# NT herping



## reptiledude1 (Mar 2, 2010)

hi all,

whats the best months to go herping in the Northern territory as i am thinking of going next year.

cheers


----------



## ozziepythons (Mar 2, 2010)

It depends on the part of the Territory your planning on herping in. The best time of year in general is the months September to November for all parts of the Territory, as this is the breeding season for many species. The arid, southern part of the state is warming up and the tropical north is very humid during the build up to the wet, both conditions stimulating reptile activity.


----------



## reptiledude1 (Mar 2, 2010)

bump


----------



## Slats (Mar 2, 2010)

I disagree.
The most reptile movement i get here is between December and April.
As the water is around and hence the food source.

September to November is the build up. Everything is dry and too hot for our little friends.
PM me when you come up


----------



## hardcorey007 (Mar 2, 2010)

Slats said:


> I disagree.
> The most reptile movement i get here is between December and April.
> As the water is around and hence the food source.
> 
> ...


 
Agreed Slats for the Top end anyway. I don't know about the bottom end of the NT though. After all the NT's a big place.


----------



## reptiledude1 (Mar 3, 2010)

cheers slats i will pm u when i come up there


----------



## ozziepythons (Mar 3, 2010)

Slats said:


> I disagree.
> The most reptile movement i get here is between December and April.
> As the water is around and hence the food source.
> 
> ...


 
How about for pythons? I thought the best time to see them was between Dec-April too, but Waruikazi said it was the dry season that most were on the move as they are breeding then. I tended to agree with him, as I haven't seen too many active at night during the wet up around Darwin or Katherine (other than waters)...... but you live up there, so what have you observed?


----------



## Slats (Mar 4, 2010)

I live in Katherine and as I said most reptile movement between Dec - Apr. The end of dry/ buildup is just too hot.
The best Highway herp I have had was in february, ******* down rain. 12 Different species of snakes and some other herps.


----------



## waruikazi (Mar 4, 2010)

I've found a few different things work. Monsoon season (December -->February) seems to work well cause it floods all the snakes out and they move around, cold part of the dry season (June, July) works well for finding stuff on the roads Cause they are trying to warm up. End of the wet and changing into the dry (March, April, May) Is good for elapids during the day and pythons at night (haven't quite worked out why yet) but you tend to only find them in the bush and not so much on the roads.

Ozzie, they are easier to find during the dry season because they come out on to the roads to warm up not because there are more moving around.


----------



## imported_Varanus (Mar 4, 2010)

Are you guys still finding animals in numbers in the Top End, despite Cane Toads?

Southern N.T (particularly around Alice/ Mac ranges, i'd say Summer months (morning, evening and night) for pythons, elapids, geckos, skinks and throughout the day for monitors and dragons. In the cooler months, check typical over wintering sites like you would down south, but you can still find some herps on warm days (20+), like Bredli in Redgums and Gorges down dry riverbeds (even the Todd in town).

P.S: Wish I was going!


----------



## waruikazi (Mar 4, 2010)

The only reptiles that have been affected by the toads are mulgas, death adders, frillies and monitor lizards. You still see the occasional monitor and frilly running around but death adders and mulgas are very very rare now.


----------



## Elapidae1 (Mar 4, 2010)

waruikazi said:


> The only reptiles that have been affected by the toads are mulgas, death adders, frillies and monitor lizards. You still see the occasional monitor and frilly running around but death adders and mulgas are very very rare now.




Is this directly related to cane toads


----------



## waruikazi (Mar 4, 2010)

steve1 said:


> Is this directly related to cane toads



What kind of question is that? When the toads weren't here we had very steady numbers of all of those species. When the toads turned up the numbers collapsed pretty well over night. If you do a google search i'm sure you'll find a fair bit of research on it.


----------



## Aussie Python Lover (Mar 4, 2010)

You can go anytime to go herping especially in the NT, Especially out at lambells lagoon, out at noonahmah, and further out....But where ever there is bush there are all sorts of animals....

Areas around the RAAF base get pythons all the time as I used to live there and there were forever heaps of childrens and GTS a few darwin carpets you just gotta know where to look.... 

Katherine is another place to go herping we spent easter down there and we saw heaps of ta ta's as we call them up there, heaps of blue tongues and frill necks...

if ya never never ask you will never ever know LOL


----------

