downs park

Lrptls · 06-19-05, 11:53 AM

i finally got to go herping and i would like to say it was very much a success even though every time i go herping my main goal is snakes and they are almost never found, same goes for today =( BUT i did find some stuff that got me really excited. for example i have NEVER seen lizards and today i saw 3. all were skinks, 2 were blue tails and one im not really sure, he was about 7 inches long, all brown and red head. i looked in my herp book but none looked exactly like him, so if any one could ID him that would be cool. i'll also add right now incase any one doesnt know where MD is, its on the east coast of the US. he had a nice little home in a hollow log right on the beach, he has a wonderful view of the chesapeak bay. the other skinks i couldnt get any where near, but they were pretty.

down at the swamp there were HUGE snapping turtles, there were either 2 or 3. there shells were probably over a foot long. if i had the proper boots i would have went right in there after them but they were about 10 feet away from the land. they were staring at all the yummy fishes. there were frogs every where. a bull frog was the very first thing i saw when i went to the park, he was not at the swamp though. its interesting because he was bright green and the bull frogs at the swamp were very dark.

there was also pretty far away some sort of mammal critter in the water, not a beaver...usually im good at IDing! but im just not sure what he was either. no snakes though *big sigh* i really looked every where for them, under logs, under rocks, under leaves, any little patches of sun in grassy areas...little buggers just dont want to be seen. the temps were in the 70s, some sunny spots felt about 80 degrees. it just seemed perfect and im SURE they were there and i didnt see them, its perfect habitat for any thing, iv seen snakes there before. last time i was there i brought home an eastern box turtle shell.

well good luck every one else, if any one knows any snake finding tricks please tell me lol.

Lrptls · 06-19-05, 11:56 AM

froggy, i believe he tried to play dead sort of, he went limp when i held him, and sat him back down, for a second i thought...did he just die?! he was so limp but then he jumped around like nuts, never saw that before.

Muhahaha · 06-19-05, 12:18 PM

the brown skink is a male broadheaded skink.

Lrptls · 06-19-05, 12:30 PM

from the book he most closely resembled that and the five lined skink. though his head wasnt as big as the broadhead but it was bigger than the five lined...lol i dont know...i didnt think MD had either species.

Muhahaha · 06-19-05, 03:06 PM

i have 2 broadheaded skinks and the male looks like the picture so i guess you can find them in MD. did you catch the five- lined skinks? i have 2 males and 4 females (1 laid eggs today) and the're fun to have.

Lrptls · 06-19-05, 10:06 PM

those little skinks were too smart for me haha, the one was basking on a wooden walk way and went down on it to hide. the other was basking next to a trash can, he ran under it and i lifted it, right then he must have took off cause i didnt see him. my friends at the pet store told me the brown skink is a female five lined, they told me theyv owned them before as well. this one just really didnt have a broad head at all, just about the same size as the body. the only thing that really made me think thats what it was was just because the head was so red, but i really doubt we have broadheads in MD anyways