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.

Project I have under taken. Potential new species based on my findings, and these are a few of the individuals. Physical features seem to rule out all known VA species, and the next step is to work with Dr. Sadler on DNA analysis.

This is so weird... The first Warmouth observed in CT (confirmed by CT DEEP Fisheries) was in Jan 2016 from a small private pond in Beacon Falls, CT. A population was then confirmed via electrofishing in May 2017 in a public lake (Toby's Pond), also in the town of Beacon Falls. I was just dipnetting for aquarium fish and on the first drag came up with this guy on the opposite side of the state.

A yellowish fish with shiny blue markings on its face and a black dot behind its head. Its dorsal and anal fins have black dots at the bases and whitish edges that are more prevalent on the anal fin. This white edge is also present in the tail fin. A bold fish that approached me as I floated still in the water. Swam with me for a while and attempted to eat my hair.

County record! Vicinity of Manchester Township, NJ. "Black" Rat Snakes ("Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta") are virtually unknown from the Pine Barrens proper, known only from the fringes of the region and the Inner Coastal Plain in South Jersey. I've sought (and found, haha!) the herpetofauna of the Barrens for more than 45 years, and this 53" gravid female "Black" Rat was the LAST species I thought I'd run into on my first adventure there of the season! A truly awesome day in the field with fellow Herpetologists Pete Danch (@jdanch) and Tianqi Huang.