Went herping at a stream today, in Pittsburgh, PA, on the lookout for neonate queen snakes and northern water snakes. The trip started off bad, didn't see anything for half an hour. Flipped rocks, moved tarp, just about everything, no signs of sheds, but alot of prey items everywhere(small minnows/crayfish/salamanders).

It's pretty sad, I came to this area for the first time about 10 years ago, and used to be able to find atleast 30 neonatal snakes, but they recently did some construction on the stream, and I have a feeling that had something to do with the demise of the snakes there.

After about 40 minutes of nothing, a friend of mine spotted a fish, said it looked pretty big. So I looked. It moved through the stream in an area where it was about 4' deep or so. Then I watched it move past something that looked like a snake. Though my eyes are bad so I couldn't really tell. My friend said it looked like a snake, so we moved closer.

Turns out, it was an adult Queen Snake, feasting on a crayfish. I have heard of very few people witnessing this in the field. We waited until it finished it's meal, about 10 minutes or so, all of which underwater. The specimen was collected and will be donated to science.

Neat sight though. Wish I had the camera on me.
-----
Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
Helmz777@aol.com
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Updated 9/6 NEW PICS/INFO

[ Hide Replies ]

• Field Report 9/10/05 - Rare Observation - HerperHelmz, Sat Sep 10 16:57:10 2005
• RE: Field Report 9/10/05 - Rare Observation - dragoncjo, Sat Sep 10 18:55:06 2005
• RE: Field Report 9/10/05 - Rare Observation - HerperHelmz, Sat Sep 10 19:25:32 2005
• RE: Field Report 9/10/05 - Rare Observation - dragoncjo, Sat Sep 10 20:06:42 2005
• RE: Field Report 9/10/05 - Rare Observation - HerperHelmz, Sat Sep 10 21:14:11 2005
• RE: Field Report 9/10/05 - Rare Observation - umop_apisdn, Mon Sep 12 16:39:45 2005
• Some people refuse to learn... - Mike M., Mon Sep 12 18:15:11 2005
• RE: You make me sick - HerperHelmz, Mon Sep 12 23:26:49 2005
• RE: You make me sick - Erik - NM, Mon Sep 12 23:36:28 2005
• RE: You make me sick..... ? lol n/p - Mike M., Tue Sep 13 00:36:59 2005
• RE: The only times - HerperHelmz, Tue Sep 13 17:37:10 2005
• If it's going to be released, why collect in the first place? nt - Mike M., Tue Sep 13 00:39:47 2005
• RE: If it's going to be released, why collect in the first place? nt - dragoncjo, Tue Sep 13 11:47:28 2005
• RE: If it's going to be released, why collect in the first place? nt - dragoncjo, Tue Sep 13 11:59:25 2005
• RE: Ooooooh. Hurtful words dude - HerperHelmz, Tue Sep 13 17:49:37 2005
• RE: Ooooooh. Hurtful words dude - swwit, Tue Sep 13 18:45:18 2005
• RE: ....... - HerperHelmz, Tue Sep 13 19:30:28 2005
• problems with re release - Scott Eipper, Wed Sep 14 03:19:47 2005
• RE: problems with re release - HerperHelmz, Wed Sep 14 06:12:00 2005
• RE: problems with re release - Deinagkistrodon, Wed Sep 14 10:42:21 2005
• Okay Folks...Concerning below... - gratefuldead, Fri Sep 16 00:01:50 2005
• RE: Okay Folks...Concerning below... - gratefuldead, Fri Sep 16 00:03:40 2005
• RE: Okay Folks...Concerning below... - Mike M., Mon Sep 19 21:50:10 2005