Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 31, Number 11;   November, 2004

Herping in the Carolinas

by CHS member Homer L. Dunlap

We arrived at our home in Charlotte on a warm day in mid-October, and were surprised to find Anole lizards on the deck behind our house. Our first thought was that they were released pets, but no, they are natives of the Southeast. Since that first day we have observed them on nice days all year round, even during the winter months. The only time they can't be seen is during the hottest months of summer, July and August, when the temperatures average in the high 80's to low 90's.

Another common lizard we've observed in this area is the Five-Lined Skink. They are a little harder to observe because they scare easily, and they're fast runners! Usually all you can get is a quick glance before they head for cover inside a rotting log or some other shelter. You can't mistake them with their shiny skin and bright blue tails.

Frogs are the next most common herp we've observed. In January and February their mating calls ring out all day long from the forest behind our house. The first to show up in our yard, usually in April, is the Grey Treefrog. In mid-summer the Leopard frog seems to be the most common, and by late summer through October it's the Green Tree frog.

My wife and I are especially interested in turtles, but here our observations have been fleeting, and not very close up. The warm weather months do give you a chance to observe aquatic turtles sunning themselves on logs in area lakes and ponds. The most common of these turtles is the Yellowbelly Slider. Once we caught a glimpse of a Snapping Turtle, barely visible under a surface of murky water, beginning to submerge himself. Another time we saw (and filmed) a Map Turtle sitting peacefully on a log, not the least bit disturbed by our presence. This was an interesting sighting, because the Map Turtle is supposedly not found in North Carolina. A released pet, perhaps?

The only example of the Eastern Box Turtle we've seen was alongside a rural road, which a thoughtful motorist stopped to move to a safer location. This is North Carolina's official "state reptile".

Observations of snakes have been fleeting as well, due no doubt to their secretive nature. I'm sure they must be more common around here than our sightings would indicate. For the record, we've only seen three: an Eastern Garter Snake, a Worm Snake, and a (dead) brown snake.

All in all, the Carolinas are a great place to observe herps, in the wild as well as your own back yard. You can always count on seeing something, and you never know what. Still, we do miss Castlewood Canyon....