# night time herping tips



## reptilerob (Dec 29, 2009)

Does anybody have any night time herping tips they would like to share??
I went out this evening for a ferw hours and didnt see a single bloody thing!! I dont think we have to many nocturnal herps around here, but i know there are a few blind snakes, geckos and MD carpet pythons, but im stuffed if i can ever find them. I found one blind snake once on the road about a month ago and thats it.lol
Tonight it was 25 degrees at 10.30pm while i was out there. Is that warm enough?? It was a dry 25degrees, not much humidity, is that a good thing?
I was using a hand held spotlight and carrying a battery pack, so i had stacks of light.
Does anybody have any tips they would like to share?? temp? time of night? etc...etc...

Also, having done a power of spotlighting over the years, i know that most animals have eyes that reflect in the spotlight. Fox's are green, possums red etc...etc... Even spiders have eyes that reflect light. 
Do reptiles eyes reflect the spotlight??
Strangely, kangaroos have very little eye reflection!!!


----------



## moloch05 (Jan 1, 2010)

Hello Bob,

I usually find nights with little or no moon to be better than those with a bright moon but that is just a trend. I have seen animals on nights with a moon as well. If possible, try heading out after a warm summer shower. That seems to stimulate reptile activity. I think that perserverance is the key. Some nights that seem to be ideal just do not produce. Two nights in a row will often vary greatly even though environmental conditions don't seem to have changed at all. You just have to keep searching.

Good luck and post photos of what you see.
David


----------



## Serpentes (Jan 1, 2010)

Perhaps you need to go further afield? Sometimes there are "dead spots" as much as there are "hot spots" for reptiles. Get out into some undisturbed bushland and hope for the best. I have put hundreds of hours into searching pristine habitats at night for reptiles, mostly finding none, sometimes finding many! Really, it all comes down to habitats, and chaos.


----------



## JasonL (Jan 1, 2010)

Find spots that are good during the day, then try them at night... Look for areas that cop full sun till dusk, thus the nocturnal reptiles are usually hiding in these areas being heated well untill it is dark (though there are exceptions as some species don't need much heating).
Get good lighting, at what ever cost..
Use your ears whilst you walk, a good percentage of my finds are heard before they are seen, esp geckos..


----------



## reptilerob (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks for the tips everyone, very much appreciated.
I had already cottoned onto searching the rocky areas that are the last to see the sun in the hope that they may be warmer, but the rest of the tips are all new, so i thank you all for that.
Jason, with regards to lighting, when i went out last week i was carrying my portable spotlight. I have a scope mounted spotlight that sits on the scope of my fox rifle. The spotlight just clips on and off, so i took it off. Here it is here,




and before anybody gets upset, remember, fox's are one of the carpet pythons biggest predators, and while herping, i unclip the light and leave the gun at home!!!

My wife and i have found quite a lot of reptiles to photograph recently, the only one after dark one being a blind snake, so by heading out with the spotlight, we are hoping to stumble across a gecko or two, or even a MD carpet python.
Thanks again for all your help.


----------

