Best Herping spots

[Springherp]

Yeah Alan, sounds like a field trip is in order....

[craig]

i'll come too!!!!

[hugsta]

Well come on Shermy, you can't go bragging and not come up with the goods..... :wink:

[bigguy]

Teamsherman, if this is the spot I am thinking of in Sydney, are you sure you saw a Carpet there. Or is it another spot up north somewhere

[Greg]

If it's where I'm thinking of (Holsworthy) then a woman in my WIRES branch pulled an Adder out of there once a while back. All the soldiers stood waaaay back while she got in and caught it.



Greg

[Alexahnder]

count me in too

[Bryony]

yay!
feild trip!
and road trip!

oh i am in heaven!

[instar]

I found heaps of herps at gosford, just go through the gates of ARP, they're everywhere! LOL

I'll come up with the goods when the herps come up for air.
And the only drawback is we will have to go in groups of 5 max.
So when i think it is time to see some herps, off we will go.

And yes Greg, crown land it is.

So dont get caught in there without permission or you WILL be prosecuted, and if you happen to step on something that you cant identify, you can kiss fatherhood or mother hood goodbye, possibly even walking.

[Splitmore]

While obviously certain areas are better than others for observing wild reptiles, you also need a hell of a lot of luck as well to actually find anything. I spent just about every school holidays bushwalking through the Royal National Park looking for reptiles but more often that not you could spend the whole day looking and not see a single snake, while other days see quite a few. I think some people have visions of these magical places that only one or two herps know about where there is a diamond python in every tree and a death adder under every log. In all my time herping I've never come across such a place(certainly not around Sydney anyway).I've spent days in perfect diamond python habitat, where they certainly do occour, and not seen the slightest sign of one. My advice to anyone wanting to see herps in the wild is to go invest in a good pair of walking shoes and a map of a particular area and go from there. There are two great books, bushwalking in the Sydney region vols 1 & 2 which have some great walks in them on which you are probably a fair chance of seeing something reptilian.
There is a great walk out of Stanwell Park (south of Sydney) that takes you through some really spectacular rainforest, potentially perfect habitat for lots of different types of reptiles. I did the walk in winter, but am planning to do it again once the weather warms up a little so if anyone wants to tag along they'd be more than welcome.

Fogg Dam is pretty perfect

[Splitmore]

If they take anything from the wild they should be shot hey??

While I certainly don't condone the wholesale collecting of reptiles from the wild I find it a bit ironic that you can deliberately run over a snake with your car or chop it's head off with a shovel without a problem but take it home and look after it and your a criminal.

[bigguy]

Splitmore, depends where you go. I have a ridge I go too on the North Shore in winter time where I regulary see BTS, GTS,
Diamonds, Heath Monitors, Laceies and a variety of others. Its a very rare day indeed if I go to this spot and don't see a couple of snakes.

[Splitmore]

Bob, I bet that would be one of the few accessable places around Sydney like that left. Like I said I've spent so much time at so many places that *look* absolutely perfect habitat for reptiles and seen none. Is there anything about this particular place that makes it so different from anywhere to account for the abundance of reptile life?

[bigguy]

Splitmore, I think the local herp species were forced to the end of this suburb onto the ridge as the suburb expanded. The ridge faces west for the setting sun and is a perfect site for wintering of herp species. I took John Weigel there once and he thought it was one of the best spots he had ever seen around Sydney.