Natural History - Herpe Field Trip to Caw Caw

On our field trip to Caw Caw County park we encountered numerous of reptiles and amphibians. At 1st I was nervous because it was actually really cold out, meaning many of the species might not be our or active. On our walk our professor asked us to check the traps, which honestly for me was the best part of this field trip. Walking in hip high deep water in the cold was some what relaxing and at the same time having that adrenaline rush, not knowing what we will find in these traps. Pulling one after another we collected a good amount of species. Exploring the 2nd area of traps! Some students went off looking under logs while the others (me as well) were checking the traps in even deeper swamp water. Couple minutes later I hear a classmate yelling we found some snakes! Me, not being a big fan of snakes was curious and wanted to take a look. The snake I wanted to focus on is the D. p. punctuatus or commonly known as the Southern Ring-Necked Snake. These types of snake species will grow to about 10-15 inches and would live in rocky, wooded hillsides; cut over areas with stones, logs, bark slabs; moist areas near swamps and springs; damp hill sides; and flat or poorly drained pinewoods. This being said Caw Caw County park would be a perfect habitat for the Southern Ring-Necked snake. The Southern Ring-Necked we found was about 6-7 inches in length and very thin. The sex of the snake was unknown and the life stage is between juvenile and adult due to its size. At start the Southern Ring-Necked was very aggressive and trying to bite our fingers (key word "trying"). But it started to cozy up to us and started to be comfortable with us holding it (maybe because we are warm and it was cold). At a quick glance of this snake I already knew what type of snake it was due to its body; it was yellow with rows of black spots. Another tell it was a Southern Ring-Necked was the ring on the head was interrupted where as the Northern Ring-Necked was completely around the head.
My overall experience of this field trip was AMAZING! Every week I can honestly say I will always look forward for Tuesday (lab day) or our field trip days. I learned and had so much fun with my classmates exploring Caw Caw County park find herps. I can not wait for our next field work!

PICTURES!!!!!!

This is a picture of the Southern Ring-Necked from my view. You can see how small or thin it is and it shows the ring on the head that is no complete. 

here is a side view of the Southern Ring-Necked snake. 

And this is the belly shot of it! Look how beautiful it looks! (it was posing for us btw!)

By: Christian Salvador