Orange Salamander with Black Spots

Orange (some may call it red). Black spots. It speaks for itself.

Read more about North Carolina salamanders HERE.

Xoxoxox

I Found A Turtle In The Road...

....and jammed on the brakes of my Jimmy GMC to pick it up. I jumped out the truck and ran backwards to the turtle, grabbed it, then ran back to my truck and put it in a box to bring back to my pond at the Luck Cabin. Safe and far away from any busy roads!

I hadn't seen any box turtles at my pond yet (only two snapping turtles just this week) - and had been wishing for some turtles to come hang around. :)

I waited behind some tall ferns for Lil' Boxy to pop out it's head and check out the cool place it now could live.... I sensed a look of approval and appraisal.

A whole pond to itself to start a family! Yay!

XOXoxox

Big Green Shelled Snapping Turtle

Oh my gawd, being from Louisiana I have seen a good amount of snapping turtles in my life - some brown & ginormous, some tiny & crazy mean (lots of hissing and biting at me)... but this dark green shelled snapping turtle in the creek by my cabin is nothing like anything I have seen before.

Quiet, still, almost docile... HUGE, and most importantly not brown - like a snapping turtle of fairy tales rather then the pre-historic swamp monster ones i have loved.
It's shell and skin coloring blended in perfectly with rocks in the creek, the top of the shell being mostly smooth except for the jagged sharp edges on the back end leading to the long alligator tale.

If ya aren't sure just how big this gi-gantor turtle is... i tossed a quarter onto it's back for referance ---> check it out in the pics below.... and tell me if you can find any ID on what type of snapper this is? I tried looking it up, but having been offline for a month my search skillz are a lil' rusty.

That is freakin' big and beautiful! (not the quarter, the turtle.) ;)

PS - if ya wanna see something (someone) crazy... watch the turtle man video! I love him.

xoxo

Brown Salamander (from the creek)

Today got warm, and this is what we found...
Neat little glassy brown salamander with light black and white patterns, muted along it's sides. The way it's skin is smooth and ripples and reflects - it looks like water, running over dirt. Just how nature intended it to.
(BTW- that's not my thumb... i might have cajun man hands, but i don't have giant double jointed hitchhiker thumbs.)
It's reallllllly cute. Ya gotta admit? That face is one to love.

XoXo

Small Grey Snake

I did not expect to see a snake in mid November! Usually they are hiding away from the cold, but it just has not been cold the last few weeks- and after more of days rain this snake came out into the morning sun to heat up his cold blooded body. It was a rather small snake and very well camoflauged into it's surroundings- so well in fact that i had no idea i was sitting about 8 inches from it, while i was scraping some sap off the bottom of a pine tree.
Look in the pic below and see if you can spot it?
It's scales were mainly a grey color but there were tan bits and a tan belly. It was highly alert about me being there, it's tongue never came out, it didn't move and it took one breathe to my every 5. Watching it breathe made me forget about everything in my life I think is important, the movement was mesmerizing & beautiful.
Does anyone know what kind of snake this is? It seems rather common here, especially near creeks and spring water.
XoXo