What have you caught?

[MonitorLove]

Earth Snake - Not sure of an exact species, but what a beautiful specimen. Steely gray, about 8-10 inches long, no bigger than the width of a pencil. It shed, then had a live birth of two maybe three days after my dad brought it in. One of the little guys was a still born, unfortunately. The babies were three inches long, teeny tiny. Was found in the backyard while my dad was lawn mowing. I later released both mother and baby into a much safer area without lawn mowers.
I have pictures around here somewhere....

Prairie Ring-necked Snake - Five of them! Two yellow banded and three orange banded. Found while cleaning up old roofing paper on our new property. Maybe...6-8 inches long? Haven't measured them yet so can't be to sure. Wonderful little guys, very docile and secretive.
(pic from http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake1.htm)

Black Rat Snake - Adult, and just one. It, no joke, fell out of the ceiling during remodeling. My brother gave the drywall a yank, then with the insulation and dirt came this little guy. Incredibly docile (considering that he just fell out of a ceiling, was snatched up at the base of a head, then closely examined to ensure that he's not venomous). He coiled around my wrist and tolerated being poked at and petted, not even head shy. He's now living the good life with a heat pad, hide, fresh water, and a weekly pink. I don't want to stuff him with food right away and make him sick, hence the pink, soon he'll graduate to fuzzys
(pic from http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake1.htm)

Turtle - No idea what species and nothing really WOW, but a kinda cute little guy. He was sitting in the middle of a busy road when my dad (he's awesome like that) stopped the car, let me out, and allowed me to fetch the wild animal. I released him later on in a park/wild life refuge, by a nice big pond swarming with tasty bugs.


All found in Missouri


Anyone else have any interesting finds/catches?

[ohyeahnow]

Wow, if we were talking all reptiles I could not even remember. AT least ten black snakes, 2 kings, one corn, 5or 6 green snakes, too many garter snakes to remember, 3 water snakes then got tired of being musked, 1 ring neck snake, one queen snake which was quickly released because they primarily eat crayfish in the molting stage; try finding food for a queen. Heck my mom has caught two ring neck snakes in the last two years. Not that she like to catch snake, just not afraid at 72 and doesn't want them in her house. She also caught two black snake when she and my dad lived in Virginia with the help of a broom and a trash can just to get them out of her house. If you count the 38 unexpected baby garter snake that filled my moms house as a kid, I guess we both have caught quite a few . Those were as a kid and teenager, and I have only purposely went collected about five times. Those excursions accounted for all the black snakes. The rest of the snakes I just came across by chance. The two rattlers I saw in the blue ridge and the three copperheads I came across I just observed from a distance. Guess I got bitten to often to even consider picking up a venomous species.

Nastiest bites I ever got aside from the retics I owned as a kid came from black snakes. Guess you found a nice one. The ring neck and corn snake were my favorite catches.

[Michelle.C]

While we lived in Missouri I found everything from Osage Copperheads, Timber Rattlesnakes, King Snakes, Rat Snakes, Worm Snakes, Midland Browns, Garters, Ring-necks, etc.

Here are a few of my favorite photos I shot. Please keep in mind, I had a cheap kodak at the time.


Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris)


Diamond-backed Water Snake (Nerodia rhombifer rhombifer)


Pair of Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)


Western Worm Snake (Carphophis vermis)


Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta)

I have more pictures, but I didn't want to flood the thread.

[fattielumpkin]

Sorry no pictures, but I have caught a lot of herps in my day. The best being when one caught me. I refer to the time I nearly kissed a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I was eight years old and he was very cold, it being the end of february. He didn't even rattle, just sat there coiled up as I came charging through his little cave on all fours and met him with a three inch gaze....I kid you not. I screamed, He stared, I ran, He sat and stared some more. El dia no bueno en el rio de pescados. That is the name of the day. Yeah it has a name. What now?

[FloridaHogs]

Nice thread...let's see

Soft shelled turtle (pulled out of the road)


Big Snapping turt (believe an allagator snapper) also pulled out of the road.


Southern Ringneck


Not a reptile but ....


Fence Lizard


Southern Black Racer


Banded watersnake


Some skinks




Juvi black racer


There ever present boxie


Eastern Diamondback


and a catapiller that mimics a snake

[Jerhart]

I've caught a wide variety of herps in the midwest, however I am not very good at documenting my finds. One of my buddies documents his trips however...here is a link to a couple of our hunts together. You can find our trip about 2/3 the way down the page. ....I'm Josh Erhart just in case you are wondering http://www.emeraldexotics.net/2006_Field_Herping.html

[blackcrystal22]

Western Worm Snake (Carphophis vermis)

I would not want to give that Worm Snake up! It's adorible!

[casperca]

That caterpillar is way cool! I was field herping about a month ago and we caught a blue spotted salamander, four-toed salamander, some spring peepers and toads.

[Michelle.C]

A few more.


American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)


Prairie Kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster calligaster)


Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans)


Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta)


Luna Moth (Actias luna)

I love this thread! There are some awesome finds!

[Michelle.C]

I would not want to give that Worm Snake up! It's adorible!

They were all over our farm in Missouri. Unfortunately, wild caughts are very hard to keep in captivity. So, I'll settle with a photograph.