We start off in March of 2014 with a trip to Florida. A lot of the critters we found this trip will not be included in this post, as I either did not like the shots I took, or didn't take photos period. Some of these animals include an Eastern Diamondback, florida king snakes, various nerodia (no mangrove snakes, so who cares), peninsula ribbon snakes, various rat and corn snakes, racers, a couple species of tantilla, and a sand skink, and some mole skinks.
We kicked it off with a bang. We visited a grid of garbage: literally. Trash in the sand. After flipping cover and sifting through the sand beneath it, we turned up 3 Florida Worm Lizards in about 30 minutes. As well as some mole skinks, sand skinks, and tantilla. But it's pretty hard to care about any of those when you're holding real-life aliens in your hands.
Rhineura floridana


Happier than a fish with titties. Or however that saying goes.

That night we did okay. Missed my lifer Coral snake by seconds. It was hit and flopping around. Bummer! Saw plenty of nerodia, yellow rats, corn snakes, and swamp snakes. Here are some of the better looking individuals:
Pantherophis guttatus guttatus

Pantherophis alleghaniensis quadrivittata


Before the big movement started, all three vehicles set out in different directions with a peculiar little king snake in mind. Things got ridiculous when Josh Young's car turned up this South Florida Mole King Snake.
Lampropeltis calligaster occipitolineata


We just couldn't stop. One morning, Zack West, Micah Riddle and I set out to cruise before we headed further south. Zack was pessimistic about our conditions. 70 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky. Not the most ideal of cloud cover for Pine Snake cruising, but I thought it felt great. Would have been perfect cruising conditions back home, if there was any habitat left to cruise through! Sure enough, it wasn't long before we were seeing snake after snake. Mostly racers. But one of the racers wasn't moving. It was just chillin' in the road. So Zack says "Wait. What was that?" We back up, Micah peers out the window, doesn't say a word, calmly and slowly exits the motor vehicle, and holds up a Florida Pine Snake with a big dumb grin on his face.
Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus


Plestiodon egregius lividus

Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti

Back home in the Midwest, things were going swell.
Terrapene ornata

Pseudacris streckeri illinoensis

Pantherophis emoryi

Masticophis flagellum

Lampropeltis getula holbrooki

Lampropeltis triangulum syspila

Over the last couple years I've been making it a point to see Bullsnakes from more uncommonly visited localities in Illinois; something a little different than the usual Chicagoland bulls. It has been really interesting seeing all the diversity.
Pituophis catenifer sayi

Ophisaurus attenuatus

Pantherophis vulpinus vulpinus

Heterodon nasicus

Crotalus horridus

Sistrurus catenatus

For my birthday, I gathered up some buddies and we did a weekend rocket-run to the Great Smoky Mountains to see some Great Smoky critters.
Right off the bat, we got some lovely Aneides
Aneides aeneus


We saw hundreds of assorted Desmognathus sp, but I didn't photograph any of them. They all look exactly the same, save a couple neat species here or there. The goal for this trip was neat Plethodonids. Maybe one day I will care about desmogs, but today is not that day.
Plethodon yonahlossee


Plethodon jordani

Cryptobranchus alleganiensis

One of my good buddies had been spending the summer in Los Angeles interning with Titmouse. He drove out there, but wanted help with the 31 hour drive home. So I flew out to help him, on the condition that I got to herp all the way back. While I didn't get to spend much time at all afield, I did still manage to see some interesting critters. Not pictured are several Crotalus helleri, a zonata that some local turd cruising ahead of me collected, a banded gecko, an atrox, and a Sonoran Gopher Snake.
The first night I managed to cruise 24 helleri, a giant skunk and a giant helleri totally pissed about being trapped on a bridge together, and I watched a car in front of me cruise a zonata. And then keep it. Lovely.
Crotalus helleri


We headed further east, and stopped off in Phoenix, making terrible time so that I could cruise for a couple hours.
Terrible photo of a Crotalus scutulatus

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Lampropeltis getula californiae

That's it for anything worth sharing in 2014. 2015 started off in a familiar fashion: Florida. This time a little earlier in the year, and a little more relaxed. My goal this time was to come home with some decent Diamondback shots. We ended up finding some nice florida king snakes, including a monster adult male close to 5 feet long. Yet, somehow, I managed to screw up all my shots again.
Crotalus adamanteus. Ended up seeing about 6 of these in a couple days.





Tried again for some Worm Lizards. No such luck. Must have used up all my Worm Lizard tickets the first go 'round.
Plestiodon egregius onocrepis

Neoseps reynoldsi

Masticophis flagellum

Anolis equestris

Closer, Clarice

Farancia abacura abacura

Quick little pit stop yielded a larval Red Salamander, a Green salamander, and another Eastern Hellbender
Pseudotriton ruber

Aneides aeneus

Back home, it would be another few months before it was time to get back at it.
Ambystoma maculatum

Eastern Hognose doing eastern hognose things

Heterodon platirhinos



More Illinois Bullsnake variety
Pituophis catenifer sayi

Pituophis catenifer sayi

Agkistrodon contortrix ssp

Lampropeltis calligaster calligaster


Heterodon nasicus gloydi


Heterodon platirhinos


Opheodrys aestivus

Lampropeltis getula holbrooki

Nerodia cyclopion

Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma

Awful shot of a Hyla avivoca. That out of focus eye drives me insane.

Ambystoma annulatum



This creepy little salamander holds a very special place in my heart. Seeing Dante Fenolio's work with cave dwelling vertebrates and invertebrates has instilled in me a passion for blind salamanders. This past summer some friends and I found ourselves up bright and early, and headed deep into the back-est of back woods Missouri in search of accessible caves. We found a narrow cavern along a river, thanks to a tip. I know now that if I am ever to do this again, I need gloves and knee pads. This cave was barely open enough for me to sit up in. So I reduced to my hands and knees, and advanced inward. With full intent to shake hands with the devil, I didn't make it 40 yards before these Grotto Salamanders became a common sight.
Eurycea spelaea


Back to the east side of the Mississippi
Ambystoma opacum


Crotalus horridus


Pituophis catenifer sayi

Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum

Crotalus horridus

Nerodia cyclopion

Lampropeltis triangulum syspila

Back across the river on a gloomy day in July, Peter Paplanus and I simply could not stop finding snakes.
Crotalus horridus

Lampropeltis triangulum syspila overload




Tropidoclonion lineatum

Terrapene carolina triunguis

Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster

Lampropeltis getula holbrooki

Cinnamon roll

Over in my neck of the woods, there is a population of Blue Racers that are just exceptional. Real, true, vivid blue hues. Not that blue-gray nonsense. This individual was particularly stunning. No out of the ordinary enhancement was done in post processing to manipulate the blue shown here. Some slight contrast adjustment, sharpening, clarity, and maybe some exposure and color temperature adjustment. Nothing major.
Coluber constrictor foxii

Sistrurus catenatus


Sistrurus catenatus

Cnemidophorus sexlineatus viridis

Pituophis catenifer sayi

Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum - Ugly As Sin morph

Thamnophis radix

Opheodrys vernalis

Ambystoma laterale

Sistrurus catenatus

I have no idea why this girl was sitting like this. Of all the massasaugas I have seen, in all the states I have seen them in, this one looked the most uncomfortable.
Sistrurus catenatus

Heterodon platirhinos

Agkistrodon contortrix ssp

Crotalus horridus


Crotalus horridus

Agkistrodon contortrix ssp - sorry if this photo was included already. My flicker photostream is totally out of order

That pretty much sums it up for 2015. I left out a lot of stuff, mostly common critters.
I started 2016 off with a Northern California trip. Wherein Tuatarifer and I went to visit our good buddy Mikemike.
Aneides lugubris



Aneides flavipunctatus flavipunctatus

Beast of a male Aneides vagrans


BANANA SLUG!

Dicamptodon tenebrosus

Ambystoma gracile

Elgaria coerulea principis

Pseudacris sierra


Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis


Harbor Seals!

An engine block that has become a part of a tide pool ecosystem

Seeing this Red Octopus was the highlight of my year already, and the year before that, and before that, and before that etc. What an amazing animal.
Octopus rubescens

Thats it so far. Thank you for looking!
Chad