Field herping in quebec

[mk-ultra]

ok so me and my girlfriend mary ( Poisonous ) went herping today near Ste-Agathe des Monts ( one hour north of montreal ) didnt find a lot but it was worth it cause we had a lot of fun :)

So there we are in the middle of nowhere searching for anything that crawls :)

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5591-med.jpg

So we start walking along the road to find a small river that passes under the road in a big drain pipe and I spot a snake right there . We just got out the car and already a snake so i jump on it and misses it it goes in the drain pipe . So i start looking around and see this :

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5592-med.jpg

2 inch spider crawling right between my legs . She was carrying some kind of ball i dont know probably was dinner or eggs i really dont know .

So we start to walk again along the road and I spot a big pile of pine branches on the ground so i start checking it out moving everything around . I spot lots of big slugs so im thinking im sure there is a snake in there and BOOM im sure I saw like 2 or 3 red belly so I grab one there it is :

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5593-med.jpg

HeHe here I am trying to show the red belly on that small snake never thought id look like that on the picture :P rofl so much mosquitos in there and the humidity was killing us :

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5594-med.jpg

After releasing the red belly in the same spot we start walking the other way to finally come back to the drain pipe and to spot that snake one more time and guess what i missed it again ...

So we continu our walk along the road getting eaten by mosquitos . Mary took a pictures of flowers kinda nice :

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5595-med.jpg

So after walking like 20 min and spotting nothing else than giant mosquitos we decided to go back to that drain pipe thinking maybe the snake came back . And yes ... There it was again probably trying to bask on the top of the drain pipe . But this time i grab a stick and go for it the good way and finally grab it . There it is think its a eastern garter :

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5596-med.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5597-med.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5598-med.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/5599-med.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/12910-med.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/12911-med.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/12912-med.jpg

Was really fun to find that one since it was our first time herping and that size was kinda neat .

So we released it in the same spot and check the other side of the drain pipe to find that cute frog on a rock we dont really know what it is maybe you guys can help us identify it :

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/512/12913-med.jpg

It was probably as big as my fist and really dark .

At that momment mosquitos outnumbered us by a million to one so we decided to leave . We had a lot of fun and will surely do this again . :)

[Oliverian]

Nice pics! Looks like you had fun. That frog looks kind of like a leapard (sp?) frog... but I really don't know. Really good looking garter. Very smooth, and looks like it has no scars! The big ones I usually find are all beat up and rough looking. Looks like a big female ;) Glad you enjoyed yourself.

[mk-ultra]

yeah it had no scars at all or tics really beautiful snake

[BoidKeeper]

Nice pics sounds like fun! Herping in Quebec and you only found one frog! I'm surprised. JK Sounds like it was a great day.
Cheers,
Trevor

[mk-ultra]

well we stayed on the road didnt went deep in the bush it was too dense

[snkmn]

wow. nice pix it looked like fun

[Jeff Hathaway]

Glad you had a good trip! The frog appears to be a bullfrog, given the absence of dorsolateral folds (which are the ridges of skin which run from behind the tympanum to the legs in some species, including green frogs). It definitely isn't a leopard- they have large blotches on the back.

One question though- why pick up a redbellied snake by the tail? Why not support its body properly in a manner that would be more comfortable for the snake? I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I picked you up by the toes... I can understand this as a technique for handling venomous species (but really, if you need to, why not use a hook!) but there's no need for it with garters and redbellies or any other species in Quebec.

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!

[mk-ultra]

well i just wanted to show the red belly on the snake since it wouldnt let me while holding it in my hands as for the garter i was just letting it slither through my hand