5 Timber Rattlenakes, Crotalus horridus, found under the same tin
I wish I could share a picture of my face and a recording of the words coming out of my mouth when Phil Peak and I lifted up a piece of our artificial cover and bore witness to the sight in this photograph! Moments before we had found 1 Timber Rattlesnake beneath a sheet of metal and were feeling really happy about that, so you can imagine how cool it was to find 5 more under a single piece just a short distance away. This particular piece of cover was set out between 2 and 3 years ago. We have had some warm weather this spring, but the 5-7 days leading up to the day we made this flip were unseasonably cool with a lot of rain. On the day we arrived conditions had changed and the sun had finally broken through the clouds. These 5 snakes had emerged weeks earlier but after many days of cold temperatures they all congregated at a place where they knew the heat would arrive once the weather broke.

Phil and I were at the right place at the right time.

Several hours later the blazing sun scorched this same piece of metal and caused it to reach temperatures well over 100 degrees and the snake most certainly found a new place to hide…but only after we were able to capture the moment with our cameras! Spring is turning to summer in our area and it appears that mild days are behind us and the real heat of summer lies ahead. We will continue to check our materials, but the real climax of flipping season is probably over for the year. That is kind of depressing, but at least it was good while it lasted and we had the opportunity to be at the right place at the right time after making some effort to set our table.

Eastern Hognose Snake Heterodon platirhinos
This large Eastern Hognose Snake is the first Phil Peak and I ever recorded from Bell County, Kentucky. Phil spotted this snake out basking among a pile of rocks on top of a strip mine surrounded by secondary growth forest. Our group nearly decided not to hunt the area where this snake was located, but Phil liked the looks of it and demanded that we stop and poke around, so it was fitting that he found the nice big Hognose.

While there is no doubt that species diversity is impacted in a negative way by the process of strip mining, the mined areas recover quickly and provide a kind of artificial oasis for many large game species like Bear, Elk, Timber Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Hognose Snakes. After many years of experience I can say that I would rather search on strip mines than natural areas where no disturbance has taken place. This snake was a very welcome find on an otherwise slow day and to top it off the snake was just as calm as could be and never played dead. Every year I see people posting pictures and videos of their Hognose Snakes playing dead. That was fun for me once, and since then I prefer to get pictures of the snake BEFORE it goes into the routine.

I don’t know about you, but when Spring time hits I get super busy! All of my exotic pythons are laying eggs, boas are giving birth, colubrids are breeding, cages need to be cleaned, snakes are feeding heavily again, work is really busy, sales are brisk due to tax return season…and on top of all that it is finally time to get out and find some wild animals in nature! I like to travel great distances in search of some of the more difficult to find species, but on some weeks I don’t have the time. So it is nice to be able to get out and find some beautiful herps close to home. I live in Louisville, KY, which is billed as America’s 16th largest city but is really the Nation’s largest big town. Even so, it is possible to find all kinds of neat reptiles and amphibians in urban and suburban settings in my area. Sometimes I am stunned by how close neat animals can be found around the city along roads that I drive by at top speeds most every day. Such was the case with this Cave Salamander Eurycea lucifuga. A member of the Lungless Salamander family, he was found in a suburban neighborhood where you could literally see 11 houses and their backyards. It took all of 5 minutes to find this little guy was hiding under a piece of tree bark after a quick trip to the grocery and other errands. When I got home after my big “hunt” the ice cream I bought was still frozen! Fun Times!!

When taking pictures of reptiles there are two qualities that I struggle to strike a balance between. One is crisp focus/depth of field and the other is proper coloration. In order to get crisp focus across my entire image I use flash so that I can set my f-stops to 18-22. When I do this I get great depth of field, but the flash also puts glare on shiny scales and distorts color. When I do not use flash I get great coloration, but my depth of field suffers and I lose focus quality. This is a very frustrating situation for me that I need to learn how to overcome. In the picture of this corn snake I am very happy with color saturation and lighting but am not happy with my depth of field. Note how there is some blurriness as you move toward the top of the photo. This year I will be experimenting with solutions and hope to find a way to reduce the amount of light my flash units emit so that I can strike a balance between natural coloration and crisp focus/depth of field. Wish me luck, and if you have any secrets please share them with me!!

Savu Pythons (Liasis mackloti savuensis) breeding
I discovered my Savu Pythons (Liasis mackloti savuensis) mating on 25 April 2016. The day before I noticed my female was swelling so even though the male was about to shed, I introduced the female into his cage. They were breeding the following morning. This pair has been bred before with spectacular results. Unlike many other python species, Savus tend to breed when the temperatures rise and days are longer. In fact, during the winter months my adults resume feeding, but as soon as things warm up my males go off food and switch into breeding mode. I am not sure if this breeding will result in a gravid female. Instead, I view this as an early season warm-up for the pair. The female has been properly pre-conditioned and I am hoping for babies later this Fall!

Winter is long, cramped, and filled with stressful family and social gatherings. It is so nice when all that stuff is over, the sun begins to shine again, and Spring arrives in full force. This photo sums up what Spring is all about for me. Few moments in life compare to that rejuvenating and magnificent time when friends can venture out across the countryside and use snake hooks to flip metal with sexed pairs of Kingsnakes preparing to breed underneath. Capturing these in-situ moments with cameras is an absolute must because Winter returns in the blink of an eye and I find myself staring at these pictures on my computer during snowy nights longing for the days when the Sun shines bright and the snakes return. Nothing Beats Spring!!