Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw your replies and questions below and didn't want to put this down there in case it scrolled off before you could see it. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

Best time of year down there, IMO, is the first time in the Spring it stays in the 70s overnight for four or five days straight. Even better if there is a good rain early or middle of that period. This is usually early to mid April, can be in March. Second best time, and maybe best for vens, is Autumn.

Don't worry about running across hunters on wildlife management areas or other hunting grounds now. Turkey season ended in April. The next time folks will be in the woods hunting anything on Boykin, etc., is probably going to be when bow season starts for deer in October. Actually you're not likely to see anyone out in a public hunting area until then. You'll have pretty much anyplace you go to yourself. People-wise, that is. You'll have plenty of bugs to keep you company. I don't think you or me checking around for snakes on a wildlife management area during hunting season is a safety issue (as long as we're reasonably careful) as much as a courtesy issue, but either way, I tend to avoid herping during hunting season on public land on which hunting is allowed. Heck, there's a good chance I'll be hunting then too!

If you don't have it, I highly recommend you purchase a copy of "The Reptiles and Amphibians of Alabama" by Prof. Robert H. Mount. Buy the 1996 reprint; there are some updates from the 1975 original edition. You can probably get it or order it at one of the big bookstore chains in Mobile, and you might try the bookstore at Univ. of South Alabama. It is published by the Univ. of Alabama Press.

Alabama has one of the most varied sets of habitat types in the eastern U.S. It has an amazing variety of herps. Although there are of course a lot of developed areas and more development taking place, Alabama has, compared to places like most of Georgia and peninsular Fla., a lot of "wild places" left. Right there in Mobile County you *could* (though the odds are pretty long) find all six of the venomous snake species present in the east. There are also numerous species that are represented by several subs and intergrades in Alabama - it is kind of a "crossroads" for reptiles and amphibs. Get Prof. Mount's book. You'll love reading it even when you're not in the field, maybe especially when you're not in the field.

Wow, thanks!

That was excellent info. I have been out on the roads the past week or two and found mostly DOR's but that still gives me an indication of decent locations and habitat in the area.

Last night in fact i found my first LOR (Live on road), a cute little juvie Copperhead (there was also a black rat snake that got away into the shrubbery by the time i stopped the car unfortunately). I know you guys down here are like oh big deal, they're everywhere! (from what I hear and read in the posts) but where i am from, although technically the range of the Timber rattler extends that far north, in practice i have never seen even one hot species up there and I think I turned over every rock in the county! LOL

As far as the bugs down here, another post warned me about them and honestly i was thinking....yeah yeah...bugs, big deal! BUT I got some type of horse fly or something that looks like a 3/4" housefly on steroids that got into my car a few days ago. I got rid of it, but now i have noticed that if i go slow enough for a little while, i get a convoy of these things chasing my car and banging into my windows as if trying to get at me! What the hell are those things??? Fortunately, i havent been accosted by them yet when i have gotten out of the car!

LOL on the bugs whacking the windows. I live in SE Louisiana hard up against Mississippi and have pretty much the same bugs here as around Mobile. I road-cruised just before dark yesterday in a bottomland hardwood WMA. The deer flies and horse flies were practically knocking themselves out hitting the windows. As long as I drove at my normal snake-spotting speed, about 10 to 15 mph, they kept up and kept getting thicker! I saw a garter but decided against getting out to get a photo. Getting nailed by biting flies really takes the fun out of a day.

Yeah? well we arent too far from one another, because i live in West Mobile near the airport, and when i go out on the roads, i often wind up in Mississippi within about 10-15 minutes myself.

I've been meaning to take a little trip east to Baldwin County to perchance happen accross an Eastern King, but since i have really only been doing road work, I think that I'll stay to the west for now since it seems kind of random as far as what species you encounter on the roads, as opposed to looking for a particular species by habitat or location. So far I have found only copperheads, black rats & a red rat snake. When autumn arrives though, I am hoping to get lucky and come accross the legendary Eastern DB and/or a Timber rattler!

If you ever want a herping partner, let me know. I'd be delighted to tag along with someone with your experience in the area. My email address is amirwst@hotmail.com.

By the way, i picked up 'The Reptiles & Amphibians of Alabama' yesterday, thanks for recommending it, it is a great book. I read the snake section, i will probably read the Lizard and turtle section later, maybe the frogs also. There seem to be a LOT of different frog species down here.

I've seen some habitat that looks really good for EDBs along the back roads between Leakesville and Chatom. Actually to find an EDB alive while road-cruising you'll need a stroke of luck even in great habitat. If you find even one, consider yourself fortunate.

That's the thing, as far as EDB's, supposedly they are more active and accessible in the autumn. Also, I thought you said that the fall is a good time to go back into the field collecting mode as opposed to road scavenging? Are the bugs a little less active in the later part of the year?

Yeah, bugs aren't so bad in the Autumn. Mosquitoes are basically a year-round scourge in L.A. Unless it is near or below freezing, you're gonna have to deal with them. But the really nasty biting flies will gradually thin and won't be much of a problem by Fall.

I do think getting out in the woods and fields will be better in Autumn, and EDBs and pygmies move around more then. I really mean it about EDBs, though, if you find even one live EDB, consider yourself blessed. If finding an EDB is your thing, I would suggest maybe trying the Stimpson Preserve up in Clark County, or going over to the Conecuh National Forest in Covington County. I hear there are some good habitats around Big Creek Lake but don't know where exactly or what's private and what (if anything) isn't. You might also try Gulf State Park and the Bon Secour NWR.

I assume you're looking and photographing but not collecting if you find a rattler of any kind. I think it is still legal to capture and keep any kind of rattler in Alabama, but the populations are low and collecting isn't a good thing under those circumstances. And it also sucks that probably 90% plus Alabamans still kill any rattler on sight.