Oh my goodness, we all love a good weirdo 
. That is why you all love me 
. He is adorable by the way. And really nice for a water snake.
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It was like 80-85 degrees 
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How cool, I’ve yet too meet a watersnake I could touch without bleeding, lol
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Yes! All I ever had to do was look at them, and they’d “touch” me!
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Looks like you’ve got water sorcerer in your blood then, @logar. That’s the only other explanation I can think of. 
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Here are a couple of lizards I found on my recent trip to Santa Cruz Island. It’s a unique endemic species of fence swift found nowhere else in the world. They’re kinda similar to (and evolved from) the western fence swifts we have on the mainland, but they’re… different. More sleek and slender, more colorful, and their scales are smoother. They also seem to be a bit smaller overall than their mainland cousins. We saw a bunch, but these two individuals let me get quite close and posed for pictures. The lighter one is an adult, and the darker one is a juvenile (though I don’t think the colour difference is related to age, there just seem to be some natural colour variations between individuals regardless of age).
And here’s a shot of one of my favourite little coves along the coast, just because it’s gorgeous.
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Found this little Dekay’s Brown Snake while walking the dogs this morning. Found two more on the way back but didn’t get pictures of them.
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Wow, your phone captured him and really good quality. How big would you say?
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Not very big. Maybe 8-10”. He looked ready for business with his head cocked like that but he never struck. I picked him up and moved him off the path so he didn’t get run over or killed intentionally. I did find another with its neck crushed behind the head and it wasn’t a bike tire or shoe. People are so ignorant.
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And cruel and twisted
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Sweet find! What a cutie. 
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Found this really beautiful skink at work yesterday. This was the only picture I managed to get before it skittered off into the bushes. Anyone recognize species? I’m in Santa Barbara, CA.
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WEEEWOOOOWEEEEWOOO
RED ALERT EVERYONE!! 
Gutter toad survived brumation and came to the gutter hole tonight after a heavy thunderstorm! Fat and beautiful as ever, we gave him some earthworms in case he was hungry
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The gutter toad looks satisfied with your offerings
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A couple (first two pics are the same lizard) of fence lizards living near the house/cabin we are renting for the weekend in western NC outside Asheville.
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Gutter Toad was out basking at the edge of his hole today, with a belly full of worms. He is without a doubt the most colorful and stunning common toad I have ever seen. The urge to toadnap him into domestication is so strong, but I will leave this powerful soul wild and free.
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Here’s some recent stuff. Not warm enough yet for much on the reptile front but March was still productive. Got couple lifer salamanders so that’s always a win.
There are only 5 currently described species of Hydromantes. There will be another soon but I won’t say anything until the paper comes out.Three of the species are local to me. They aren’t rare in their habitats, but their habitat is pretty rare. They exist in small scattered pockets centered on a specific type of exposed limestone in some pretty rough terrain. Each pocket is geographically isolated.
They’re lungless so they breathe through their skin and the lining in their mouth. They have webbed toes to be able to stick to the damp slick limestone better hence their common name the Web Toed Salamander. Another cool adaptation/accident of nature is that like a lot of salamanders they ball up when bothered. In their habitat where much of it is effectively vertical, this means a predator has one chance to grab them but if they drop them, the salamander is able to exist with haste. They also have a cute little threat display. They’re fascinating little beasts really. I only have one local species to find now but I’ll have to use the boat because it’s entire range is one granite outcropping. They’re visually indistinguishable from each other so the only way you know which one you’ve found without DNA analysis is by following the known range map.
Red are the wintu Orange is shastae Yellow is samweli
Hydromantes samweli
Hydromantes shastae
These are Coastal Giant Salamander larva Dicamptadon tenebrosus We only handled the one because we scared it towards swift water and didn’t want it to tumble into the next pool. Which ironically is how they distribute themselves through their habitat.
Some Boreal X California intergrade toads
I have tons around my house. They all have clever names. This is Truck Toad because he lives by where I park my truck. I generally see him and Hose Toad every day.
And some neat millipedes.
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Looks like Gutter Toad is in very find company indeed
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Hooray for gutter toad! Glad to see it again.
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