suggestions offered.

I can't wait til spring!

[Roman]

OK, since the locals are a little shy I try to help you out. I was in Ft. Lauderdale several times on vacation. In the city itself you might find the omnipresent brown anole (Anolis sagrei). I don’t know about the surrounding country, because all we did was going to the beach, eating and shopping .



Plan for at least one full day for the everglades national park. From Ft. Lauderdale it is about 1 hour drive to the park entrance. The visitor center here has some good general information about the glades and the wildlife, but especially about the density of the most beloved animal in the everglades the mosquito, they even have a scale (from light to Aarghh)

Probably the most interesting trail is right next to the park entrance, the Anhinga Trail and the Gumbo Limbo Trail. The Anhinga Trail leads you to round trip along and above some deeper water. During the summer is the rainy season, so there is a lot of water and the animals are more dispersed. You may find a lot of different birds, fishes, insects, spiders, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes and of course alligators. Any time I came here I found at least one alligator, sometimes two or three or … many. I also found different species of turtles, anoles, once a large green iguana, black racers (Coluber constrictor), an Everglades Racer (Coluber constrictor paludicola) and some water snakes (Nerodia sp.) I couldn’t identify (they where a little too far away and between a lot of greenery).

The Gumbo Limbo trail right next to it is a trail through a wood. Here you can find snakes and lizards as well, but also nothing at all.

There are other trails on the road south, but none is as good and as diverse as the Anhinga trail. If you go all the way south to Flamingo, you have a pretty good chance to see alligators in the marina and if you are lucky you can see an American crocodile as well.

The Miami zoo is also interesting, they have a nice Amazonas house with several interesting reptiles.

If you are also travelling north to Orlando make sure to visit the Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud.


Some pictures from the Everglades National Park I took over the years as teasers...


black racer (Coluber constrictor)






Everglades Racer (Coluber constrictor paludicola)




eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) I found crossing the road




American crocodile




An Alligator killing and eating a turtle



Roman

[Pareeeee]

Awesome, thanks for the info. Love the photos! I would love to see an American Croc.

I mostly want to photograph, well, everything I see - and I hope to see lots! We will be taking an everglades airboat ride for sure, and we also want to visit Shark Valley Loop Road. Anhinga Trail looks interesting.

Perhaps people are not wanting to give away good herping spots - and I want to make sure everyone realizes I'm not asking for that (PSA - please don't post specific herping areas, you could cause these areas to be overrun with herpers and/or illegal collectors etc.).

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

If you want to be sure to see acutus, go to Flamingo Island in the Glades, you'll see some huge ones. I found a 3' on some back road near there, that was cool.

It really depends on what you're hunting for. You'll see the most stuff down in the Glades cruising the roads or flipping stuff. The further north you go the odds are against you. I actually hated herping Florida, and I'm from there.

The only place I've found Indigos were around the southern Ocala/Summerfield area. You'll find Southern Pine snakes over in Levy county and take 60th south of SR200 in Ocala down passed all of the communities. You'll see fields on both sides at the next stop light. Go passed that, (or take a right) to your next available right turn. Herp any wooded or open field you find. Really the only area I can turn over southern pines in Florida. It's a community, but most people will tell you where they've seen snakes.

Canebrakes, you'll want to go to Bradford county. Any roads between Gainesville (Where I am from) to Lake Butler can yield you some nice pink animals.

You can find diamondback terrapins at any coast in Florida but the best place is in Cedar key and nearby areas of levy county and Anatasia island down in Tampa. Hunt the shallow grassy areas.

If you have specifcs I can maybe help out better but most stuff is somewhat hard to find. Florida is either plotted with homes, farms or heavily dense vegetation. All areas are technically prime but over the years, my best spots have dwindled, even finding cottonmouths have been less and less.