welcome.....i love ALL herps, gotta have my big snakes though

Herpetology has been my life long hobby. I started collecting when I was in elementary school and saved my money to buy Dr Raymond Ditmars books (that dates me to the 1940's). I was brought up in Southern California before it became a megaopolis. The Los Angeles river ran about 6 blocks from my home (it wasn't a concrete channel then) and had an adjoining marshland. There were also vacant lots and several fields planted in wheat. The common lizards in my neighborhood were the western fence (sceloporus oddidentalis), the southern alligator lizard (gerrhonoatus multicarinatus) and the coastal horned lizard (phrynosoma coronatum). The snakes I remember at the time were the gopher (pituophis melanoleucus), California kingsnake (lampropeltis getulus), and the ringneck (diadophis punctatus). Being close to the marsh toads and tree frogs were very abundant. Most of the animals I collected back then were soon set free as one couldn't go to the pet store and buy mice, crickets, and meal worms. I was out in the backyard hunting beetles and catching flies. Fortunately harvester ants were easy to come by for the horned lizards. Mice were caught in the fields by turning over boards (mice weren't the only things found!). Also, I owned a couple of red eared sliders for some years as the juveniles were sold in great quantities back then. So I grew up with herps.

I'll post more on herping from then to now as time permits.

George