quick intro and a diamondback

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nicnmike
Posts: 3
Joined: March 30th, 2017, 10:06 am

quick intro and a diamondback

Post by nicnmike »

Hi, I'm Mike from Gainesville, FL. I've always loved exploring the outdoors- mostly concentrating on plants, bugs and some native fish. I've recently decided I should learn how to search for snakes. I feel like it's a bit of an art form. I'm always looking now and every once in awhile I spot one. This one, from this morning, was pretty easy because it was right out in the road. It looks like it must've just eaten. I snapped a few shots and left, so not to stress it too much. I'm also planning to setup a pitfall and drift fence in a wooded area in my backyard. I know we have red rat snakes, coral snakes and black racers around as well as lots lizards, skinks, frogs and toads. It will be interesting to see, plus I have a 6 and 8 year old who will be totally into it (and hopefully will help dig the holes).

I'd love to meet other folks in the area who have more experience at locating and handling snakes. It isn't my plan to handle every snake I find, but it would be cool to learn how to handle them properly for their sake and mine. I've got a few ideas of where to go to find some, so I wouldn't be stealing your spots! Plus I like camping, have a small boat and an older 4WD 4runner, so I can get us places.

Hopefully the image link works.
https://goo.gl/photos/CybVmAfxqdx8PZqHA

I'll have to work on attaching the image. Here's the link
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mtratcliffe
Posts: 533
Joined: January 19th, 2014, 4:34 pm
Location: Mt Laurel, NJ

Re: quick intro and a diamondback

Post by mtratcliffe »

Welcome to the forums, Mike! There are a few herpers on here in your part of Florida, including Gainesville.

I recommend using Flickr for posting photos on here. There's an option to link a URL using BB Code, which will embed the image to your post.

- Matt
simus343
Posts: 566
Joined: March 30th, 2014, 1:16 pm
Location: Okaloosa ca, Fla.

Re: quick intro and a diamondback

Post by simus343 »

Welcome to the world of herping Mike. One caution that I would say with pitfalls is always close them off if you're going to be gone from home for over a day or can't check them. Small animals will get stuck in there and can drown if it rains and doesn't fill the bucket to an overflow point. Pitfalls can also harm animals like turtles as they can get over-turned and get cooked, even with only partial sunlight. Not to mention it's a buffet for a raccoon or opossum. I would suggest using funnel traps instead of pitfalls. Funnel traps are also better at trapping any larger snakes that come through.

Also the photo worked, that's a nice Diamondback. :)
nicnmike
Posts: 3
Joined: March 30th, 2017, 10:06 am

Re: quick intro and a diamondback

Post by nicnmike »

simus343 wrote:Welcome to the world of herping Mike. One caution that I would say with pitfalls is always close them off if you're going to be gone from home for over a day or can't check them. Small animals will get stuck in there and can drown if it rains and doesn't fill the bucket to an overflow point. Pitfalls can also harm animals like turtles as they can get over-turned and get cooked, even with only partial sunlight. Not to mention it's a buffet for a raccoon or opossum. I would suggest using funnel traps instead of pitfalls. Funnel traps are also better at trapping any larger snakes that come through.

Also the photo worked, that's a nice Diamondback. :)

Thanks! Yeah, I did some reading on this and I knew not to leave the traps unattended for any period of time and to be cautious of rain and the sun. I actually didn't think about it being a food trough for raccoons and opossums. My plan now is to cover the buckets with a board and use pieces of 2x4 to make a 2" or 3" gap. I then plan on putting something heavy, like cinder blocks on the boards to keep the bigger critters out. And when I'm not using the traps, I can jut flip the boards over and to seal the buckets. We also have lots of armadillos around, so this would keep them from falling in too. This is a rather residential area, but still fairly wooded. I really only expect to catch smaller snakes and lizards. Plus it's our dry season, so I haven't seen much of anything out other than the usual brown anoles. But not seeing is not the same as not knowing!
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