Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this year my main goal is to find some eastern milks around my neck of the woods . there very uncommon but theres supposevly a few scattered colonies near were i live that im going to give a shot .i live near philadelphia ,PA, the area im searching is a big state park with a creek in the middle, multiple ponds and marshes all sourounding it with brooks and smaller creeks leading to the main creek, all the brooks are permanent run off streams from the hilly mountains sourounding the main creek and its ponds in the valley, would i be better off in the ponds that are loaded with frogs, newts and garters/water snakes , or am i better off higher up in elevation ? i know these are "secretive" little guys but i know theyre there i spotted what i belived was a milksnake near the ponds some 10 odd years ago but i havnt realy herped around there since ,people tell me to they sometiems mass hibernate under foundations of old spring houses, wells and mill foundations, i have not found any in this park though. Now i read that the milks are there but secretive and thats my motive to get out and see whats popin. i do not keep my catch's ,all of this is for imformational and personel curiosity purposes only , i keep a log of evrything and send it into Pennsylvania state fish and game for population info.
any information would be appreciated .
thanx
ryan
-----
0.0.1 Dusky pygmy rattlesnake
1.0 Amelanistic greatplains ratsnake
0.1 Greatplains ratsnake
0.1 Amelanistic Cornsnake
1.1 Everglades Ratsnake
0.1 Greenish ratsnake
1.1 Speckled kingsnake
1.1 eastern garters
1.1 stripeless garters
1.0 blue onestriped northwestern garter
0.1 Red sided gartersnake
1.1 anoles
0.0.1 tokay gecko
0.1 graceful chamelion
1.0 green iguana
and a bangin @ss drumset

I think you would be most productive by where the "run-off" forms into ponds. Some of their main prey is located there as you stated, frogs,newts, and other snakes....also rodents will be close by these areas......don't disregard the rocky outcroppings though, and the wooded areas, as these areas would be good as well!......it' good you mentioned not keeping any animals!,......those park wardens wouldn't go for much of that!LOL............good luck!..................................Doug
-----
Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

if you can find good sized, but flippable rocks(make sure to return tham as found) on a good sun soaked hillside you should be able to find them. another good tactic to find them is to find illegal dumpsites. thr outskirts of the city should have lots of them. I found them to be more common than people think at least in central NY. good luck andlet us know how it turns out
wayne

thanks doug/wayne . another reason i was asking was becuase thers alota rotted moist loggs and wood debris evrywere on the hillside rocky sloped forest that i find northern redbacked salamanders by the hundreds and actualy caught a four toed there the other day .i read that sometimes milks have shedding problems in captivity kinda like black racers and such?dont know if its true or not but i was thinking this might be more of a reason to check these rotted moist logs ?specialy the ones that r very rotted and come apart easy and put back together like a transformer =)
i always flip rubble and debris back over how its natural habitat was since ive been able to walk catching salamanders and snakes as a kid ,and once again i do not keep anything except when i photograph them, i bag the snakes up or put salamanders/frogs in containers and such . find a good spot with a nice background and pull em all out snap a couple nice shots then let them go near were i found them .but lack of a good camera has been stopping me from this .
any more information would be extremely useful . i want specific details. you cant realy catch a anything in this area that you used to be able to catch(ex.black rats,racers,fence lizards, italian wall lizards ,boxturtles,certain newts/salamanders and such).most of this is dude to habitat destruction considering philadelphia and its sourounding suburbs are facking HUUUUGE, and people catching them outa the wild donte help either.and dont even get me on the subject of pullution . its disgusting were i live .lets not get off subject.like i said these are supposevly isolated colonies still and im doing my best to prove it in these areas atleast 20 some miles out side of the city .
another thing, were should i look in the spring , i noticed garters and watersnakes migrate to certain sides of this creek to hibernate on the hills. would the milks do the same also? i notice a pattern in the spring then they seem to scatter throughout the year .its been too cold lately, in the 50's still, i found thousands of water and treefrogs of all sorts along with soem salamanders already but still too cold for snakes in this park but tomorrow will be in the mid 70's so im looking to get out and find stuff possibly emerging for spring.
ill let yous know how it goes , im possibly thinking of making a grid for my info log to make posting my finds a little bit easyer .
-----
0.0.1 Dusky pygmy rattlesnake
1.0 Amelanistic greatplains ratsnake
0.1 Greatplains ratsnake
0.1 Amelanistic Cornsnake
1.1 Everglades Ratsnake
0.1 Greenish ratsnake
1.1 Speckled kingsnake
1.1 stripeless gartersnake
1.0 onestriped northwestern garter
0.1 Oregon Red sided gartersnake
1.1 anoles
0.0.1 tokay gecko
0.1 graceful chamelion
1.0 green iguana
and a bangin @ss drumset

Hey, I also am from outside of Philadelphia. What areas have you been looking for them? I have never found any but know of people who have - this pic was taken in Gladwyne.

-Zach

-----
AIM sn: z10silver

well i live in upper darby, outside west philly, have u ever gone to the whisahickon fairmount park area? havnt realy explored there besides swimming in "devil pool" or whatever you call it . there suposuvly there, thats right on the other side of the river from gladwyn, but my quest would be out route 1 very far into media to ridley creek statepark , a good 4-5 miles of nice terrain of all sorts.
you gotta be careful though, lota personal property on the park u can wander into .
-----
0.0.1 Dusky pygmy rattlesnake
1.0 Amelanistic greatplains ratsnake
0.1 Greatplains ratsnake
0.1 Amelanistic Cornsnake
1.1 Everglades Ratsnake
0.1 Greenish ratsnake
1.1 Speckled kingsnake
1.1 stripeless gartersnake
1.0 onestriped northwestern garter
0.1 Oregon Red sided gartersnake
1.1 anoles
0.0.1 tokay gecko
0.1 graceful chamelion
1.0 green iguana
and a bangin @ss drumset

thats a heck of an emilk, probably the most perfect blotches/bands I've ever seen and I've seen 100's of milks

ryan or anyone else for that matter if you want to know more about E milks you can shoot me an email just put miklsnake on the heading
wayne