Was a bit worried about a new arrival.

[GradStudentLeper]

Update: Another frog and a few days later, and this is probably the largest fecal mass I have ever seen. He is in temporary accommodations now (A tupperware container, open when i am in the room, closed when not... paper towel substrate, basking light, water bowl and a hiding spot... no escape attempts)

They are probably (well, the entire genus really) my favorite snakes in the universe. Garters are awesome, but nerodia take the cake. I have never met one I didnt like, and their reputation as aggressive is entirely undeserved. It all depends on how you handle them. If you act like a predator, roughly gripping them around the head or tail, yeah... they will be pissed off. If you are gentle though, even the most aggressive snake wont bite you, and only might musk you a little (I have actually grown to like the smell of musk. It is so familiar it is comforting). This particular snake I can pat on the head with a finger, and stroke like Dr. Evil strokes Mr. Bigglesworth...

As for the frogs, do you live in an urban area? I live in Arlington Texas, and the number of frogs I hear depends greatly on where exactly I am. Anywhere near a golf course or pond and I cant go out in the spring without hearing at least four species. That may be because there are a lot of urban parks (including several creeks and rivers that are maintained in a natural state) crisscrossing the area. It allows me to feed my little babies what they like most (though the staple of their diet is still small live fish of various types)

[pitbulllady]

Update: Another frog and a few days later, and this is probably the largest fecal mass I have ever seen. He is in temporary accommodations now (A tupperware container, open when i am in the room, closed when not... paper towel substrate, basking light, water bowl and a hiding spot... no escape attempts)

They are probably (well, the entire genus really) my favorite snakes in the universe. Garters are awesome, but nerodia take the cake. I have never met one I didnt like, and their reputation as aggressive is entirely undeserved. It all depends on how you handle them. If you act like a predator, roughly gripping them around the head or tail, yeah... they will be pissed off. If you are gentle though, even the most aggressive snake wont bite you, and only might musk you a little (I have actually grown to like the smell of musk. It is so familiar it is comforting). This particular snake I can pat on the head with a finger, and stroke like Dr. Evil strokes Mr. Bigglesworth...

As for the frogs, do you live in an urban area? I live in Arlington Texas, and the number of frogs I hear depends greatly on where exactly I am. Anywhere near a golf course or pond and I cant go out in the spring without hearing at least four species. That may be because there are a lot of urban parks (including several creeks and rivers that are maintained in a natural state) crisscrossing the area. It allows me to feed my little babies what they like most (though the staple of their diet is still small live fish of various types)

No, I'm in a very rural area. Three of the largest cities anywhere nearby probably wouldn't have the size or population of Arlington, TX, combined. This is a very agricultural region. Thing is, there's no standing water, not permanent, anyway. No ponds, no drainage ditches, no small streams. There's a river about six miles away, but the only spot with public fishing access is a very dangerous hang-out for gangs and crack-heads(yeah, we have those out here in the sticks, too), so it would not be safe hunting frogs under the bridge there. We have had several years of drought conditions, which have still not really been resolved even though this summer has seen fairly average rainfall, so the little marshy areas where frogs used to breed dried up long ago. I know that that has something to do with the scarcity of amphibians, but I don't know if there are other factors, too.

As for the way most herpers catch Water Snakes, yeah, it's no wonder they get bitten all the time. When your technique is basically a modified version of a hawk's "swoop and kill", I mean, DUH! That's how most people catch these snakes, just run up grab it, usually as roughly as possible. I slide my hand underneath and lift up, and rather than grab and restrain the snake, I just keep moving my hands underneath it to control its movement and sort of let it "run". The snake will quickly figure out that I'm not trying to eat it and settle down, and once that point is reached, you can basically just handle them like a Corn or any other snake that is generally thought of as a docile "beginnger's pet" species. I've never had one that took more than 12 hours to become completely tame. Every bite I've gotten from a Nerodia, with the exception of one little Northern that spazzed out over the approach of a very large timber wolf at a reptile show, has been a feeding response where the snake simply missed the intended target and got my hand instead, but that pales in comparison to the feeding response bite I got from a 6 1/2-foot Emerald Tree Boa several years ago, where I could actually hear those switchblade teeth grating on the bone and had to pour vinegar in her mouth to get her to turn loose and stop constricting my arm.