Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Found right here on my street. She's 22 inches long and gravid.
What a beauty!! I've never personally seen one this big EVER!! Actually I'm lucky to have seen her at all-I have trouble spotting them in the grass.

Who needs to leave home to go herping!!

Also found another black rat on my porch (you'd have to see my porch to understand why-the neighbors call it a jungle-I love plants). and a Female Wood turtle in the yard, and of course the Ringnecks and Garters.

L

I understand the smooth green, ringneck, garter, and wood turtle together, but the black rat? Are you in s. Wisconsin? Nice pic of the greeny, btw. Also, you must live near a stream and leave your yard go pretty wild to have all that, right?

Well, I'm in PA. My backyard is pretty wild wooeded a fairly steeply slopped. The nearest river is about 6 city blocks away but every proper has a spring or two on it. My porch is covered with vines, veggie plants and flowers and I have a small-very small fountain-which attracts salamanders, worms, insects and the like. Most of my neighbors aren't too big on lawn care-what little there are of lawns-and there's a few abandoned houses on the street which is good for the Black Rats. Rock walls and fields with nothing done with them for about 100 years-no kidding-really. Just really good herping tuff I guess.

If I'm not seeing herps-I'm seeing a large variety of birds (hummingbirds to Bald Eagles) and mammals (bears to shrews).

L

Well, that explains the black rat. I didn't think of PA. What I don't understand too well now are the wood turtles. They would have to have some connection with the river, which is why I mentioned it. That means they must be walking around a lot. Do they come right up in your yard? Sounds like a neat place to see herps. We have many of the same ones on our property. We don't have the black rats though. I live in n. MI. I haven't seen any smooth greens this year. Have you noticed any decline in those?

Most of the Wood Turtles I have found are either crossing roads-far from water, in peoples yards-again far from water, or they come up and down our street from time to time along with Box Turtles-neither are very common in our area anymore at all. If I'm lucky I'll find 4 a year at the most. Wood Turtles that is-I haven't seen an adult Box turtle in 3 years.

Smooth Greens-well-unfortunately I'm a terrible Smooth Green spotter if they stay in the grass-but I have noted that there are more of them on the street being hit by cars than I had previously seen and that the bodies have "migrated" from one area to another on the street in an Eastern direction-I have an idea why this is happening and it's interesting. They moved from the west side of my home to the next large open open area to the east of it-about 50 yards- and now another-50 yards southeast (the street turns southeast) to an totally unused field with more food, more cover and no lawn mowers or weedwhackers. Since that piece of land is unusable-I wonder if they will stay there. (My house faces directly north so I have no problem figuring direction)I know it seems like an odd thing to notice.

Decline in population-I'd say not-it actually seems like there are more of them. There are more adults too. I would hope that is good sign.

sorry to be long-winded

L

Interesting stuff, L. You must be in a pretty wild and remote area. In other words, not in the city.

Here in WI, we get them wandering a pretty good distance from the rivers. They are considered the most terrestrial turtle in the State.
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Tim

Yeah, I know they wander a lot in mid-summer, but they always go back to the stream they hibernate in eventually. That's why I said that there's probably a stream nearby.

Our wood turtles come up from the creek to find berries along the woodland edge and to make their nests there, I'm sure. Hope you enjoy the pic. There's also some more at my Photo Gallery.

TC

My Gallery

Nice green snake photo. Just caught my first one earlier this spring, and it ate like a pig before I released it. Im from PA too and just caught a garter snake with a white head, reddish on the lower sides, and no distinct pattern, just a blended mirage of colors, if not almost sloppy looking. I will post a picture when I get them developed. As for the wood turtle, do you have any pictures? Ive never seen them in the wild before, and havent come across many decent photos.