Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought a hand-held GPS unit, a Garmin etrex legend.

Anyway, I'm planning to take it with me whenever I go out into the field, so that I can accurately record location and time of specimen sightings.

I'm probably also going to buy a new digital camera for this purpose, the one I have has poor macro capabilities, which makes it difficult to properly photograph features of specimens caught in the field and then released.

But GPS and a camera are only part of the equation - I'd like something that fairly accurately measures the ambient temperature and humidity of the air, and for specimens collected under logs etc. it might be nice to have some way of describing the temp and conditions of the surface soil.

Any suggestions on devices that can do this? I suppose for soil, it would be possible to take a sample back home in a sealed test tube, weight it, let it dry, and weigh it again to determine the moisture by weight. Not sure if I have a scale that is sensitive enough for that though, not in a test tube size quantity.
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

I use one of those surface Temp laser things...I think it is actually designed for cooking. I don't know how accurate it is, but it is pretty consistent and small. i don't know the brand or model off hand, but it is more than a year old, so I'mm sure that a search of what's out there would be more productive anyway.

Jake

Let me know when you add thermal optics to your gear!!! I've always wondered what that would do.

For ground temps you can use a Raytek laser thermometer or equivilent. To measure air temp., wind speed, humidity and barometric pressure you can use a Kestrel Anemometer.
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Steve W.

n/p
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata