smooth Green

[brandonh]

Philly sure is a rough place to find herps. If you came into money you could own your own field on a dirt road where you could hunt herps lol. my town is about 10k population but there are lots of places in town and outside of town to hunt at so it is pretty nice.

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

Philly sure is a rough place to find herps. If you came into money you could own your own field on a dirt road where you could hunt herps lol. my town is about 10k population but there are lots of places in town and outside of town to hunt at so it is pretty nice.

oil city is west of scranton right? by quite a ways too! I'd like to either stay in pa and move up north, or move up to north ny, i've heard its all mountains.

[brandonh]

Oil city is in venango county and in north western pa. If i moved it would be somewhere warm lol but i love herping in pa too much to leave i think

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

Oil city is in venango county and in north western pa. If i moved it would be somewhere warm lol but i love herping in pa too much to leave i think

how cold is it up there?

as a child, i would go searching for all types of critters.
on vacation with the family when i was around 10, i actually came across water mockisons. of course i didnt know what they were. me seeing them all i thought was "awwww" so i was picking them up, playing with em, and everything. my uncle stood there and watched. i brought one back to the cabin, and my mom flipped a diccck! dear lord, that woman said every curse word out there. needless to say, i wasnt allowed out of the cabin again unless my dad was with me.

[brandonh]

tomorrow 40s rest week back down in the 20s. In the summer it gets pretty hot up here. where did you go on vacation at ? that sounds pretty scary at least you didn't get tagged by one of them . i actually went to virginia looking for water mocks no such luck. I am planning to search down in SC this summer maybe have some better luck

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

tomorrow 40s rest week back down in the 20s. In the summer it gets pretty hot up here. where did you go on vacation at ? that sounds pretty scary at least you didn't get tagged by one of them . i actually went to virginia looking for water mocks no such luck. I am planning to search down in SC this summer maybe have some better luck

thats about the same as here.
haha i didnt think it was scary at all. i thought they were cute. only thing i thought was scary was when i saw one coiled up in the bush that was huge. it was thick and long and black. terrified me. the image is burned into my memory ahah. but there were a crap load of babies.
although my mom told the office about it, and i havent seen any since which sucks. but there's alot of other wild life.
i would go herp huntin for salamanders, frogs, lizards, toads, everything.
i even got my turtle from up there.
i go to keen lake. i go up every year...Keen Lake Resort Camping & Cottage Resort
its gorgeous up there. i love it. its near paws and claws.
i highly recommend going up there.
you can find so much, even other snakes.
not sure what kind, but i know i stumbled across quite a few on my endeavors.

[brandonh]

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

thats about the same as here.
haha i didnt think it was scary at all. i thought they were cute. only thing i thought was scary was when i saw one coiled up in the bush that was huge. it was thick and long and black. terrified me. the image is burned into my memory ahah. but there were a crap load of babies.
although my mom told the office about it, and i havent seen any since which sucks. but there's alot of other wild life.
i would go herp huntin for salamanders, frogs, lizards, toads, everything.
i even got my turtle from up there.
i go to keen lake. i go up every year...Keen Lake Resort Camping & Cottage Resort
its gorgeous up there. i love it. its near paws and claws.
i highly recommend going up there.
you can find so much, even other snakes.
not sure what kind, but i know i stumbled across quite a few on my endeavors.

I think your snake may have been a hognose snake. water moocks ( cottonmouths ) are not native to pa. they are very thick and sometimes black in Pa. Thanks for the link it looks very beautiful up there. I'd love to hunt herps up in the poconos someday it would be a blast

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

I think your snake may have been a hognose snake. water moocks ( cottonmouths ) are not native to pa. they are very thick and sometimes black in Pa. Thanks for the link it looks very beautiful up there. I'd love to hunt herps up in the poconos someday it would be a blast

I read somewhere that hognose's only get 2-3 feet. this thing was giant. I remember it being all black, pale chin, and belly.
it was terrifying. the babies were cute though.

and do hognoses like water? all the snakes were near the water, even the big one. the bush it was under was right next to the lake.

[brandonh]

This is true hognose snakes are usually at max in the range of 2-3 feet in length. Since It was a giant i doubt that it was a hognose snake now.

Were the babies black also?

In my experience i have found hognose snakes around lakes before but I don't believe that water is a requirement though.

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

This is true hognose snakes are usually at max in the range of 2-3 feet in length. Since It was a giant i doubt that it was a hognose snake now.

Were the babies black also?

In my experience i have found hognose snakes around lakes before but I don't believe that water is a requirement though.

i believe they were.
they weren't aggressive either.
i mean, hey, they let a 10 year old play with them.

[brandonh]

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

i believe they were.
they weren't aggressive either.
i mean, hey, they let a 10 year old play with them.

i really wish i new what they were. the options for large black thick snakes (native to pa ) are limited however that does not mean that it was a native snake this year alone a sand boa , corn snake and a western painted turtle were found in pa. In any case i'm glad they were not aggressive towards you and you got interested in herping

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

i really wish i new what they were. the options for large black thick snakes (native to pa ) are limited however that does not mean that it was a native snake this year alone a sand boa , corn snake and a western painted turtle were found in pa. In any case i'm glad they were not aggressive towards you and you got interested in herping

are there any large boa's or pythons that are black? could've been someone's pet who got lose and made babies.


and as for the turtle, i had a western painted! thats the kind i found in the lake. i named him rainbow (=

[brandonh]

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

are there any large boa's or pythons that are black? could've been someone's pet who got lose and made babies.

That is always a possibility white lipped pythons are known to be black sometimes. i Don't know anything about how big they get though. If it was a python i would not expect it to live through our winters. It is also possible that it was a large black racer although their young are not solid black when they hatch. Another species is the eastern ratsnake it can be pretty long here in Pa up to 8 feet long. Once again though the young are not solid black when they hatch.

What a aawesome name for a beautiful colored turtle!

[ilovemysnake]

Originally Posted by brandonh

That is always a possibility white lipped pythons are known to be black sometimes. i Don't know anything about how big they get though. If it was a python i would not expect it to live through our winters. It is also possible that it was a large black racer although their young are not solid black when they hatch. Another species is the eastern ratsnake it can be pretty long here in Pa up to 8 feet long. Once again though the young are not solid black when they hatch.

What a aawesome name for a beautiful colored turtle!

just looked up pictures of the eastern rat snake, that's not the same thing as a black rat is it?

and thanks! ironically, my fiance's mother has a sun conure named rainbow too... but he's mean as a bat out of hell.

[brandonh]

I am pretty sure they are the same snake people just call them by different names
You are welcome sun conures are gorgeous birds too bad it is mean lol