Field Herp Forum

I had a great herpetological experience herping in the Western Ghats of southwest India. It's especially a hotbed for amphibians, but the reptile diversity is also fantastic. It would help to have a guide while you're there to assist with navigating and language issues. It's also advisable to plan o...

Numbers 1, 7, & 8 are all female Yellow-headed Geckos (Gonatodes albogularis). Anoles are always a bit difficult, and the toad looks like a young Incilius.
-Paul

Spectacular post, Curtis! So many wonderful mammals (and that's coming from a herpetologist!), especially all those bats. My wife is a primatologist and has wanted to see Gelada Monkeys for many years. Your photos had her looking up flights to Ethiopia! By the way, was it easy and safe to get around...

That is a fantastic find (and a great photo)! Have you been in touch with Robin Moore, the author of the book: "In Search of Lost Frogs", he would be very interested in knowing of your rediscovery.
-Paul

Back in 1997, at the Houston Zoo Herpetology Department, we had a long-term captive female Western Pygmy Rattlesnake ( Sistrurus miliarius streckeri ) give birth to six live and two stillborn neonates. The smallest live newborn was 78 mm (total length) and weighed 0.8 grams. It looked and behaved no...

It looks just like the Bothriechis rowleyi that we maintained at the Houston Zoo for years, although that species is found further northwest into Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico.
-Paul

For those still interested in a copy of the Snakes of Mexico book, you can contact Bob & Sheri Ashley at ECO directly ([email protected].com) and order one. They just got in a new shipment of the books and they are going for $129 each (plus $3-4 shipping). They also just got in a few copies of the b...

WOW! Truly a legendary snake, congratulations on the breeding and good luck on the project!
-Paul

Thanks for the notice, Jeroen, nothing wrong with a little self promotion. I just ordered a copy unfortunately, it won't be available/shipped until mid August. And a hearty congratulations, a new field guide from Europe has been long overdue!
-Paul

Mike,
It looks like Japalura polygonata, can you tell me where in Taiwan it was photographed? It would help to better identify it.
-Paul

A really nice tour of that region, well done! The Indian Scops Owl photo was fantastic! I think Jeroen is right, that Boiga is another dendrophila. Also, your photo of 'Mastigoproctus giganteus' is a Tailess Whip Scorpion (Amblypygi). Mastigoproctus giganteus is the Vinegaroon, or Giant Whip Scorpio...

Andy, When you say: "This summer", do you mean our summer here in the U.S. or their summer in South Africa/Namibia? Since the seasons are reversed there our summer months are their winter months and having herped there in both seasons I can tell you that herping is much better during their summer mo...

Hi Heather, I too had searched for them previously in the area but was unsuccessful. Years ago I had read an account in James Petranka's 1998 book: Salamanders of the United States and Canada that in early September two researchers observed an aggregate of 259 newts in the water and that they found ...

Steve, We found a Protobothrops mucrosquamatus just pulling into the parking lot of a city park in the town of Taoyuan, near Taipei. You should have no problem finding that species or T. stejnegeri. In fact, if you go to Baling T. stejnegeri are extremely abundant there, our herp team found 17 of th...

Steve, I was also very interested in looking for Hynobius salamanders and ended up searching for them en route to Baling. Since they are supposed to be found at elevations higher than 6000-7000 feet I began by looking in the area of Hehuanshan, Taiwan (9000 feet elevation). I was disappointed that I...

There doesn't seem to be an image in your post, could you try posting it again?
-Paul

You have great restraint, Bill! I, on the other hand, did say something.
-Paul

I don't see any apical pits on the scales of the anterior region of the tail so I don't believe this is S. diehli. The photo does not show close-up detail of the body scales to determine if apical pits are present there. Perhaps if Mr. Lee has a clear photo of the dorsal scales it can be determined ...

Chris,
I believe you're correct in that this is a Nerodia rhombifer.
-Paul

Hans,
Although it superficially looks like it, Lycodon does not occur in New Guinea. I believe that this is one of the 'Ground' Snakes in the genus Stegonotus, possibly S. guentheri or S. modestus.
-Paul

The first snake initially looks like one of the species of Rhabdophis, or it could be the more obscure Gongylosoma baliodeirus. The Ecuadorian snake is almost certainly one of the species of Atractus, but with 2 dozen species occurring in Ecuador I would be hard pressed to hazard a guess. Hopefully,...

That's very generous, Jeff. I wish I lived in or near Louisiana. This would be a great opportunity for a young or novice herp person to acquire a great library. Thanks for making this offer!
-Paul

Ken,
It's a blurry shot of an Iguana.
-Paul

Never mind Jim, as soon as I posted my last comment all the photos came up. Great to see them!
-Paul

Jim,
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Great photos and great post! However, only 2 images showed up for me. Guess I'm doing something wrong since you said the issue has been rectified. Thanks for sharing!

Paul

Great post and nice photos, Shani! [By the way, the turtle you called: "Mud turtle at one volcano summit (Ometepe)" is actually not a mud turtle but rather a Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys, likely R. annulata)]. That's a shame the guide wouldn't let you get closer to the Bothriechis lateralis, it's an im...

One more point, bgorum, I noticed that you said you would continue to submit images to Alamy; one of Animal Animal stipulations of being their client is that you have no other stock photo agency representing your work. However, just like the initial submission of 200 images has changed since I start...

Hi bgorum, Paul Freed here. I have been a client of Animals Animals since 1991 and although they are a fair company when it comes to selling images they are extremely strict and very picky when it comes to accepting images. For the initial submission they require 500 photos that are, as they put it,...

Chris, My most successful 24 hour period took place in Paraguay, back in 1996, where during a night drive up the Pan American Highway I encountered 16 species of snakes (from four families: Colubridae, Elapidae, Viperidae, and Boidae) representing about 35 individual snakes, as well as several lizar...

Great stuff, Jerry! Brings back nice memories of herping in Baling. Really like the Elaphe carinata. Thanks for sharing.
-Paul

dicephalics is correct, this is a pre-shed braminus, I observed a blind snake in India just like this and thought I had found an undescribed species.
-Paul

hadar wrote Quote: Paul, I'm heading to Bend Friday. Never been out that way. Any suggestions? My dad is flying in from Illinois and we are checking out John Day Fossil Beds Saturday. That's funny, I'm heading to Bend a week from this Friday (not to herp, to help friends move). I will be visiting an...

Great questions, Heather and a nice way to bring herpers and their passions to the forum. 1. Where do you herp? Do you herp solely in one area, do you herp a large region, nationally, internationally, etc? Is there a particular habitat you prefer or species? I am actually your neighbor (I live about...

Good catch, Justin! I had to go back to look at my slides from 1984 of my Belizian Stenorrhina to confirm that they were in fact Stenorrhina and they are. None of my specimens were as brightly colored as Gus' snake. Thanks.
-Paul

Hi Gus, Gene is right, it's not Coniophanes, it's Stenorrhina freminvillei sometimes called a Blood Snake, Slaty Grey Snake, or Scorpion-eating Snake. They are quite variable in color ranging from tan to brown or even reddish-orange. The Anole is a bit more difficult as the best way to identify them...

For the past ten years I have been conducting a daily herpetological survey on my road for a one mile stretch and of the three species of garter snakes (Red-spotted, Mountain, and Northwestern) found in this area (the western foothills of the Cascades in Clackamas County) the Northwestern is by far ...

I found a recently hit female in the ditch by the Kinabalu Park headquarters (back in 2004) which, at the time, was only the seventh known specimen observed. I'm guessing that more have been found since then.
-Paul

Simply an amazing post, Hans! Brings back great memories of Kinabalu. Those Nepenthes are just exquisite. That little frog you saw is most likely Philautus mjobergi, a common Rhacophorid frog from that area and you are correct in your identification of the Cinnamon Frog. The spectacular 'gliding' ge...

Hans,
This looks like a Common Beaked Sea Snake (Hydrophis schistosus), it used to be known as Enhydrina schistosa but was changed in 2012 to its current scientific name. I observed this species in Sri Lanka and it looks identical to the ones I found. I hope this helps.
-Paul

Mike, my wife uses the SX30 and the SX50 and they are extremely good cameras for shooting subjects at long distances. I use a Canon 7D and whenever I need to photograph something at a distance I use one of her cameras to get the shot. Of course the lens on a SX30 or 50 are not the high caliber they ...

This is of course a gecko and it looks like a juvenile Lepidoblepharis xanthostigma, sometimes called an Orange-tailed Gecko or Litter Gecko but I'm not 100% sure. It is certainly one of the geckos in the genus Lepidoblepharis.
-Paul

Fantastic photos, Nick! That Amblyodipsas polylepis is a dead ringer for an Atractaspis. The Zygaspis vandami is an amazing find, I'm extremely jealous, and the Breviceps is such a fun species (did you get to see any males riding on the females?). Even the non-herp animals you saw are spectacular, t...

It's an interesting article, Chris, but apparently not very accurate. I recently visited China and was taken to a man-made cave where more than 100,000 Chinese Giant Salamanders (called Wa Wa Yu by the local people) were being raised for food. This cave extended for more than a mile and contained ye...

He was an amazing man, a true 'old school' herpetologist who taught so many of us about the world of amphibians and reptiles. His passing will leave an enormous void in those that knew him. He will be sorely missed. Condolences go out to his wife, Mary and his entire family.
-Paul

Yes, I post here, but I'm too computer illiterate to post anything substantial other than a comment (that is, I can't add any photos and contribute one of my own travel adventures since I don't know how to do that. Someone explained that you have to have your photos on the web or the cloud or in the...

Paul Freed wrote: The Ptenopus were another outstanding find. All yours seem to be females, did you find any males?l People need to appreciate how cool finding Ptenopus are. Not an easy task. The ones in the photos were what we found. My first time there, so no idea of gender. You are absolutely cor...

Fantastic post, Martti! So many outstanding herps. Your post brought back so many wonderful memories of herping in that region. I was quite impressed at the turnout at Gobabeb, especially given the remoteness of the place. Nice also to see a good representation of women at the conference. (By the wa...

Welcome to the forum! You request is a bit more complicated than you might realize. There are so many factors in selecting a place to herp whether here or outside the U.S. For example, what are your specific goals, are you seeking a particular group of animals, how much time do you have, how much fu...

Hey Jonathan, My first question to you would be: what is the purpose of your intended research; i.e. is it for school, for the park, or will you be trying to publish a paper privately? What and how you conduct a project would be based on why you're doing it. I can think of a number of potential proj...

Kevin, Many of the Texas Zoos (Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio) have fantastic herpetological collections and likely have a good cross-sampling of Asian species. I retired from the Houston Zoo ten years ago and we had a rather significant collection from that region. Are there any specific ...