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Im planning on visiting my grandparents in Florida who live about 30 min. north of Tampa and i was wondering when is the best time of year to go Herping?

>>Im planning on visiting my grandparents in Florida who live about 30 min. north of Tampa and i was wondering when is the best time of year to go Herping?

It all depends on what you want to see. If you want Scarlet Kingsnakes and things like that, spring is best. You can see Water Snakes and Cottonmouths pretty much throughout the warm months. Eastern Diamondbacks seem to go more noctournal during the hot part of the summer. You find Corn Snakes and Rat Snakes pretty much whenever you find them. Road cruising in the mornings and evenings is most productive right now, unless you can find some old delapidated buildings with tim and plywood laying around or a garbage dump. You kind find lizards pretty much any time through the warm months, tree frogs and geckos at night. If you want to see Indigos, the easiest time to find them is in the dead of winter on warmer, sunny days (look, but don't touch). Occasionally you might find one in the summer, but they pretty much stay holed up when it's hot. They are winter breeders.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I went one year during spring and found a scarlet king, a few corns and a cottonmouth!!!
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1.0 Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink (Don)
0.1 Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skink (Sausage Girl)
0.0.1 Tanimbar Island Blue Tongue Skink ( Spunky Sebastian)
1.0.1 Green Tree Pythons ( Male=Floyd, Baby= Verdi)
0.1 Western Hognose (Piggy)
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortiose(Tank)
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher snake ( Toro)
0.1 Albino Leo gecko (Sasha)
1.1 African Greys (Timmy and sis)
1.0 White bellied Caique (Diego)
0.1 Goffin's Cockatoo ( Sydney)
3.1 Ferrets (Chase, Angel, Max, and King)
1.0 Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (Moose)

I allways have the best luck anywhere from Nov-April. More snakes seem to be about (especially kingsnakes) in the winter months.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

>>I allways have the best luck anywhere from Nov-April. More snakes seem to be about (especially kingsnakes) in the winter months.
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>>Frank
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>>"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Yeah, the only things I find consistently in the middle of the summer is water snakes and cottonmouths.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've been heavily into herping the last 6 weeks.Evening road herping, I've seen:

Many different Watersnakes,various species
Many Ribbonsnakes
Couple of Corns
One Large Mudsnake
One Small Crayfishsnake
One Coralsnake
Last night,either a Pigmy Rattlesnake or Hognose,could not tell before I needed to get out of the way of the next car....

No Yellowrats,Pines,nor Kings of any kind.

However,in about 5 non road attempts,including an early AM trip out to near BelleGlade Sunday, I haven't seen a thing!!! But I'm new at this........
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Lloyd Heilbrunn

Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

Eh...I live on a bayou up here in Panama City, Florida. I have about 150 feet of woods behind the house between the back fence and the water. I walk back there every now and then just for the heck of it, and to tell my mom that i dont see any cottonmouths (even though i do every time). I do this about once a month whenever i have nothing better to do...i always see cottonmouths, i've seen one coral snake, brown water snakes, almost stepped on a pigmy rattler once (thought a rabig mosquito was somewhere nearby lol), then i've seen coachwhips around but in all honesty teh only snake i have seen in this state i would want to keep was what i've determined to be a ratsnake, it had to have been a weird morph of a gray ratsnake...only kind in this area...it was dark gray and had DARK PURPLE bands on it! I caught it put it in a tank and my mom made me get rid of it. I was so mad, even though I don't agree with keeping full grown snakes (it was about 6 feet and the most gentile snake i've ever seen). I wish I had a picture.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

Thank you all for the help, i dont know when im going yet but i will post my results afterwards.