My 6 year old daughter, Bailey and I belong to a daddy/daughter group called Adventure Princesses. Yesterday I led a small group of our "tribe" on a herping jaunt. I took them to an old standby spot that I've been going to for almost twenty years. The first board we flipped housed a gorgeous, freshly shed kingsnake.
The girls. Olivia, Hannah, Hannah G, Georgia, Kalea, and my daughter, Bailey's arms (takin' a pic)
Georgia, admiring the king. This girls was really taken by all the snakes! We may have a future herper here.
Georgia and Hannah G, diggin' it.
Then in the same area, they got to see a basking Rattler. Lots of oohs and ahhs but no pic. I showed one of the dads how to catch a lizard with a piece of grass. So he made grass nooses for everyone, and they all went nuts chasing lizards around. Meanwhile I found a ringneck and everyone got to hold it. Again, no pic.
We all went lakeside, to settle in for a pic-nic. I went to flip a small rock, and a massive coast garter bolted from out of nowhere. I dove and got it. much to the shock of a couple of the dads. I don't think they thought an old guy could move so fast! In about twenty years of coming here, this was my first gartersnake in this area. I HAD to catch it!
Me and the beast
The beast
Bailey misplaced her favorite pink water bottle somewhere, so I went to look for it. On the way back, This pretty gopher was in the path.
It was a great morning and fun was had by all. We saw five species of snake in two hours. On the way home, I was driving over a hill and as I came around the bend, I scared the two dads who were with me, by slamming on the brakes and yelling at the on coming car "Don't hit it!!!"...The car straddled the already clipped gophersnake. I got out grabbed it, took a couple of bites to the hand and prodded it down the hill. It had a small bit of road rash and maybe a couple broken ribs, but it was fine and feisty. It'll live to dodge cars again....
Adventure Princesses go herping...
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- HoggyMomma
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Devlin,
What an awesome outing! Congrats on the Coastal garter find! And five species in 2 hours is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
Laila
What an awesome outing! Congrats on the Coastal garter find! And five species in 2 hours is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
Laila
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Great job and im sure you made herpers out of those kids and we will see them out in the field soon! That garter is immense!
Neil
Neil
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Awesome. Love to see the kids expressions with snakes. Some pure fear, others joy. Very cool post....
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Totally awesome! My love of herps was begun when I was 5, by my parents taking me to the Miami Serpentarium... jim
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Wonderful outting, Dev!
Same king from when you took us out?
Same king from when you took us out?
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
What a great experience for those kids. Congratulations.
- liucommajames
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
I want to be an adventure princess...
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Done. Two wishes left...liucommajames wrote:I want to be an adventure princess...
Very cool, Devlin! Looks like you created some great memories for the Adventure Princesses
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Great trip mate, fantastic to see kids getting among it!
- Ross Padilla
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Great post!
- Natalie McNear
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Awesome stuff, Dev. Good to see that place is still full of surprises after 20 years. Now you just need to get your Infernalis there!
- Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Most excellent adventure!
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
hahahahahaliucommajames wrote:I want to be an adventure princess...
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Thanks everybody. It was definitely my pleasure showing all the cool critters to the girls (dads too).
Nat. Yes I need to find an infernalis out there...and a boa. They gotta be there too.
Zach. I haven't compared head shots of the king yet. could very well be the same snake...
EDIT: Different snake, Zach...
Nat. Yes I need to find an infernalis out there...and a boa. They gotta be there too.
Zach. I haven't compared head shots of the king yet. could very well be the same snake...
EDIT: Different snake, Zach...
Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Great post Dev Nice variety of finds. That Coasty is huge... I found a Mountain Garter in 2010 about that big, a little smaller, and was shocked to see they even got that big. I've seen 2 big Valley Garters over the years, but normally just see the average 2 1/2-3 1/2 footers. Really diggin the orange specks on the face and the beasty head features that come with age. Awesome snake
- socalherper
- Posts: 274
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Re: Adventure Princesses go herping...
Great post Devlin,
That was just awesome and that Garter snake is huge!
That was just awesome and that Garter snake is huge!