Herpin' the Hills of the Ozarks

[toxxxickitten]

Awesome finds. I also have to agree they are pretty good pictures for being cell phone pictures.

[KingCam]

Awesome finds. I also have to agree they are pretty good pictures for being cell phone pictures.

Thank you I was really bummed about not having my camera, but my cell phone came through for me (for the most part).

[ViperJr]

You can not comprehend the amount of jealousy directed at you right now, if that's what a field herp generates for you...

Side note, I really like Eurycea lucifuga and someday, when the stars align and pigs can fly, I will get some. Your beautiful pictures of them just made this urge even stronger.

[KingCam]

You can not comprehend the amount of jealousy directed at you right now, if that's what a field herp generates for you...

Side note, I really like Eurycea lucifuga and someday, when the stars align and pigs can fly, I will get some. Your beautiful pictures of them just made this urge even stronger.

Hahaha, I'm sorry! But I must say, I'm usually the one looking at posts getting jealous. It's kinda nice to be on the other side of that for once! LOL

These are the first cave salamanders I've ever managed to find. It was a truly magical moment, and I'm glad I got to share the experience with my younger brother.

You want to keep E.lucifuga as a pet? Are they difficult to keep? I desperately wanted to collect one, but I didn't know their requirements, therefore I did what I felt was best and released them all right where we found them.

Thanks for your comment

I'd have to agree...quite jealous . We went to Cook's Forest in Pennsylvania this past summer and took a nice hike trying to find salamanders, frogs & toads and only found a few very small black salamanders near a creek in the leaf litter, though very cute. We did find a few crayfish in the creek also.

:P I usually have little to no luck finding salamanders. I think I've finally got it figured out Until this hike I had never seen anything except western slimy salamanders in the wild.

[ViperJr]

You want to keep E.lucifuga as a pet? Are they difficult to keep? I desperately wanted to collect one, but I didn't know their requirements, therefore I did what I felt was best and released them all right where we found them.

Yes, as "pets" in a nice terrarium. I haven't done nearly enough research about them in captivity, but from what I've heard they're quite delicate and their enclosure-requirement are rather unusual, since you basically want a moist cave as a setup. Can't really tell you any more that that, since I don't know much more about them in captivity.
On another side note, I'm glad you did not keep any of them.

[UncleChester]

Good stuff! The tiny snake is probably my favorite of the bunch

[KingCam]

Good stuff! The tiny snake is probably my favorite of the bunch

Thanks I have a special fondness for worm snakes. I have a worm snake to thank for my girlfriend being into my field herping hobby with me. She was scared of snakes when we met, but I drug her into the woods anyway. The first snake we found was a medium sized worm snake.


It took me about 5 minutes, but after assuring her several times that this snake would not herm her, or even attempt to bite her, she finally agreed to hold it. He kept trying to dig down between her fingers, but after I explained to her that he was only trying to escape into the darkness, she wasn't scared of him anymore. She fell in love with the little guy immediately!


Now she's semi-comfortable grabbing hold of 5' or 6' wild black rat snakes!