Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is bullhonkery!weeks now,weeks.miles and miles.creek beds,pine forests,fields,parks,abandoned houses(bats were cool,rusty nails and broken glass were not),cliffs,quarries,rivers,reservoirs,trash dumps,junk yards.you name it i been there.so far this year,3 ringnecks,2 eastern garters.and 2 northern water snakes.SOUTH EASTERN PA SUCKS.a guy just wants to photograph,some copperheads,racers,milks,and maybe a diamond back or two.
and now today,more rain.yay for all you couch potatoes.
i need my xanex.and my glen levitt.and then i am going downstairs to spend the day with my captive buddies.

LOL.........you sound like me.....

OK...well....went out once this year and we found 9 milks (2 ,4 ft 3, 3 ft and the rest small....about a dozen garters(females alot)....and a wtaer snake...one longtail sally and one redback sally......
.........friend went to another spot....0...cold and rainy, nothing up...
..........he went to another spot yet a different day....lots of skinks, one gravid copperhead, one gravid milk and I think he said a garter....

location -location -location.......

I you can go out all day and not see one thing in PA...yes...it sucks here....

you can go to my brother's yard and not see a water snake...yet if you put a minnow trap with minnows in it (to keep them alove in his little spring)....the waters will be in the trap every day....he got like one a day for a week straight....

and right down from his home...we once saw like a dozen queen snakes sunning all at the same time....

....I actually never ran into a copperhead here (49 years of going into the woods and all)......or an adult milk....this past week was the first day I actually found milks and I was with another guy in his locations, not mine....I knew the area, I knew/know milks are there...just never went...

so......what county are you looking in???...and yes, if it's raining, the snakes do not come UP and out to sun themselves....
.....
it's a tough state........

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the past three years of search CT for milks to photograph,i only found one. one newly hatched, thats it. so i set up a large rock with a piece of plywood i found nearby on top of it. it is right next to a woods covered hill. this year so far i found one juvinile milk and two really nice subadults. both were preparing to shed and found only a day after a light rain.found each one about a week apart. found a number of ringnecks along side each one too. hope you can use this info to help you find some yourself. also racers are easier to find early spring before they move on from there hibernation sites. when the sun shines on the rocks where they are you just gotta look for them and you'll find them basking. once the temps go up they spread out and move on. these are my observations in CT.

heres the baby milk

Rob, Don't get discouraged. Granted, herps are not as easy to find like they were in past days, mostly due to humans destroying habitat. But, IE...I remember my Late Dad going out in PA, back in the 1960's (where I'm originally from) and finding 46 Timbers, 23 Copperheads, & 15 Milks in one day! Then going out to the same area a few days later, (no, the animals he found were only selectively collected, most were left where they were found), only to find a few Elaphe, a couple Thamnophis, 1 or 2 Agkistrodon, & only 2 Crotalus.
Myself, having later grown up in Florida had a great day in the 80's finding in one day 17 Scarlet Kings, 25 Corns, uknown # of yellow rats, racers, ringnecks, garters, 3 C. adamanteus, & 2 Micrurus. I collected only 3 of the SK's, 4 of the Corns and the 3 EDB's. everything else was left where found. I revisted the area a week later and found a couple E. o.quadrivittata, 3 or 4 Coluber c. ssp. and several Broad-headed skinks. That was all. I've visited this same area over the years and had great finds/days, and have had "skunked" days. The moral...time of year, weather, & location play a big part, but there is unknown luck there as well. Just my 3 cents!
Bob

thanks for your responses fella's!i was in montgomery county,and recently moved up to pottstown.not sure what county this is,chester,maybe.anyway,i am 29 and have been scrounging the woods since i was old enough to wander off on my legs.i have spent many days irritating those catankerous northern water snakes.have come across, one or two milks,not in a long time though,used to be an awesome area for the black racers,but they've developed here in past years and no more. and have seen one copperhead in my years.recently i have been finding a few ringnecks in my new area,which was cool because it's something new.but nothing else.i have been up to jim thorpe and nearby areas,i grew up in evansburg state park,i have recently scoured miles of french creek state park,and like i said in my first message,a plethora of other seemingly WONDERFUL snake habitats.i am not a man that gives up easy,and this weekend i plan on going up to a place called hickory run state park,supposedly there is a place called "boulder field" and from what you can't pee and not hit a snake.so hopefully.....

yo rob
im in delaware county
let me know if u wanna get together n herp .i find stuff
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Conservation is the key

you wrote diamondback

......you ain't ever gonna find no diamondbacks in PA...not rattler .......terrapins?...maybe in the Delaware river...but you are almost and more or less in Jersey by then that PA don't count anymore.....

...timbers?......and map turtles?...LOL..paints even....

...having fun yet....IT'S STILL RAINING!!!!!!!!
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yeah man,i meant timbers...