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3 individuals barrel feeding. These are the farthest northern iNat record at the time. Cindy Hamilton sent me some photos to add to the observation, as my camera was dead and I had to use my phone. Her photos are the last three.

Found under a log in an upland area about 300 meters from the nearest pond/vernal pool. There is also a very polluted, fairly fast-flowing creek that is about 1.5 meters wide at its narrowest point between this location and any breeding ponds. There is a paved bridge across the creek, however.

My first one that I have seen, but I heard one calling from a Home Depot many years ago. I didn’t realize that were this big!

I typically stop at garden centers at night to listen for hitchhikers, as I was hoping to get a Green Treefrog in Prince Edward Co. Over near the rows of mulch in the parking lot, this large frog hopped out, that I assumed was a Bullfrog. After some deliberation, I decided to photograph it, and boy am I glad I did. In the poor lighting, I could tell it was not a Bull and was in a hurry to get away. So, I grabbed it, and when I did it tried to jump, and I made a bad grab, catching the frog between my pinky and ring fingers. I struggled with the animal, as it was able to pull free by grabbing my arm and muscling its way out. Then, when I grabbed it, it stuck down to the asphalt, and I could not pull the front feet up without hurting the frog. After a minute of struggling, I slid my finger under its feet and it latched on and calmed down. I had a pretty good idea what it was by this point, and when I got to the light of my truck, I realized that it was indeed a giant Cuban Treefrog. I believe the nose rub came from our struggle, but it is minor and will heal. After a brief photo shoot, I poured some water in a CritterKeeper that I keep handy for such emergencies, and placed the frog in there. I decided to keep the frog, and I will use it as an education animal. I named it Fidel. It’s not uncommon for this species to hitchhike on garden supplies, and end up way northeast of their invasive range in Florida. I wouldn’t think these would ever establish, but imagine what this beast could eat over the course of a whole summer... I have seen pictures of these eating Squirrel Treefrogs, but those must have been small Cubans, because this one could probably swallow a Squirrel Treefrog quickly and easily with no problem. This could swallow an adult male Gray Treefrog easily.

Then, the frog struck back. I had a gnat fly up my nose, and I nonchalantly wiped my nose with the hand I handled the frog. Big mistake. My nose started burning, and running nonstop. After an hour, it stopped burning, but my nose and upper lip went completely numb. I am just glad I didn’t get the toxins in my eyes, but I want everyone to know, these things are toxic, not life threatening, but no joke. At least at home I keep latex gloves for such species, and these ought to solve my problems for any future interactions.

Left Turtle. Eastern Painted Turtle x Common Slider. Probably a Red-eared based on the facial pattern, but maybe Yellow-bellied ssp. for the Slider half. Clear pyramiding on the shell, clear facial fork, and an ear stripe. Clear Eastern Painted head shape, shell shape, and size. The tan stripes on the Painted shell were red on this individual as well.

Turtle on the right: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/46892842

I received a phone call from a friend in Austin this afternoon who told me he had caught a Copperhead in his suburban backyard today and wanted to know what to do with it. He had the snake in a trash bin. Thinking the snake would not fare well if I did nothing, I made the 25 mile drive into Austin to rescue the snake. As soon as I saw the small snake I realized it was a juvenile rat snake (Great Plains or Western?). Anyway, I took the snake back 25 miles out of town to a friend’s 400 acre property and released the snake along a small creek thinking at least the snake had a better chance there than a suburban Austin yard surrounded by streets and traffic and dogs and people with hoes. My wife, Cheryl, was kind enough to hold the critter while I took some shots before we released it. I’m sure some of you herp folks can ID it. Thanks!

Unexpected. Seen crossing the road from a creek to a possible vernal pool. Took a photo with my camera from the car window and then saw a dog messing with the turtle, preventing it from crossing the busy road. I honked at the dog, parked, picked up the turtle, and moved it next to the pool. Only one yellow/orange spot on the clean carapace (accidentally deleted the top-down shell photo). Third county record, but only the second individual. Found about three miles away from the location of the first county record: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9945249.

Photo by Evan Spears (@easpears). This was the first county record. Same turtle seen again nearly 2 years later.

Evan’s Observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9945249

The refind: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38548072