# Croatia Herping



## NickGeee (Oct 4, 2016)

Spent the last few weeks in Eastern Europe with my family.
Although I did not have much time or chances to go Herping, I managed to find a couple of cool animals.
Being in Serbia for afew days I saw plenty of these guys, Wall Lizards.
They are much like our garden skinks but much larger and 10000% cooler!!!



European Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
I did not see much untill we were in the Dalmatia region in Croatia.
Here is a ruin lizard sitting on an old wall that was once part of an old church in Biograd.



Italian Ruin Lizard (Podarcis sicula) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Unfortunately I was unable to go for a proper herp around Biograd, as the habitat looked perf for Horned nose vipers!
The rest of the herps were found withing 5 hours of each other in Eastern Croatia.
I stayed with some relatives in a town called Daruvar, and they were keen to show me a place called Jankovac. Jankovac was absolutely stunning, with amazing waterfalls and dense woods. This was the second last full day I had in the trip, and i was MEGA keen to see some snakes.
First herp i found was this baby newt, I have no idea what species it is though!



Newt - ??? by Nick Gale, on Flickr
I almost stepped on this frog whilst walking down a path but managed to spot it before doing so. It was gigantic!



Agile frog (Rana dalmatia) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
I only saw more Wall Skinks whilst looking around the waters edge for Dice Snakes, however on the way back i saw a small head peeking out of a piece of black plastic that was attached to the side of a bridge. I soon had a good look and realized it was a snake! It dived into the water but I managed to nab it in the nick of time!
A gorgeous juvenile Grass snake! It sprayed a garlic smelling substance on my hand out of its cloaca, beauty .



Grass snake (Natrix natrix) by Nick Gale, on Flickr



Grass snake (Natrix natrix) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Back in Daruvar, I explored a local park to look for some frogs, and maybe something a tad cooler...
Pool frogs are extremely common but pretty awesome, they remind me of Growling grass frogs due to their diurnal nature!



Pool Frog (Pelophylax lessonae) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
I walked down a canal in the hopes of finding a Dice snake, and was literally just at the end when I saw this metre long specimen basking not even 3 metres from a footpath near a bridge going over the canal!!



Dice water snake (Natrix tessellata tessellata) by Nick Gale, on Flickr
Whilst I was photographing it a local mob gathered to see what the hell I was going with it, and began to ask me many questions in Croatian/Polish. As my vocabulary is two words consisting of Vhala (Thank you) and palacinka (Pancake), it was incredibly awkward as I couldn't explain myself.


Dice water snake (Natrix tessellata tessellata) feining death by Nick Gale, on Flickr
It then started playing dead, absolute pain!
Thats it, hope you enjoyed!


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## ronhalling (Oct 4, 2016)

[MENTION=36635]NickGeee[/MENTION], WTG buddy, not that I find our Aussie Reps boring or anything like that but it is like a breath of fresh air to find a post in the field herping section that is not at all Aussie. You have shown us some very nice specimens Nick, well done in finding what you did in such a short time, I especially like the pic of the "Dice Water Snake" the expression on it's face is 1 of total surprise that emanates from it even when playing dead. Thanks for the little tour mate. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling


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## Josch (Oct 5, 2016)

Very beautiful pictures NickGeee!
You have not caught the best time for herping in europe and I think you'd be much more successful in spring. 
So your sightings have a high value. I will not act arrogantly, but if you want to determine the species with subspecies,
here are some informations. The Wall Lizard is _Podarcis murali muralis_, Ruin Lizard ist Podarcis siculus campestris and the newt ist _Ichthyosaura alpestris carpathica_.
I love the Balkan and visited the region many times before I found a great Horned nose viper:



but my all time favorite


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## pinefamily (Oct 5, 2016)

As always, fantastic photos Nick. It's amazing to see the similarity with our skinks. [MENTION=41832]Josch[/MENTION], what is that lizard? It is awesome.


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## NickGeee (Oct 5, 2016)

Josch said:


> Very beautiful pictures NickGeee!
> You have not caught the best time for herping in europe and I think you'd be much more successful in spring.
> So your sightings have a high value. I will not act arrogantly, but if you want to determine the species with subspecies,
> here are some informations. The Wall Lizard is _Podarcis murali muralis_, Ruin Lizard ist Podarcis siculus campestris and the newt ist _Ichthyosaura alpestris carpathica_.
> ...


That's hectic as, cheers man for the IDs too! No arrogance I appreciate it hahahaha


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## Josch (Oct 6, 2016)

[MENTION=38465]pinefamily[/MENTION], it´s_ Lacerta trilineata major_. The largest lizard-predator in the Balkan region.


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