And if you really need vials I just received a bag-full courtesy of a friend, so , just stop for them if you really think you'll need them _________________ God does not play at dice AE
You'll probably run into quite a few cotton mouths, and quite a few more eastern diamond backs. I heard they are a well populated species.
Watch out for them gators =D
If you are around Apalachicola forest try find a apalachicola king for some photographs, they are my favorite king species next to brooksi, also try to find some of those for pictures as well haha
EDIT: If you are really lucky you'll run into a indigo, take some photos if you do. Really a one of a kind snake.
Posting from the Okeechobee public library. Only place in town that has web access PLUS a puter.
Walked through tons of PRIMO scrub(and confirmed bishopi turf) land last night until 3am or so...NOT a single web. ...then drove over to Okeechobee and slept in a parking lot for a few. Compact car ...stiff/sore as hell now.. The scrub was amazing ...SO different than any other environment ive explored ...a humid desert may sorta describe it. Im going back to a state park that I KNOW has reds ...and I think i know exactly where they are ...But... I know I was in a spot where they ARE last night and didnt find squat. Sometimes this stuff ...well..ya want to be easy but most of the time it aint.
Now... its ALL about bishopi I HAVE to see them in the wild. When i get up north into the pan-handle, im sure my gestalt thoughts will waiver and Ill get back to lookin' for other stuff.
Gotta get going...hate backtracking, but back I go. _________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
keep us updated and dont forget the pics..
Have fun _________________ “Look down at me and you see a fool;
look up at me and you see a god;
look straight at me and you see yourself.”
Good luck out there with the reds Steven , like Warren mentioned, I'd love to see pics of them in their habitat, plus some specimens would be very nice _________________ God does not play at dice AE
If you're a fan of bromeliads you might see a wide variety of them free for the taking. (I think) Getting them back to CA, that's another issue. _________________ "I hold your opinion above all others, tribe elder." - Neshan W. Sarkisian
I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order, like they should be.
If you're a fan of bromeliads you might see a wide variety of them free for the taking. (I think) Getting them back to CA, that's another issue.
Yes.. lots n lots. I should grab some spanish moss and a few other things from the bayou.
Pics ...wanted to work on that a bit last night...but not only was i beynd burnt out, i realized i didnt bring a flash card reader. Thought Sarena had one, but she didnt bring her SLR...so she didnt need it ...bummer. Walked 'round the french quarter looking for a USB cable or cheapo reader last night, but nil... so im about to go out and look for one now. I need to transfer a few gigs of images over to a portable to free up the cards again for Monday... figure I'd do one more serious bug-hunt ..no matter where I end up on Monday.
Caught my largest true spidie ever yesterday ...a wolf the size of a puppy.
Other cool stuff ...some of it may be really cool to a few of you true spidie freaks.
I DID get bishopi ...I worked hard to find them ..also had some GREAT help ...it took both factors. There was no or very little luck involved. They only live one way..in one plant in one state and in one specific type of environment.
I lost count after 15-20 or so webs ...I will guess I spotted around 25-30 webs, 3/4 I was able to confirm an adult or sub-adult. I spotted 0 sacs, 0 slings/juvs and 4 males. I looked in one region of FL...consisting of 2 or three counties w/many perfect areas. Three of these areas had the spider (that i could confirm)... one was "heavily" populated, but only in an area of maybe the size of a football field. I collected 1 in a no collection area and 2 in a OK collection area (though still iffy on the later). Thats it..I stopped collecting after 3 and really decided to stop looking after that day. Call me stupid or noble...i dont care. Looking at the actual spider, how it lives and all other observable factors and came to the conclusion that the more dire/alarmist stuff regarding this specie that Ive read a few years back ..dead on.
Ok.. so Ill try and get some pics up asaic...but it may need to wait til i get home.
1st Annual SCABIES X-Country Invert Huntdown. Secret planning has been started ...the primordial goo of the idea has been electrified and churned. _________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
Awesome observations Steven. Really interesting that you mention there was no confirmed observation of slings or sacs. Do any determinant factors come to mind? i.e. rainy season, fires or others... I think I read some of Kaston's work where he mentioned periodical fires where key on restoring - or was it increasing? - populations over periods of time (redundant ).
It also makes me think once again about purchasing WC specimens online. I hate it 'cause I'd love to get out there and see and collect, at the same time the accessibility online is pretty good, but for how long?
Also, did you happen to see any Argyrodes on the webs? (just in case)
Can't wait for those pics, let's get together when you get back, it'll be the welcome-back-Steven-I-want-to-see-pictures-and-specimens party _________________ God does not play at dice AE
Want to talk about what I think Ive learned and whatnot ...soon I hope...but for now here is some pics of the prettier scrub I documented and some of the bishopi I came across.
Wearing long pants sucked...hot and got caught on stuff constantly..though the payoff for not wearing pants was questionable.
Some essential supplies (though missing here is the collection containers n'cups which took me several stops at various shops to find)
Coconut soda was really good with ice. The Kia was actually quite fast and proved reliable even during the most abusive and truly questionable routes I took her down.
_________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
Very cool! Did you find any C. adamanteus while you were down there?
Dont think I spotted any...though I did run into plenty of snakes... it was warm and they were all spotted movin' thru the brush. I did take some pics of a water snake ...black harmless maybe, but wide head really screams viper. Ill try and post that soon. _________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
hey, you found some bishopi! right on, man _________________
Quote:
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
The L. bishopi had an amazing sheen on them under the sun , almost like they poured lacquer.
Would love to see her.
The male looks in good shape as well.
Looked like tough terrain when I first saw the pics, but your legs confirmed it.
Approx temp?
What time of day?
Thanks for sharing
First of all.. should have explained with the pics...the bishopi shown outside in the web during daylight were manipulated to get them to "perform". ..nothing traumatic ..a wittle push, a wittle shove. Most pics I took of the bishopi within their "funnel" dens were taken while the other hand exposed them. ie..prying apart the palmetto leaves. In otherwords, in the daylight, the only way you will/may see a bishopi is by looking straight down the middle of the palmetto shoot that the spider is in.
Temps during the day were comfy... maybe hot one day ...honestly didnt keep track, nor did i think about it much. Probably 80s/90s hottest. Couple nights got light jacket chilly.
Terrain itself is about as rough as a beach... but most of the plants/bushes are pokers, rippers and latch on slice n'trippers.
Reason for not running into slings/sacs and juvs? ...probably was looking at batches of the same generation ..sub-adults and adults. If i would have looked harder ..in more areas, Im sure (and hope) I'd have found more generational diversity. _________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
Water snake that I was able to spend some time with. ..markings look more like Nerodia fasciata pictiventris but the head is so much wider than it ought to be and it seems to be missing the light marking leading back from the eye ...so Im gonna leave it to you snake lovers to ID.
Big turtles... impossible to get close to... they would be stacked high up into these semi-horizontal trees ...groups of 5 or more of em...and they could see/hear me coming a mile away, even when I was attempting to ninja my way closer. As soon as one would look around and start moving, I would then hear the splashes and see the gators I didnt notice escaping into the water. ...then the turtles would all slide and bump each other into the water. If I could re-walk that route...I'd get some great gator pics...now that I know where they are basking and what little it takes to startle them into the drink. TONS of gators out there... spotted many big wakes in the water leaving boat like trails thru the water plants/slime.
...more of the Ochlocknee river area I took a peek at...
Think I collected a neat lookin fisher spider ...got it here, but havnt photographed it yet.
Cool wolfie or grassy? Shouldhave collected a few of these cause though they were small..they were very cool lookin'.
_________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
Spent a couple hrs crashing at a wayside rest above the Apalachicola National park area... morning walk n'stretch led me to a few cools trues...
Only guessing...but, maybe.. Tidarren sisyphoides. Collected a handfull along with exploding sacs. These were high n'dry up n'under roof structures built above picnic tables. They build half-hazard tents with leaf/needle/debris and carcasses. Every tent had at least 1 Pholcid kill amoungst other spiders and Opiliones. ...Tons of a neat lookin Opilione specie out there.
This one had a friend hanging out with her...
Argyrodes? Big compared to what we find in SoCal.
Lost most of the adults ...abdomens are sooo fragile ...I bit too much moisture in the collection cup and I think they get stuck to stuff or waterlogged. ...this plus the facts of transport bumps and grinds. Tons of tiny slings I do have... gonna try and raise some. ...maybe someone will want some..to amp up the success rate. ? _________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
Some more pics taken while visiting the Apalachicola forest area...
Little creek.. blood red, like there was a body upstream. Reading that some of the black and red streams around those parts are colored as such due to thick leaf matter upstream. I would have loved to follow the stream up to its source ...if I only had the time!
_________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
IMHO, if ya molest a gator, the fine should be much higher.
These crabs were everywhere... high in the trees even. Couldnt catch a big one...speed demons and I didnt have the willpower.
_________________
jet trail in the sunset
a long way away
cutting 'cross the horizon
at the edge of the day
and it calls Jimmy
come fly away
but I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
yeah, I've been
too long in the wasteland
too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay
--James McMurtry
Water snake that I was able to spend some time with. ..markings look more like Nerodia fasciata pictiventris but the head is so much wider than it ought to be and it seems to be missing the light marking leading back from the eye ...so Im gonna leave it to you snake lovers to ID.
I think it is a Banded Water Snake
Nerodia fasciata pictiventris.
Check this link. It mentions they can flatten the head, making it look triangular.
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, just stop for them if you really think you'll need them 
