Not much to go by in this shot............He slithered away from me on the Dand R Canal
This one was in Wharton State Forest and he was madder than hell...........
This one I know is a Timber Rattle Snake.....He was Up at the Water Gap..
Another Snake I.D Thread
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Not much to go by in this shot............He slithered away from me on the Dand R Canal
This one was in Wharton State Forest and he was madder than hell...........
This one I know is a Timber Rattle Snake.....He was Up at the Water Gap..
The middle two look like an Eastern Hognose.
I am not a herpetologist, nor do I play one on TV. Or. Something.
I am not a herpetologist, nor do I play one on TV. Or. Something.
They are eastern hognoses, I have been out looking for hoggies alot lately with no success. They most likely were out snaking on the millions of fowler's toads out this year. Also that is a beautiful timber rat, I'v seen alot in pa but his coloring is oustanding.
The first snake looks to be like a northern water snake... the 2nd snake is an eastern hognose! Awesome find! When encountered they will usually puff up,hiss,spread their necks,and sometimes play dead. How long was he?
And the last snake is unmistakenably a timber rattlesnake, a pretty one.
And the last snake is unmistakenably a timber rattlesnake, a pretty one.
the first one definitely looks like a water snake, id bet money on it, and i agree on the hognoses, and that is the nicest looking rattlesnake i think ive ever seen, great photos
Most of the ones I've seen aren't that defined in their pattern. I agree most of the ones I've seen are the black phase or yellow. Seeing that picture makes me realize how bad I need to get up to central pa to see timbers and wood turtles.
has anybody ever found any black phased timber rattlesnakes in the pine barrens? from everybody's rattlesnake pics i've seen, it looks like they're all yellow phased in south jersey.
NJSnakeMan said:
Let's recognize that the terms "yellow phase" and "black phase" are two extremes of a fairly even gradation within a continuum. That continuum, however, is certainly not represented by a simple Gaussian curve; were that so, then most rattlers would be in the in-between range of collor and pattern and the "yellows" and "blacks" would be present in lesser numbers at the outer extremes of the curve. In fact, the distribution of the extremes in color and pattern (light and dark) seems to be a bi-modal curve, with the intermediates occuring in lesser numbers than those at the extremes.
Have I seen "black" examples in the pines? Yes; a few, and they are, in my experience, a distinct minority of the rattlers in the pines; and none were as dark as the typical black-phase examples I've seen in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York. The light or yellow phase rattlers predominate and bear greatest resemblance (to my eye) to the generally yellow, grey, and russet "Canebreak rattlers" with which I came to be familiar in east Texas rather than to the yellow phase rattlers elsewhere in the Northeast. I think I've held forth previously on my opinion that these "canebreak-like" piney rattlers, as well as many other examples of so-called "southern" beasts and plants are but more evidence that the NJPBs are but the northern extreme and refugium of the once continuous coastal plain pine and oak forest that covered the whole southeast as the tundra and taiga retreated north after the last Ice Age .
Note that these impressions of pine barrens rattlers are not the result of hundreds of observations; rather from only about 40 to 50 different examples in the 50's and early 60's. There were more "sightings" but they were re-sightings/captures of previously caught and marked individuals.
I understand from several posting on this list that the NJ State non-game biologists have, of late, taken an interest in the herp populations in the pines. I'd sure like to hear what their observations reveal of the status of current populations.
Dave in South Dakota (East River)
While i was out herping in "the heart of the pines" i ran into some curious and suspecting nj conservationist! they questioned me if i was hunting snakes in the area- but i informed them that i was only here for pics, and was participating in the herp atlas project. they were quite friendly and told my about local populations.
supposely pine snakes are preety well established within in the pines, and not too hard with some time and effort to come across. (which is very well true!) coastal milks are also supposely all over the pines, just hard to find.
timber rattlers are still rare, and so are corns. but they're out there!!
supposely pine snakes are preety well established within in the pines, and not too hard with some time and effort to come across. (which is very well true!) coastal milks are also supposely all over the pines, just hard to find.
timber rattlers are still rare, and so are corns. but they're out there!!
NJSnakeMan said:
This reference is probably well-known to most frequenters of this forum, but just in case...
Folks interested in Pine Barrens snakes should read Karl Kauffeld's 1959 book "Snakes and Snake Hunting" (Hanover House, long out of print, reissued in the late 1990's by Krieger, again out of print but look in the local library) which was more or less singlehandedly (singlebookedly?) responsible for the 1960's upsurge of snake hunting as a pastime and hobby. The upsurge continues to upsurge but Kauffeld's book marked the beginning. In the book are several chapters in Barrens snake hunting during the 1930's and 1940's, the "good old days," including tales of numerous rattlers at Mount Misery, pine snakes and corn snakes at Crossley, and assorted other Barrens reptiles and a few amphibians. Kauffeld also worked in upstate New York and southeastern Arizona (another herpetological mecca) as well as in Florida and South Carolina, and all of those exploits are documented in the book. Kauffeld was also a devoted conservationist, though that wasn't always clear from his narrative. Even in the 1930's the Mount Misery site was already being carved up by CCC camps and church camps, and Kauffeld felt that he was essentially offering an epitaph for the site. Kauffeld was a good writer (he was the curator of reptiles and later the director at the Staten Island Zoo) and was also well aware of the book's potential for unleashing hoards of folks willing to destroy large amounts of habitat in their quest for one more rattler, in the pines and elsewhere (especially the mountains of southeast Arizona).
It's a good, easy read and will indeed cast some light on the good old days.
Sean Barry
I have yet- and have read it several times. And it is a great book! The way he explains everything just gets you motiavated and makes you go out and keep herping!
Common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, eastern subspecies, T. s. sirtalis. It's actually not very "common" in very many places but it does occur coast to coast and one of its several subspecies is the rare and spectacular San Francisco garter snake, T. s. tetrataenia. The snake in your photo is either so gravid that it will explode with newborns any second or is just very well fed. It may be inflating its body defensively as well, although when they do that they usualy also flatten the head which this one has not.
Sean Barry
Sean Barry
Garter snake! We had a little tiny one of those slithering around our yard a few days ago. Cute bugger.