Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I believe it's a northern spring peeper. I the tanish orange color made him pretty easy to spot.

The suction cups on his fingers makes him look alien.

He wasn't quite as cooperative as the frog but I got a few good snaps.

What a gorgeous painted turtle there, my friend!

When I was young, and had quite a big turtle collection of all types of water turtles, I dreamed of having a painted turtle, along with a spotted turtle, someday.

Very nice!
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Genesis 1:1

I did too. I kept them in the summer and let them go in the fall. They were in my yard in one of those plastic swimming pools that kids soak their feet in.

Very cool!
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Genesis 1:1

I forgot to mention this earlier....

I did keep them in the kiddie plastic swimming pools too.

Water turtles are so unique and cool. I kept red-eared sliders, cooters, map turtles, mud turtles, musk turtles and common snappers.

I had a huge kiddy pool outside filled with all kinds for quite a long time. Finally, that all ended when Randy the raccoon discovered them one night, and had a free buffet, leaving me with the shell of one turtle cleaned out. 15 turtles gone.

Then, a year later, we had moved into a different house, and I kept another huge collection of water turtles, in a plastic kiddie pool, in my drum room. I had a very expensive water filter working with the kiddy pool. Had gravel, fake plants, rock ledges for climbing, lamps used for basking, the whole nine yards. All of that ended when the kiddie pool developed a crack, and the whole room was soaked! HA HA HAAAAAAAAA!!!

It was fun while it lasted.

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Genesis 1:1

My baby turtles were disappearing one or two at a time over different days and I had actually called the police to report someone was stealing them. Then one day I looked out and saw a raccoon munching on one of them as if it were eating a candy bar.

I didn't have a pool leak but the 15 gallon aquarium full of water in my second-story bedroom when I was a kid went down when the table it was sitting on collapsed: turtles water and gravel went everywhere on and thru the hardwood floor. The water penetrated the ceiling of the living room below and continued into the basement. My folks didn't let me put an aquarium in my room again.

WOW! Now..THAT is funny!

Yeah, it only took one night, and that freaking raccoon took all my turtles, and had a feast. I had never seen anything like it.
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Genesis 1:1

Thanks for sharing -- boyhood encounters with wild herps are the foundation of my adult interest in herps. There is something in their "alien" nature that fascinates me. Great shots, too.

Enjoyed your frog and turtle pics. When I was a kid I caught a lot of spring peepers. I used to enjoy their loud chorus!

--Dennis

Most of you Floridians know these invasive toads, but my buddy Toby and I found one just out of their range in South Texas.

A mile or so east of Hebbronville, Texas in Jim Hogg county.
Current range maps have their range stopping 20 plus miles west of Hebbronville.....

Plus....this is the first I've seen and is one LARGE toad...LOL

This is not as "pretty" as HeavenHell's peeper...lol

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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

>>

LOL...that thing is UGLY......hahahaha
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

It was a high elevation sonoran toad. Huge and different color then normal. It was not even fat, if that sucker got fat, it would be a double monster. hahahahahahahaha

>>It was a high elevation sonoran toad. Huge and different color then normal. It was not even fat, if that sucker got fat, it would be a double monster. hahahahahahahaha

hahaha......That Cane Toad we found felt like he had some smaller Texas toads in his belly.......or caliche rocks.....lol

I've never seen a Sonoran toad...thanks for the photo.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

You welcome, that individual is not a good representative of that species, its unusual. I will take a photo of a normal one for you if you want. Right now, they are being killed by the thousands on our roads.

>>You welcome, that individual is not a good representative of that species, its unusual. I will take a photo of a normal one for you if you want. Right now, they are being killed by the thousands on our roads.

Sure....I'd like to see a photo of a normal one for comparison......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

This is a normal individual, photoed last night

And here is big dark and nasty, from high elevation. Cheers

Interesting.....thanks Frank
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Holy crap looks like that guy has been eating well.

"Most of you Floridians know these invasive toads, but my buddy Toby and I found one just out of their range in South Texas"

Yep, I'm all too familiar with those from living in Ft. Lauderdale most of my life. A cane toad killed one of my mom's show-quality Standard Schnauzer puppies back in the late 60's, and I've hated them ever since...LOL!

Those things were ALL OVER the freakin' place down there.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

They are rare in Texas and only found in a few counties in the Rio Grande Valley.....I knew a Floridian would chime in and say how common they are and how much of a nuisance they are......not here in their natural range......

That sux about the pup.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Yeah, it was really tough to see John. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old with my older brother. And my parents happened to be visiting some friends that particular night that lived about 25 miles away. All we could do was put the puppy on the sofa and watch the poor thing foam at the mouth and choke to death. It was one grizzly site man. Needless to say, after my mom got the results back from the vet that it was poisoned from messing with a Bufo marinus, I killed many countless Cane Toads in our yard and neighborhood in the following years. They were a real plague down there in south Florida, especially in the rainy summer months...

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com