# Florida Trip Fall 2006:



## Mechanical-Mind (Sep 26, 2006)

Hello fellow forum-goers,

My primary targets on this trip were _Sistrurus miliarius barbouri_ and _Latrodectus bishopi_. I was fortunate enough to locate multiple examples of both, but was only capable of taking pictures of the _bishopi_. That said, Mike (MikeyFresh) held on to one of the barbouri for me, so I may be able to get some images up in a few days.

I started my searching early Friday morning for L. bishopi in some nice palmetto scrub habitat not too far from my parent's place. Within a half mile of hiking I found an obvious Latrodectus web on the crown of a chest high palmetto, and saw this girl tucked deep between the leaves (fronds?). 






Red Widow - _Latrodectus bishopi_,
Southeast Florida.

It's my understanding that this species is protected, or will be shortly; so to my dismay, I left all the examples exactly where and how I saw them. 

After another half mile or so, I located this mature female having a meal. She easily had the largest web of the three females I saw, and the most intricate retreat.






Red Widow - _Latrodectus bishopi_,
Southeast Florida.

The brief literature I found on this species all described, to one degree or another, the bishopi webs as being a tangled mass looming above a broad sheet, which tapers into the spider's retreat. This description was definitely the case in all three examples I came across. The following is my miserable attempt to photograph the web design.






_Latrodectus bishopi _web and retreat,
Southeast Florida.

After failing in my attempt to maneuver this girl to photograph her dorsal pattern, small dots of red caught my eye within her retreat (the mass of dead foliage). My thoughts became jumbled as I realized I was looking at a nest of one of the rarest spiders in the state.






Red Widow Spiderlings - _Latrodectus bishopi_,
Southeast Florida.

Still blathering to myself about how f'ing spectacular the past hour had been, I nearly walked into the next spider on my trek. I would have, without a doubt, had it's legs not been illuminated by the sunlight.











Green Lynx - _Peucetia viridans_,
Southeast Florida.

I also observed dozens of copulating Two-Striped Walkingsticks, _Anisomorpha buprestoides_, but failed to take any images of value.

---

The next morning I met up with Mike (MikeyFresh) at a mall parking lot at 8 a.m. 







We went North from there seeing roughly a dozen DORs along the way. I say we, but in reality, I don't recall spotting a single one before he did. The following are some of the less mutilated examples.











Yellow Rat - _Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata_,
Florida peninsula.

Several more _E. o. quadrivittata_...

















Okay, so I know realize the only DORs that weren't incomplete pancakes were Yellow rats... Well, we also saw some Garters, Corns, Ribbons, and _Nerodia_ spp.

Shortly before we hit our destination, we came across this guy, which was a lifer for us both.
















Florida Snapping Turtle - _Chelydra serpentina osceola_,
Florida peninsula.

Once at our destination, our targets were Gopher torts and Gopher frogs. I'll save you another moaning anecdote and give you the results:
















Gopher Tortoise - _Gopherus polyphemus_,
Highlands County, Florida.






Gopher Frog -  Rana capito aesopus,
Highlands County, Florida.

It is interesting to consider all the different kinds of animals that share _G. polyphemus_ burrows. The first Gopher frog we saw was nestled against the burrow wall, about two feet down into the burrow. The animal pictured was found under a discarded plywood sheet.

After an hour or so of cruising for _G. polyphemus_ burrows, we did some flipping. Found a few skinks, a vinegaroon, a massive millipede, and a colorful phasmid of some kind.























We did some more road crusing and found an adult Gopher Tort about 4 miles from our first spot.






Gopher Tortoise - _Gopherus polyphemus_,
Highlands County, Florida.

At about this point it became too hot to really do much, so we passed the time pulling our hair out and waiting for sun down.

When it came... it brought gifts...

The first was a nice 5-6 foot _Crotalus adamanteus_, a huge lifer for me.





















Eastern Diamond-Back Rattlesnake - _Crotalus adamanteus_,
Highlands County, Florida.

We also found a nice racer, followed by a ribbon snake:











Southern Racer - _Coluber constrictor_ ssp.,
Florida.











Ribbon snake - _Thamnophis sauritus_ ssp.
Florida.

We also caught, after the aforementioned, a crayfish snake, corn snake, 2 AOR dusky pygmies, 1 DOR dusky pygmy, and a sweet mud snake, which was a great find as well.






Mud Snake - _Farancia abacura_ ssp.
Florida.

All in all it was a nice, grueling one day trip that ended 2 am the next day. On our way back, we saw this (Bard?) Owl waiting on a sign next to a street lamp.







Hope you enjoyed,
-Matt


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## psionix (Sep 26, 2006)

Barred Owl.  

these are some really awesome pics.  i used to live in FL and can honestly say never saw anything you have posted except the gopher torts and the racer.  :/


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## Crotalus (Sep 26, 2006)

Wow looks like a great trip! The adamanteus is gorgeus! 
Were you in the north of Florida?


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## Garrick (Sep 26, 2006)

Neat!


Garrick
eight


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## Sheri (Sep 26, 2006)

What an incredible trip!  Would love to herp Florida one day. 

Very nice easterm - I love how dark they are. Would be so nice to live somewhere that the herps didn't have to hide for half of the year!


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## ErikH (Sep 27, 2006)

Very nice photos!


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## Mechanical-Mind (Sep 27, 2006)

Crotalus said:


> Were you in the north of Florida?


Hey Lelle, 

I was a little north and a little west of the Okeechobee lake.

Best regards,
-Matt


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## GQ. (Oct 1, 2006)

Great post!  That adamanteus had me drooling.  What a way to finish up.


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## xgrafcorex (Oct 7, 2006)

nice pictures.  there is definetly a lot to be found in this state    love the racer.  we caught a little one..probably about the same size.  he was pretty fiesty...i held him a few times but he never bit me..just my roommate haha.  it refused two meals after a little bit in captivity so we let it go.


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## Crotalus (Oct 7, 2006)

Sheri said:


> What an incredible trip!  Would love to herp Florida one day.


You betcha!



Mechanical-Mind said:


> Hey Lelle,
> I was a little north and a little west of the Okeechobee lake.


Thanks
Would you recommend the area for a first visit?


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## Mechanical-Mind (Oct 7, 2006)

Crotalus said:


> You betcha!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi Lelle,

To be honest, I don't think I've really spent enough time herping Florida to really be able to say with any certainty. That said, the areas we covered offered a fair amount of fauna by my standards, if that helps. On the other hand, from what I've read, Northern Florida is going to give you a better chance of finding venomous species, which seem to interest you a good bit. I'd check out R.D. Bartlett's book, "Florida's Snakes." It was published 2 or three years ago, so I would assume most of the species' range maps are pretty accurate.

Best regards,
-Matt


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## Mujahideen (Oct 7, 2006)

nice photos and great trip


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## Bedlam (Oct 16, 2006)

Amazing stuff!!  Must've been a great trip.


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