Herping? A few questions

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Ok, I'm planning a little day long herping trip around the Missouri rive in hopes of finding a few species in particular. Would it be best to search on the Bluffs or down by the river? Would it be good to look around trash dumps by lakes and ponds if I can find any?
Any imput on where to look for any of the species is appreciated.

Here is the list of Nebraskas snakes and I am in FAR eastern Nebraska, Less than 2 miles from the river.
http://snrs.unl.edu/herpneb/snake/basicsnakekey.html

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I found an awesome place that I think I may find a few species while I was out walking. Its about 30-40' down a hill and there was what looked like a dry creek bed that was a little moist. I walked awhile and it turned into swampland. As I got further I found masses of trash. Couches, old freezers, corrugated tin, ect. In the water were tons of tadpoles but I saw no actual frogs out there. It was a hard walk through the dense trees and marshland but I think in a month or 2 this place will be crawling with herps. If it was about 100-200 miles south, I could see it crawling with copperheads.

[wildlifewarrior]

I would say where to look would depend on what you want to find. Bluffs are good for snakes, but the river is a great place for turtles and some snakes, but toads and frogs as well. That junk pile/area sounds like a great place if it is dryer under the junk, too wet the snakes won't like it.

~mike

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I'll have my new camera within the week so I can get pics of the area. It is awesome. What kinds of snakes would I expect to find on the Bluffs? There are HUGE bluffs around here.

[Kara]

Um, HELLO?!?!!? Search it ALL and then report back! This sounds like an excellent area to profile for a variety of species.

And I'm expecting LOTS of pics!

Happy hunting!

K~

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Um, HELLO?!?!!? Search it ALL and then report back! This sounds like an excellent area to profile for a variety of species.

And I'm expecting LOTS of pics!

Happy hunting!

K~

lol Thanks. Wednesday is supposed to be 87 so it should be a good day to go look around again. I may actually catch a few tadpoles if I can to see what kind of frogs there are.

[Kara]

I think you should take pics every time you go out & start a photo-journal thread here that details what you find. Field herping is so much fun, and I don't think we all realize how much the opportunity shrinks every day, in terms of habitat loss, etc.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I agree. When I get the new camera, you better believe you will be seeing tons of pics. The reeds were taller than me in some areas. Maybe I should spread the trash out. More areas for snakes to hide. I already spread some of the corrugated tin out hoping that one of these days I will flip them and find some herps.

[Kara]

Go at different times of day, too. Document what you find, when, where, etc. If you can get a GPS of some sort & mark waypoints where you find different species, you may be able to offer the info to your local Fish & Game dept. for their records/protection programs, as well. Think big picture!!

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I already have reported a few finds to the Nebraska Herp Society of Black Rat snakes and Ring necks in areas otherwise in question. This may be good training for my future goal which is as follows.
Pick a species of snake that is very much under studied and research. Get weights, population counts, ect and shed some light on that species. I was actually thinking afrocks or some sort of island boa local of some sort.

Also, I think I found the perfect place to look for hognose around here. Its about 100 yards+/- from a lake and the soil is SANDY as can be.