Field Herp Forum

Some highlights from a shortish trip to the Everglades, Saturday to Monday.

The cool mornings resulted in lots of crocs around Flamingo including two very large individuals:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

This is the same individual as the first picture, the next night:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/



Hiking was unproductive herp-wise on Sunday, but I did find this cool invert lifer:

Tailless whip scorpion
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/



It was too cold to cruise Saturday night, and the Sunday night was slow, only resulting in two nerodia, however they were pretty cool individuals:

Nerodia clarkii compressicauda
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

Nerodia fasciata x clarkii
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/



By the last day of the trip I was pretty disappointed with how slow things had been. Fortunately that last day turned things around. After watching the sun rise we went on what turned out to be more of a swim than a hike on a flooded trail near Flamingo.

Sunrise at Pa-hay-okee
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

As we were nearing the end of the trail I almost stepped on my lifer pygmy rattlesnake lol. I know these are super abundant, but it was still nice to finally check them off the list.

Sistrurus miliarius barbouri
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

After that it seemed to slow down again, with only a few Everglades racers showing themselves.

Coluber constrictor
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

But as we were leaving our campsite we saw this adrenaline-pumping sight crossing the road:

Crotalus adamanteus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

Ironically the only species missing for the viper trifecta was the omnipresent cottonmouth, which we only found DOR.

While we were waiting for the sun to set for some cruising we explored the area around Nike Missal Base. Crossing an access road was this feisty beauty:

Python bivittatus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

Cruising that night started slow, but picked up around Flamingo. Nothing rare, but some very cool snakes nonetheless.

Thamnophis sirtalis
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

Nerodia clarkii compressicauda
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

N. fasciata x clarkii
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

Cemophora coccinea coccinea
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/201704255 ... ed-public/

Thanks for looking! (maybe someone will lmao)

Gotta love seeing crocs...

Thank you for sharing your trip and images...sadly pygmies seem to be less and less common. Central FL has areas where they were abundant, but most of those areas are housing tracts now and pygmies are far and very few between anymore. That said your pics of that one made me smile.

Great stuff! Even though they are not rare in South Florida, I love Scarlet Snakes. Living in the Midwest and Virginia my whole life, I have only ever seen one on a fluke. Great Diamondback too!

RCampbell- Thanks! Yeah crocs are fun. I actually think I've seen the first individual here on the forum; he's missing a chunk of his lower jaw. As for pygmies, from what I hear southern ENP is the only place you can still get them reliably in south Florida. Despite going through some great habitat, I've never seen one in my home county, Collier.

Jefferson- Thank you, and thanks for showing me how to make the pics visible lol. Yeah, scarlets are super fun, this was actually my first larger adult, the rest have all been juveniles or young adults. I can't seem to cruise them reliably, oddly enough, most of the time I flip them.

I'll just copy the original post with pictures (maybe an admin can delete the old one?)




Some highlights from a shortish trip to the Everglades, Saturday to Monday.

The cool mornings resulted in lots of crocs around Flamingo including two very large individuals:




This is the same individual as the first picture, the next night:





Hiking was unproductive herp-wise on Sunday, but I did find this cool invert lifer:

Tailless whip scorpion





It was too cold to cruise Saturday night, and the Sunday night was slow, only resulting in two nerodia, however they were pretty cool individuals:

Nerodia clarkii compressicauda



Nerodia fasciata x clarkii





By the last day of the trip I was pretty disappointed with how slow things had been. Fortunately that last day turned things around. After watching the sun rise we went on what turned out to be more of a swim than a hike on a flooded trail near Flamingo.

Sunrise at Pa-hay-okee



As we were nearing the end of the trail I almost stepped on my lifer pygmy rattlesnake lol. I know these are super abundant, but it was still nice to finally check them off the list.

Sistrurus miliarius barbouri





After that it seemed to slow down again, with only a few Everglades racers showing themselves.

Coluber constrictor



But as we were leaving our campsite we saw this adrenaline-pumping sight crossing the road:

Crotalus adamanteus






Ironically the only species missing for the viper trifecta was the omnipresent cottonmouth, which we only found DOR.

While we were waiting for the sun to set for some cruising we explored the area around Nike Missal Base. Crossing an access road was this feisty beauty:

Python bivittatus





Cruising that night started slow, but picked up around Flamingo. Nothing rare, but some very cool snakes nonetheless.

Thamnophis sirtalis



Nerodia clarkii compressicauda



N. fasciata x clarkii



Cemophora coccinea coccinea




Thanks for looking!