Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Ohio and have been wanting to make a trip to FL to go herping. The only problem is I have no clue where to go! I would like to find burms, iguanas, and Hots would be great. Those are in addition to all the awesome snakes FL has to offer!! Anyone want to tell me where to go?

Thanks,
Chris
applegate@go-concepts.com

All in all I dont know much about Florida, but I did go there last March and I can tell you what I know from that. Me and my roommate spent a few days in the southern end. In the actual Everglades national park we didnt see too too much. Few alligators, a small corn snake crossing the road. Although if you go to the very southern tip at a place called Flamingo, there lives a mighty 14 foot American Croc, I kid you not.
The place I thought was best was Big Cypress National Preserve. Gators all over the place, vultures and egrets everywhere. Most snakes we saw were on dirt roads an hour or so before sundown. We saw some waters, a bluestripe ribbon, a blue garter, and a pygmy rattler. Just a word of advice, the pygmy rattlesnake was extremely pissed and I wouldn't get too close if you see one. Then at night we saw another corn, about 3 feet long, also pissed but tamed quickly. Then there was a road somewhere about 20 miles northwest of Ft. Lauderdale, where we saw some water snakes and 2 cottonmouths crossing the road.

I'm sure the time of year affects how many snakes you see and where you'll see them. In the 3 days we were really looking we saw 17 snakes. Great variety too, like 9 or 10 different species/subspecies. So sorry I dont have any specific roads or anything, but check out Big Cypress if your in the southern part.

The most predictable place to see Burms is the Everglades National Park road. They can be found on that road at night. HOWEVER, if you go there to look for them, you can't have any herping gear in your car (hooks, bags, jars, etc). Everything you see is observation only. You can take photos, but you can't touch anything.

Iguanas are everywhere around the Miami area. A good place to see and photograph Iguanas and Ctenosaurs (and Basilisks) is the old Crandon Park Zoo grounds on Key Biscayne. Again - no catching, but you will see them and get good photo ops.

Around West Palm Beach you will see Curly-tailed Lizards in the parking lots of stores (they bask on the curbs) -

There are populations of a variety of other lizards around Miami, including things like Red-headed Agamas. There is a school down near Homestead (Redland's school?) that as a decent population on its rock fence. They are VERY wary, but you could get some photos.

Any park in Miami will have exotic lizards. Watch for Knight Anoles on larger trees.

For things like Pygmy Ratters, cruise quiet roads almost anywhere. The same is true for Cottonmouths.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Nice Pics! I am heading down there in May/June. Even though I am not the original poster, I thank you for the info.