holdenbeherpin's Favorites

This is the most colorful Western Fence Lizard I have ever seen. Scrolling through online photos on Californiaherps.com and other sites I see there are examples of this coloration out there, but they’re few and far between.

This leucistic individual is Salamander C. This one has been photographed and observed since 2010 many times by Don Scallen and it had at least been alive two years before that, making it thirteen years old- two years older then me!

Spotted on bank of cattle pond and then scurried into the water. No fencing or containment.

Note: To clarify, all signs indicate this is either a

1. Uncontained pet on private property
2. Deliberately abandoned pet
3. Escaped pet that has managed to travel to this location (if this option, not likely to have travelled far due to rural setting with few homes spaced 1/4mile to 1 mile+ apart and scarce water sources)

This pair of now extinct Golden Toads was photographed at the entrance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve where they were kept for visitors to the park to see since their observance in the wild was limited to only a few days a year during the onset of their breeding season (late May & early June). This species is sexually dimorphic, the males are bright orange or yellow and females are dark brown with red spots.

Date is approximate. 3 individuals (2 males & 1 female) seen sometime in April, 1987. My mother and father (@dmpeterson ) were living in Monteverde in the spring of 1987, staying with the Gavin family. I have been digitizing their old slides, and thought these ones were significant, so I uploaded them. The date and location are approximate, based on their best recollection.

Found this lil one which I have never seen a color morph like this for a Mud snake. I determined it to be one based off the visual/physical features such as the “tail spine”, pattern, head/eye shape, as well as a divided anal plate.

I saw this pretty garter snake near Alamere Falls in the Point Reyes National Seashore along the Coast trail about 1/4 mile southeast of Bass Lake. Luckily I had my phone in hand and in photo mode as it instantly took off as I approached it. The white balance on this shot was way off and I edited as close as I could to my memory right after taking the shot. iPhone 7+

From my notes: "about 1.5 miles off Bodega Head on way back, approximately 5-6 feet long, ridges on tan-colored back, large head, odd-looking eyes, seen right next to boat, would float at surface with head underwater and then raise head to breath, swam under boat".