Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Once the weather gets better I hope to go looking for some easterns. Any experienced field herpers know what type of areas and what time of year is best for finding these snakes? I'm located in North Eastern MA if that helps any. I don't plan on keeping any, unless I'm lucky enough to find a small juvenile that would be easier to get started, but its a goal of mine to find an eastern since a neighbor of mine caught a large female at her work. Yet every time I go looking for them I can never find them and I'm hoping this season I can complete this goal.

they are located all around my area....
I haven't actually found one in....
37 years????...LOL......true...sad......

I actually don't specifically look for them, but you think I would have run across at least one while fishing,hunting,driving,gardening,mycological forays,and actually looking for snakes in general.....

....wet springs are better I hear, under "stuff"...around farms and wood's edges....all you need to do is actually look for them.....garters come out around March here and the other stuff will start thinking about it....so....find localities and then find the stuff to look under....rock piles,tin,wood, old furniture and car doors....etc....then start checking the stuff every week or so from April till whenever....

all I ever found was little pretty babies under rocks while hunting worms to go fishing...back when I was like 12 more or less.....I spent all my time in the same areas and same wooded areas and fields....yet never saw an adult or even a year old back then......friend's find them in rock piles and under stuff in his yard(other county) and northern part of my county people find them crossing roads.....big ones...to 4 foot...

I haven't even seen a dead snake on the road in a year or so?...

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..JY

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Some people just have all the luck. Only snakes I ever see up here are garters, water snakes,and dekay's brown snakes. None of the larger coulubrids(except for one garter that I caught in that had to be over 5ft, it was massive, my shouldars all the way to my feet while I was holding it and I'm 6'1"!). Other people always have the luck though and find them while they aren't even looking. My moms seen a black racer, my neighbor and my dads friend the animal control officer have caught eastern milks, and my brothers have seen a road killed rattler..figures.

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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

I'm seriously not kidding. I've heard of them getting into the 3-4ft range but I've seen 4ft corns and kings before and this one dwarfed them. I never knew that they reached that size. Unfourtantly I had nothing to measure it except for comparison with me and my uncle and with that i'm guessing it was between 4 1/2-5ft. It left a good sized bite on my uncle also haha!

I know you are new but you cant come on a forum stating a 5' garter snake(by the way 48" is the world record according to my Petersons field guide)without expecting to get THOROUGHLY GRILLED on it. Now its down to 4.5', my bet its down to 3.5' by tomorrow,lol. Some fishermen you yank chains with, but we will insist on pictures. Your garter beat the world record by at least 6", you gotta have a pic right?? ......tongue in cheek

I'm seriously not lieing! I did not have a camera with me at the time. It was basking on some slate tile stairs when my uncle noticed it. It was at my family's lake cabin in NH, every one was swimming and my uncle yelled snake. He went to grab it ut the snake turned around and grabbed him instead. it dashed in my direction and I paused before grabbing it because i wasn't sure it was even a garter snake because of just how huge it was. When I manged to grab it by the tail it stretched from my foot/ankle region all the way to my shouldar and was thick enough to easily swallow a small-medium rat. The area does have a lot of lake cabins but other than that its a pretty isolated area and has a ton of frogs and small fish that could probably help suport a snake of this size. Believe what you want but I know what I caught.

Hey, I know that lake. Loch-ness right?

Monster Crocs on the loose in NH

Yeah, I heard this one before. The snake was flushed down the toilet and ended up in some toxic chemicals----the rest is history!

Oh, and to the original poster of this thread---Don't take it too hard, we are just having some fun. But come on, think hard, maybe four feet TOPS.

Believe what you want, I know what I saw. You hve to be very narow minded to believe that 6" over the record is to incredible a feat to ever to possible! but honestly I'm not on here to argue about the size of this snake, I came on here for tips on finding eastern milks and I've only have been given very few if any helpful tips on the subject.

Its the first day of school for the new kid, you tried hard to make a big impression and its backfiring,lol. Realize we are just like your buddies(read these emails and posts like we were talking to you!), and who hasnt made fun of the guy who caught a fist THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS big but didnt have a camera,right? Take a chill pill or laugh at yourself, your choice! Either way, welcome to the locker room,lol. By the way, I took some crap when I told people I was finding MONSTER eastern milks too.....before I found a camera. It shuts em up pretty fast! By the way, the world record North American milk is 54" so heads up!

Its alright, just got a little up tight cause it seemed like you guys were mocking me,but i still swear on it. That garter was a giant. Since I doubt I'll be able to catch that same exact garter again I'll make sure I have my camera when I catch that 60" milk snake this summer..lol

Worse than a cold shower, you will find your new catches shrinking by the second as they approach a tape measure or camera so be careful.

thanks for the heads up, and btw is that an anery eastern in that picture?

Good eye there kid!

Wow that snake has some intense contrast, i've heard there are a few anery ones out there but I've never seen a picture of one before. I really like it, you find that or you produce it yourself?

he finds them ....they get so big and all by eating garter snakes....big ones....

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..JY

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Milks are a-hunting your 5' garter,lol. Btw, they DO NOT eat garters in my experience.

One of my poor feeders(LTT) took a small garter one time Jeff but she liked worm snakes more and she would never eat a ringneck.
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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

Snake eating snakes prefer species that dont have foul smelling musk like the garters/waters. Coincidence?

I put a baby garter in with one of my hard feeding baby milks once. They cuddled together for about a week. Put the same little garter in with a baby speckled and the cuddling didn't work out so well for the garter.

easterns will eat ringnecks....
I forget the other thing the road kill had hanging out of it...not my find a cousin that ran a campground for scouts....
hey...they reminds me where to look for milks...duh!....

......maybe it was a racer with a milk in it?...now I really forget....

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..JY

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cameras have a habit of changing colors too.....

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..JY

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Thats very true and they can even change the size of the snake

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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

The specks rock but those mole kings are awesome!
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Todd Hughes

That is all the same calligaster.I was showing how with different lighting a snake can look brighter.And yes it looks like a mole king.
Where are you located Todd ?
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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

Corpus Christi, Texas
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Todd Hughes

Thats is bro, give it back to us!! Glad you did not take it hard. I get pissed some times too, we all do, but just know everyone is here to help for the most part. I hope you do find that snake again and prove us wrong. I would love to see it!

I've seen 4 foot plus ? eastern milks...

....maybe the garter was a water?...just asking....?

....people see 8 foot black rats all the time...personally the largest I have seen,caught and all is about a 6'6" male ....and he was huge...

I have seen a 6 foot estern king....and I think a 6 foot florida king.......but 5 foot is average for true kings and ratsnakes....

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the KEY to finding milks...or anything...or catching fish or finding mushrooms or killing deer ,ducks or squirrels....anything...the key IS...to actuallt look...go...do it....

I find nothing here at my home on the computer or in the rat or snake room......too much work...too little time...work sucks....LOL......I just GOTTA get outdoors this year more often....shrooms and fish and snakes......gotta....(said this before...hahaha)...

...anyways.......garter water whatever it was.....

...next time bring it home.....

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..JY

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OK, you have seen 4' milks?? Pics?? Funny how a 6-6.5' black rat moving fast ALWAAAAAAAYS measures AT LEAST 8'! And YES, I am willing to bet that your king is like 5'6"-5'10" and NOT 6' . Its funny how "we all" round off to make things bigger, especially those of us who lack size in other areas(LMAO). Any recent pics next to something of known size...ie:serpwidgets measuring??

I KNOW what I see

I fish and know how to measure with a tape...

the eastern was at the old Pottstown show when it was at Sellersville...biggest eastern (any) king I ever saw...) never saw it again nor noticed the guy...he was selling huge babies from it, wouldn't sell the adult ...male I think ?...not sure..

4 foot easterns had free roam of the guys house (rental) along with it's 3 1/2 foot girlfriend...and about 20 other snakes...the 4 footer ate large mice...I feed MY easterns fuzzy mice....see the difference.....

the 6 foot 6 inch black had run of his home too after I gave it to him...male...still should have just let it go.......my amel blacks were just 5 foot as most blacks I ever find....

...I am 48...I got up to 800 eggs a year.....I can take it ....

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..JY

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I KNOW what I see

Is that a "NO" for having pictures??

I fish and know how to measure with a tape...

Knowing how doesnt mean anything, you actually have to DO IT!

the eastern was at the old Pottstown show when it was at Sellersville...biggest eastern (any) king I ever saw...) never saw it again nor noticed the guy...he was selling huge babies from it, wouldn't sell the adult ...male I think ?...not sure..

4 foot easterns had free roam of the guys house (rental) along with it's 3 1/2 foot girlfriend...and about 20 other snakes...the 4 footer ate large mice...I feed MY easterns fuzzy
mice....see the difference.....

????????--So now its someone else's snake? Not sure where the conversation went from there....what "difference" are you talking about???

the 6 foot 6 inch black had run of his home too after I gave it to him...male...still should have just let it go.......my amel blacks were just 5 foot as most blacks I ever find....

So now its NOT an Eastern, its a Black? Your "amel blacks were just 5 foot"?? Again??

...I am 48...I got up to 800 eggs a year.....I can take it ....

You can take it?? Exactly WHAT did you take?? Did you bring enough for the rest of the class??? Forgive my sarcasm here(like I said I couldnt resist,lol), but I feel like I just took a ride on the crazy train.

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5 foot garters, 6 foot rat snakes are common and you have 800 eggs ?
This thread is better then a george carlin show

here is a picture of me with my 1400 eggs from last year

Wing Foot Golf Club locale as Im sure your know
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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

a 6ft rat snake isn't to hard to believe I think. The record for a North American rat snake is 8ft, so 6ft isn't really unbelieveable at all..

I bet you saw those right after you went to this spot

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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

Doug, come on man. That was our honey hole. We saw hundreds of snakes every time we went there, and now you showed everyone. LOL

Did you measure that guy?

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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

Your killing me over here. Laughing that hard hurts!!

too much yellow on the belly...?

...anyone ever see queens?

....people around here usually never even heard of a queen snake...just kings...
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..JY

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wonder if thats anywhere near where you guys found those "shrooms". Really, really LMAO!!!! You guys are too much!

maybe....maybe not....I forget....

get it...duh...

....small plant....water it.....

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..JY

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No I'm sure it wasn't a water snake it was a garter. Maybe it wasn't as big as I thoght it was but it still was a monster had a lot more blue in it than I see in other easterns garters, very pretty big snake.

Brewster, it was what it was, but now it may be a bit smaller! Hey, I caught the world record suboc but didn't get it recorded, didn't make that big a deal to me, it was neat, but at least i had a witness help me measure it, Roy Engledorf at the Outback Oasis Motel in Sanderson, Texas. Bet there were bigger caught before, just not recorded!

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Todd Hughes

Giants are hard to come by but, they are out there. I mean they got that big for a reason! I'm sure the record books would be alot different if there was alot less D.O.R.s.

If you don't have two snakes over 100" under your belt you can't post in this thread.

Hey I found a 48" Red Striped Ribbon, I thought that was big.

and A 84" Texas Ratsnake with an absolutely huge head, had to be an old snake.

and Several 90" Bullsnakes and Indigos, and one each Bullsnake and Indigo right at 102".

How about venomous? I found a 6'8" and 6'6" atrox both in the same night. Yeah I held them behind the head while we measured them, I don't recommend that.

Everything is bigger in Texas haha
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks

Someday you should give us some beginer tips for shooting snakes in the wild and at home.You know like 10 tricks you should know.
I always have a problem with the flash reflection off of the snakes back.Also I cant seem to get the whole snake focused.I get the head then dont have the back or visa versa.
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"Wake me when its April"

Doug L

Don't know what the record is for Eastern sirtalis, but I once found a 5 foot San Francisco Garter. No joke. I guess it would have been the record if I'd been able to collect it, or even photograph it, but I had no camera with me and it was agin' the law to collect it. I'm 6'4", and the snake stretched from just below my shoulder to the ground. I've also seen two 5 ft. S. Pacific rattlers, but no one believes that either.

I have seen 4 foot red sided garters that were huge...
here...easterns...3 foot and fat maybe is about it...

....5 foot waters yes...?.....garter...I would have taken pics of that thing.....
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..JY

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I'm from Mass and I can tell you milks are in the top 5 most populous snakes in here. Last time I hunted was Oct and despite 50 degree temps and 25 knot winds I managed to find 18 of the little buggers in 2 hours! Got your attention??
Now you know they are here, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Go read as many good books as you can find and get out in the field looking. They are literally EVERYWHERE, you just gotta know when and where to find em. Finding milks is hard work, getting good at finding em takes ALOT of dedicated time...not something most here would like you to cut short....as its the hunt not the catch thats important. This milk is found from somewhere in the north shore/NH area.

Thats why I'm on here and several other fourums trying to find out as much as I can because in the last 6 years all I've found while looking for them is garters, water snakes, dekay's, and a countless number of salamders. So far I under stand is areas with lots of hiding, where forest meets open fields, and a available water source. Am I correct?

Ok after all the facts on finding these guys I think I have and idea of a good place to start my search. Theres a small farm near where I live actually that has berry patches and several large apple ochards borded by thick woods, it may not be an open field but I figure and orchard isn't to far off as its mostly open like a field. It is in a part of town that is not heavly populated, especialy near the farm. Sound good?

Sounds like a good spot to me. Get a couple of tins out there or some boards. Would be great if there is some stuff laying around already. They can be in some small places. I caught two in my backyard under a 6" wide piece of fence board. Both were adults.