So Much Pingle: Recent Episodes
Mike Pingleton
Herpetology podcast – interviews and discussions about amphibians and reptiles with experts in the field.
I’m so happy to produce another Herp Science Sunday segment with Dr. Alex Krohn! In this episode we talk with Dr. Alexandra Martin, one of the co-authors of a brand new paper, which lays out some astounding data that supports the idea that some anole species are able to breathe underwater, in a novel way. The name of the paper is “High dissolved oxygen extends dive duration and suggests physical gill use in a vertebrate” and was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology in July of 2025. The authors are Alexandra M. Martin, Diane Cordero-De La Cruz, and Lindsey Swierk. Congratulations to all of the co-authors! Feel free to email me if you would like a PDF of the paper (somuchpingle “at” gmail dot com).
Here is the link to the Anole Bubble Movie, useful to watch prior to hearing our discussion.
Here is a link to a related article in the Anole Annals blog, authored by Dr. Lindsey Swierk.
On BlueSky, you can follow Allie Martin PhD (@alliemartin.bsky.social) and Lindsey Swierk (@lindseyswierk.bsky.social).
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee.
MERCH!!! T-shirts and other swag are available now at the SoMuchPingle Threadless Store. More designs are in the pipeline. Thank you in advance!
POD BLOG! You can find the first of my supplemental blog posts that support podcast episodes at Notes From The Field. Let me know your thoughts!
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
I met Zeev Ginsburg at Snake Road in southern Illinois a few years ago, and it’s been a pleasure getting to know him and spending some time herping together. We’ve had some interesting conversations, and I’ve been wanting to get him on the show for some time, but we put it off for a bit until he was ready to restart his excellent podcast, Wood Fired Herping. Zeev has released his first post-hiatus show and so the time was right to have a chat about his podcast, about herping, and much, much more as the cliché goes.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee.
I want to give a shout-out to all the folks I saw down at Snake Road last weekend. Way too many to name everyone, but it was nice to see old friends and new friends down there, some coming great distances, and these days that is the primary reason I keep going down to the Shawnee National Forest every October somewhere around my birthday. I haven’t missed a year since 1994 and I think I want to keep that streak going. Two special shout-outs, one to Jake Scott, for his birthday poem, brilliant stuff, Jake, thank you my friend. I also want to thank Scott Albert, old school herper and the owner and winegrower of the Holotype Wine Company down in the Shawnee hills. Scott gifted me with several bottles of his fine product, which incorporate herps in the names and labels. and I’ve been enjoying them this week.
POD BLOG! You can find the first of my supplemental blog posts that support podcast episodes at Notes From The Field. Let me know your thoughts!
MERCH!!! T-shirts and other swag are available now at the SoMuchPingle Threadless Store. More designs are in the pipeline. Thank you in advance!
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hi folks! This episode was recorded in the mountains of North Carolina over the Labor Day weekend. I made a long day’s drive over to Josh’s place east of Asheville, ostensibly to look for mole kingsnakes and salamanders, but also just to hang out with Josh Holbrook and Alex Krohn and Jake and Lindsey Scott while doing so. Josh and Jake are having interesting field herping years, and of course a campfire is the perfect venue to find out more about it.
POD BLOG! You can find the first of my supplemental blog posts that support podcast episodes at Notes From The Field. Let me know your thoughts!
MERCH!!! T-shirts and other swag are available now at the SoMuchPingle Threadless Store. More designs are in the pipeline. Thank you in advance!
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hi folks! This past June I drove out to Pemberton, New Jersey to talk with Robert Zappalorti. Bob is the founder and executive director of Herpetological Associates Inc. Now these days there are a lot of people working in what I call contract biology, but Bob Zappalorti was the first environmental consultants working on behalf of herps and other creatures. He founded Herpetological Associates back in 1977 and since then, his company has done a great deal of work in not just conserving herps, but also increasing our understanding of their natural histories, population dynamics, and ecological needs. It was truly an honor and privilege to sit down with Bob and talk about all of this.
There were delays getting this episode out, always a bummer, but it does help to sync up a bit with a new book coming out – The Natural History of the Northern Pinesnake, by Joanna Burger, Robert T. Zappalorti, and Michael Gochfield. Now available from Eco Universe Books. I’m looking forward to getting a copy!
Thanks again Bob! Great to talk with you and I hope our paths cross again soon.
POD BLOG! You can find the first of my supplemental blog posts that support podcast episodes at Notes From The Field. Let me know your thoughts!
MERCH!!! T-shirts and other swag are available now at the SoMuchPingle Threadless Store. More designs are in the pipeline. Thank you in advance!
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hi folks! Thanks for your patience, I’ve been called away so much this spring and summer. I first talked with Jeroen Speybroeck in Episode 27, way back in Season One. Jeroen is all the things, he’s a conservation biologist, author, field herper and life lister, and for that first conversation we talked about his fire salamander research, conservation efforts with Spadefoot Toads, herping in various places around the globe, and we also talked about the very good field guide to the herps of Britain and Europe of which he is a co-author. If you haven’t heard that episode you might want to listen to it first. This show was recorded outside at a lovely abbey near Brussels, where Matt Cage and I had lunch with Jeroen, and a few absolutely killer local brews before heading to the airport.
MERCH!!! T-shirts and other swag are available now at the SoMuchPingle Threadless Store. More designs are in the pipeline. Thank you in advance!
I want to give a shout-out to someone who wishes to remain anonymous, who recently made a one-time donation to support the podcast. Thank you so much, anonymous person, I appreciate ya! As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee!
Thank you again, Jeroen and Matt!
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, best beers for podcasting (Belgian ales, duh), tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Another special episode, in support of Snake Week, July 13th thru the 19th . This episode features a panel discussion with Bryan Hughes of Rattlesnake Solutions, Cale Morris from the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary, and Rachel Pikstein from Pikstein Lab and one of the coordinators of Snake Week. The four of us have an interesting panel discussion about human and snake interactions. You can’t have a discussion of this sort without dipping into education and outreach efforts, so those threads are woven into the mix as well.
A couple of earlier episodes related to our discussion come to mind – I talked with Bryan way back in Episode 4, about his company Rattlesnake Solutions and the rattlesnake relocation work they do, and the human interactions that come with that effort. And that show led to an interview with Dr. Heather Bateman, an Associate Professor at Arizona State University, about her research on human and snake interactions as part of a collaboration with Bryan and others. That’s Episode 44 in season two. And THAT is an interesting show, and you should check it out if you haven’t already. I am sorry I did not bring it up during our discussion, but you know, my brain.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out the many events associated with Snake Week at snakeweek.org, the list is quite impressive and folks, not everything is a remote lecture, there are some participatory activities as well. I’m proud to be a small part of this awesome project, and I look forward to checking out some of the events myself.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! IMPORTANT NOTE: up to now, Apple WAS slapping a ridiculous 30% fee on all Patreon transactions using an iPhone or iPad to access the Patreon app. Apple lost a recent court ruling on this so the 30% fee should NOT show up at checkout. As far as I can tell this is for users based in the United States, I am not sure if others are still seeing this fee, so please look carefully as you check out. In spite of this reversal I am still actively working on better ways to support the show, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
This is a special episode, in support of Snake Week, which is next week, July 13th thru the 19th . It’s also special because it’s the return of Rachel Pikstein! Remember the tegu episode? Rachel and I go over the basics for Snake Week, which is shaping up to be a terrific event, and we also talk about some of the projects she’s working on. If you listened to Episode 88, you know that Rachel is a high energy ball of fire, so get something to drink, and fasten your seatbelts!
I want to give a shout-out to the show’s newest patron, Kathy Woody from out California way! Thank you so much for supporting the show via Patreon, Kathy! Much appreciated.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! IMPORTANT NOTE: up to now, Apple WAS slapping a ridiculous 30% fee on all Patreon transactions using an iPhone or iPad to access the Patreon app. Apple lost a recent court ruling on this so the 30% fee should NOT show up at checkout. As far as I can tell this is for users based in the United States, I am not sure if others are still seeing this fee, so please look carefully as you check out. In spite of this reversal I am still actively working on better ways to support the show, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
This episode was recorded back in April, at a campground somewhere in Louisiana, on the tail-end of a week-long herping trip with a bunch of friends. Various automotive mishaps while herping had come up several times during the trip, and I thought that might be a good just-for-fun topic to pursue before we all went our separate ways. Many thanks to my friends with their goofy fake names for providing a nice cross-section of things that can happen behind the wheel, or to the wheels….
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! IMPORTANT NOTE: up to now, Apple WAS slapping a ridiculous 30% fee on all Patreon transactions using an iPhone or iPad to access the Patreon app. Apple lost a recent court ruling on this so the 30% fee should NOT show up at checkout. As far as I can tell this is for users based in the United States, I am not sure if others are still seeing this fee, so please look carefully as you check out. In spite of this reversal I am still actively working on better ways to support the show, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
I don’t get to talk with everyone that comes on our Peru expeditions, but in February I did spend an hour talking with three of Chicago Land’s finest herpers – Matt and Alan Ignoffo, and Joe Cavataio. We talk about their experiences during their first Peruvian adventure of course, and we cover more interesting adventures and interests of these three naturalists (including Tully Monsters!). As per usual, this was recorded on the back deck of my tambo in the Peruvian rainforest near Iquitos.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! IMPORTANT NOTE: up to now, Apple WAS slapping a ridiculous 30% fee on all Patreon transactions using an iPhone or iPad to access the Patreon app. Apple lost a recent court ruling on this so the 30% fee should NOT show up at checkout. As far as I can tell this is for users based in the United States, I am not sure if others are still seeing this fee, so please look carefully as you check out. In spite of this reversal I am still actively working on better ways to support the show, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hi everyone! Episode 112 (and the last episode of Season Five) returns us to the back deck of my tambo in the Peruvian rainforest, where I had a nice chat with Sylvere Corre, wildlife guide extraordinaire. Sylvere travels the world all year, leading people to discover all kinds of animals, including herps and birds and mammals, and some really spectacular critters. Sylvere clearly has a passion for what he does and I really enjoyed getting to know him during our time in Peru.
Sylvere guides for Yuhina, “created for naturalists by naturalists”. Be sure to check them out! They have more than a few expeditions that caught my interest. You can also follow Sylvere on social media.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank Derek Gillespie and Phil Ngo for supporting the show via Patreon! And I want to thank Tom and Keemie Wille for their one-time donation! I appreciate everyone’s support, and your comments as well!
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! IMPORTANT NOTE: Apple is slapping a ridiculous 30% fee on all Patreon transactions using an iPhone or iPad to access the Patreon app. The workaround is to access Patreon dot com directly, or to use an Android device. So avoid using the app if you’re an Apple person. I wanna say that I am actively working on better ways to support the show, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime!
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone! Episode 111 is all about the Indigos, and a few other adjacent critters. Back in 2024 I met up in southern Georgia with Ben Stegenga of the Orianne Society, where we spent two days in the field doing surveys for Eastern Indigo snakes. Ben was assisted by three field techs, Tyler, Keira, and Jesus, and my buddies Matt, Pat, and John put their field experience to work. This show is much like the Massasauga episode I did last year, where I’m recording the ongoing survey and an interview at the same time, which is much more challenging than a studio interview as you might expect.
As always I want to give a big shout-out to the Orianne Society, doing great conservation work with a host of species and landscapes. Check out what’s up with Orianne and support their work if you can.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank Trent Kreitler and TJ Belford for supporting the show via Patreon! Thank you so much, Trent and TJ! And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, there are several ways to do so – you can make a one-time contribution via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). You can also provide support the show using Patreon, via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! IMPORTANT NOTE: Apple is slapping a ridiculous 30% fee on all Patreon transactions using an iPhone or iPad to access the Patreon app. The workaround is to access Patreon dot com directly, or to use an Android device. So avoid using the app if you’re an Apple person. I wanna say that I am actively working on better ways to support the show, and I appreciate your patience in the meantime!
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone! Episode 110 features another edition of Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn. Alex and I had a crazy cool conversation with Dr. Evan Grant, of the Northeastern Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative at the USGS Eastern Ecological Research Center, Dr. Grant is a co-author on a paper regarding range-wide salamander densities, focusing on the Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), and he guides us through some mind-blowing discoveries about these mostly invisible creatures of the woodland realm.
The paper we discussed in the episode is titled “Range-wide salamander densities reveal a key component of terrestrial vertebrate biomass in eastern North American forests”, and was published in 2024 in the Biology Letters of the Royal Society Publishing, Vol 20 (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0033). If you would like a PDF copy of the paper, email me at somuchpingle@gmail.com and I will send it to you!
Here is the link for the Salamander Population & Adaptation Research Collaboration Network (SPARCNet).
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone! Episode 109 is a wide-ranging two-hour conversation with PhD student Tasman Ezra. We cover fossil turtles, anole radiation, his band Half Inch Hero, Taz's Honduras herp conservation project, and much, much more. I met Taz in southeast Missouri last October, and within minutes I knew I wanted to get him in front of a microphone to talk about what's he is up to, which as it turns out, is a LOT. I have some related links below for you all to check out:First up is HonduHerp - The Guardians of Honduran Herpetofauna. Taz and his associates are working hard to establish preserves and corridors to help protect Honduran Herpetofauna and other wildlife. Please consider helping out - even a small donation with go a long way to help this project. Right now there an anonymous donor is doing a dollar-for-dollar match, so it's a good time to double your impact! (I myself made a small donation).Check out Taz' band Half Inch Hero on YouTube - My favorite is "Martyr". They already have some herper fans, including friend of the show Bob Ferguson! Check it out and see what you think!Finally, here are a couple books by Dr. Jonathan Losos for you to check out:Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of AnolesImprobable Destinies: How Predictable is Evolution?Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone! Episode 108 comes from South Africa, recorded in two parts, starting on New Year's Eve.. The episode starts over in the western edge of South Africa’s Free State, in what’s called the Great Karoo. It was incredibly hot and dry; one day we had a noon temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. We worked the area pretty hard and did better than I expected, before moving about six hours east to the other side of the Free State where it was much cooler, wetter, and higher. And we recorded a follow-up segment there to recap our experience as whole.SMP Patrons! I want to thank Gerry Salmon, and Ben Zino over at The Wild Report for their contributions to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Thank you so much, Gerry and Ben! And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).It’s been a while since I’ve done a field herping show and I hope you enjoy our conversations about herping in South Africa. I want to say thanks to the Koch family, Willem, Willem junior, Henk, their friend Peter, and last but not least AnnaMarie, for their hospitality and wonderful assistance. I also want to thank Daren Riedle for setting things up and just being a super cool dude, and thanks as well to my other companions - TJ Belford, Hunter Bohn, Lawrence Erickson, Jarret Hachel, Glenn Manning, and Phil and Archie Rickoci. It was great to be out in the field with y’all, you’re a hard-working bunch and I appreciate you all.And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to the show! Mike Pingleton here, and I am your host for these proceedings. And here we go with Episode One Hundred and Seven, and our guest for this episode is Dr. Skylar Hopkins, Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University.Some sad news to talk about first. This show is dedicated to the memory of Hans Breuer, who passed away just a few weeks ago. You may remember my conversation with Hans for Episode 91, last December just a year ago. Hans and I traded quips and wordplay and herping stuff for close to twenty years, and many, many folks in the herping community have done the same, he was a lovely person to know. Hans is one of those friends that I’ve never managed to meet and of course now I deeply regret that. My heart goes out to his family, to his wife and his sons, and to all the many folks out there who also mourn his passing. We miss you old friend.And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).This is another one of those times when a plan comes together in such a way that it almost seems pre-ordained. Skylar was going to be giving a presentation in early October at the University of Illinois here in my home town, and of course my first thought is how about coming on the show? And since Skylar was keen to visit Snake Road, what better recording venue than a campfire in the Shawnee National Forest? I’ve done a few of those as most of you know. And of course, we’re trading studio sound quality for a crackling fire and some katydids but that’s some good ambience right there. And the next day Skylar and I spent a little time walking on Snake Road, and that was a fun time to wrap up the whole experience.For those folks who want to salvage non-threatened DOR specimens in North Carolina to support the research efforts of Skylar and others , the point of contact is Jeff Beane at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. And thanks in advance!And for those folks interested in the book Emerging Zoonotic and Wildlife Pathogens, You can order our textbook here (paperback) or here (hardcover), or wherever you usually buy textbooks. The authors (Skylar, Dan Selkeld, and David Hayman) thank you in advance!Thanks for talking with me, Skylar! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Six! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there It’s Thanksgiving weekend and I want to take a moment to thank all of you out there listening to the show. I appreciate you. And thanks to all of the folks who have come on the show to talk with me, when the natural tendency for most of us is to run from anyone pointing a microphone at your face :)And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).NEW BOOK PLUG: Coming out in just a few days, it's The Natural History of the Turtles of Iowa, authored by Terry VanDeWalle and Dr. Neil P. Bernstein. This book is an in-depth look at the natural history of every turtle species found in Iowa, much more than just a field guide. It is published by the University of Iowa Press, and It is available for pre-order right now through the Press and will be released on December 3. If you order through the University of Iowa Press it can be received in time for Christmas. I encourage you to order directly from the University of Iowa Press and skip the big billionaire middleman if you can!Have you ever seen something noteworthy in the herp world, and wondered how to submit a natural history note? You're in luck, because Dr. Alex Krohn and Dr. Andrew Durso are here to lay out the process for you. It takes some work, but it can be done, even if you're not a scientist. As we discussed in this episode, I've included a link here to the SSAR's open access to past issues of Herp Review, which provides many examples of how a natural history note is constructed.Thanks for talking with me, Alex and Andrew! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Five! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.SMP Patrons! I want to thank Rich Takmajian for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Rich, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).I recorded this episode back in early September, while the show was still on hiatus. I was invited to give a presentation at the West Virginia Herpetological Society’s annual meeting, which was held this year at the New River Gorge. I can’t go any further without giving a shout-out to the good folks of the West Virginia Herp Society. It’s a great group that focuses on that important three-legged stool of education, conservation and appreciation. This is not people sitting around talking about their ball pythons, these folks are well-versed in the herpetofauna of their home state and ongoing research and conservation efforts. Their meetings are family friendly and visitor friendly – in fact there were a lot of folks at the annual meeting that came from other states.Thanks especially to Jared Cain, Josh Stover, Jon Tinney and Dylan Cooper for not only inviting me, but for making me and all the other attendees feel welcome and included. And, thank you all as well for arranging my interview with Dr. Thomas K. Pauley. Dr. Pauley and I talked at a picnic pavilion on a very chilly Sunday morning, and I am sure you will love this conversation as much as I did.Thanks for talking with me, Dr. Pauley! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Four! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! PLEASE NOTE: Starting in November 2024, Apple will be charging a 30% fee for any Patreon transactions made through an iPhone or iPad using the Patreon app. To get around this, go directly to Patreon.com, or use an Android device. If you already contribute to So Much Pingle, nothing changes, unless you decide to change how much you contribute. In that case use an Android device or a computer to access the Patreon web site to make your changes, and avoid the ridiculous 30% fee. One-Time Donations: You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). And thank you!I recorded this episode back in late August while the show was on hiatus, after seeing a post on social media about an effort to conserve and recover the New Mexico Ridgenosed Rattlesnake, Crotalus willardi obscurus. My ears went up like Scooby Doo and I immediately went in search of someone to talk to about it and as it turns out, Tony Daly-Crews was involved. You may remember my conversation with Tony about the Rattlesnake Conservancy, back in episode 53. Obscurus is the stuff of legend, a snake barely entering the United States and a rattlesnake that a lot of field herpers would like to see. If you’ve read any of Carl Kauffeld’s books you’re familiar with his account of looking for this snake in the Animas mountains of New Mexico. If you haven’t, check out the chapter entitled “Follow Me” in the book “Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept” from way back in 1969.You can help the Rattlesnake Conservancy in many ways via their website, savethebuzztails.org, either by donations or through their merch store. You can also participate in some of their events.Thanks for talking with me, Tony! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Three! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! PLEASE NOTE: Starting in November 2024, Apple will be charging a 30% fee for any Patreon transactions made through an iPhone or iPad using the Patreon app. To get around this, go directly to Patreon.com, or use an Android device. If you already contribute to So Much Pingle, nothing changes, unless you decide to change how much you contribute. In that case use an Android device or a computer to access the Patreon web site to make your changes, and avoid the ridiculous 30% fee.You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). And thank you!In early October I sat down with Bob Hansen and Jackson Shedd, to talk about their new book, California Amphibians and Reptiles, a Princeton Field Guide. I’m very excited about this, as I am sure many of you are, because California is most deserving of a good field guide and now I won’t have to rely on Robert Stebbins’ Western Field Guide so much, even though the old Stebbins guide is a masterpiece in its own right. I’ve known for a while about this book, and I made a mental note to check in with Bob and Jackson at the appropriate time to discuss it, which is now, because the book is available for pre-order this week, mid-October 2024, with delivery in January of 2025.Here is the pre-order link at Princeton University PressThanks for talking with me, Jackson and Bob! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred and Two! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, including all the folks who are recovering in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.Well my summer hiatus is over and it’s time to start cranking out the content once again. I really needed a break, not only to get the creative juices flowing again, but to also build a little backlog of recorded episodes and to solve some technical issues. Many technical issues actually, but it's good to be back in the chair and talking with you all.As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! PLEASE NOTE: Starting in November 2024, Apple will be charging a 30% fee for any Patreon transactions made through an iPhone or iPad using the Patreon app. To get around this, go directly to Patreon.com, or use an Android device. If you already contribute to So Much Pingle, nothing changes, unless you decide to change how much you contribute. In that case use an Android device or a computer to access the Patreon web site to make your changes, and avoid the ridiculous 30% fee.You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com). And thank you!In late August and early September I spent three weeks in Indonesia, starting with Bali, and then moving east to Flores and Komodo and Rincha in the Lesser Sundas chain, and then finishing up the trip with some days in southwestern Borneo. The trip was organized by Dr. Andrew Durso, who you may remember from season 3 episode 65, and Dave Davenport of EcoQuest Travel. The trip was built around the World Congress of Herpetology, held in Borneo this year, and so we had some herpetologists on the tour, including Rory Telemeco and Dan Warner. I recorded an interview with Dan and Rory at a hotel layover in Surabaya, Java, they were gracious enough to give me a chunk of their time. We talked about some of our experiences on the trip and then we got into some of the herp research projects that these gentlemen are working on.Thanks for talking with me, Rory and Dan! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.-Mike
Hey folks, as always, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
This is just a little episode marking the beginning of a show hiatus. When I was a kid, the auto plant in my town would occasionally shut down for a few months, for “re-tooling” – something necessary when they switched from making sedans to making mini-vans, for example. That’s what is happening with So Much Pingle – some re-tooling. I have some new software to learn, a review of the entire production process needs to happen, I’ve got to come up with a plan to convert and upload existing episodes to YouTube, and get some kinks ironed out with SMP merchandise. All that is difficult to do when I’m working to bang out episodes, so I’m taking a few months off to catch my breath, think some thoughts, and then bring the show back online. A little summer vacation. 100 episodes is a good pausing place.
Thanks to Josh Holbrook for stepping in and helping me explain what’s up! And thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, should you have any questions or comments during the short time off.
See you all soon and thanks!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode One Hundred! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
I can’t deny it, it feels pretty good to reach the one hundred show mark, four and a half years and one pandemic after I started this project. The experience has been all the things – interesting, challenging, frustrating, and ultimately, rewarding. I listen to a few podcasts that, at the end of the show, list all the people involved – the writers, researchers, editors and recording engineers, production assistants, et cetera, and now and then I think “wow, what could I accomplish with a crew like that?” Because you know I wear all those hats on this little show. But that’s all on the front end, and for me, the back end is where I’m blessed. Go ahead and make your jokes, I’ll wait. On the back end are all the folks who listen to the show, promote the show, support the show (both emotionally and financially), and of course, come on the show and talk with me. THAT has been amazing.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
A few months ago I started thinking about what the hundredth show should be, and I had a number of ideas, but one in particular kept coming back to me. I had attempted to record a Big Year episode as far back as 2022, but each time there were problems – hardware failures, scheduling issues, you name it. I had chucked that whole project to the side with some disgust and some sadness, and moved on. But I decided to give it one last try, for the hundo, and Josh Holbrook, Matt Ratcliffe, Jake Scott, and Tim Warfel were down to give it another shot as well. This last effort itself took several tries, and in the end, we got it done. It’s recorded on Zoom instead of Squadcast, which I normally use, so instead of multiple tracks to clean up there’s just one. Zoom is not the greatest recording tool but fortunately, most of the recording is clean, and there’s only a few fuzzy bits here and there. I left in a few minutes of pre-show banter because these guys crack me up and it’s a peek at how the sausage is made.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Nine! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
This show is dedicated to the memory of Gary Pinson. Gary lived over in the Missouri Ozarks and every October he and his family would come over to Snake Road in southern Illinois, which is where I first met him. It got to be a thing every year, meeting up with Gary and his crew, walking and talking on the road. He was a good man, a gentle man, with a twinkle in his eye and always ready with a story. I will miss him and so will so many other folks who come down to Snake Road on the regular. My sympathies to Preston, Gregory, Amy and the rest of the Pinson family – I’m quite sure Gary’s at a McDonald’s somewhere.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Just prior to heading down to Peru in May, I heard from Devon Graham, who is the director of Project Amazonas. Devon told me our group would be sharing the Santa Cruz field station with some folks doing venom research, and that certainly sounded intriguing, Arriving at Santa Cruz we met with Ella Guedouar, Carter Haley, and Grant McCargar, and we got a peek at the research they were conducting. A very gracious trio, they were cool with me and Josh and all of his students doing some shoulder surfing as they extracted venom and worked up their serpent subjects. And they graciously agreed to talk with me about their research.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Eight! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. After traveling for the better part of a month, it’s good to be back home and back in the podcast studio.
As always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I captured this episode in Suriname back in mid-May, towards the end of our herp trip there. It was recorded around the swimming pool in the heat of the afternoon on one of our few down days in Suriname. Energy levels were a bit low given the heat and the swimming pool and some adult beverages, but the lads responded and gave good accounts of our adventures there. I hope you enjoy this in-the-field episode, and I want to thank Jeremy Pixton, Matt Cage, Peter Mooney, John Burris, Pat Kain, and Shawn LaRochelle for talking with me and a special shout-out to our pal Dermot Bowden, who had to leave a few days early and missed the discussion, it was good to see you again Dermot. Special thanks to the folks at Unlock Nature – Dick Lock, Lieke Verwoerd, Marcos Carello, Soraya Sodrono, Matthew Wallace, Fenne, Yordi, and all the other folks who helped to make our trip a success.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Seven! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
I just got back from a great herping trip to Suriname. You may remember my conversation with Dick and Lieke back in episode 79 and it was fun to go visit and see how they operate herp tours there, and the answer is they do very well. I was with a small group and we saw a lot of fabulous herps. At any rate I am back home for just a few days, allowing me to get this time sensitive episode assembled and in your ears, so to speak. I return to Peru in just a few days to assist Josh Holbrook with his tropical ecology class, so the next episode will come out in early June.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank James Burnham for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, James, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Oh yeah. If you’ve been with the show from the early days or you’ve worked through the back catalog of episodes, you may recall me talking with Dr. Emily Taylor way back in Episode 12. Well Emily is back with some exciting topics and it’s always a pleasure to talk with her and catch some of that vibrant energy she has. And below are some links for books and cams and papers:
Order link for the California Snakes book and other merchandise
Project Rattlecam website, and Project Rattlecam on YouTube
Link to Savannah Weaver and colleague’s paper on Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizards. Open access.
Link to paper “Effects of relational and instrumental messaging on human perception of rattlesnakes” Open access
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Six! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s the last Sunday in April which means that this is the last episode in Season Four – we start Season Five on the first of May and I should have a show out around the middle of May, after I return from a trip to Suriname.
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
HERPETOLOGY CAMP FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS! Don’t forget, Professor Josh Holbrook will be hosting another herpetology camp this year at Montreat College in North Carolina, The first week will be held June 23-28, 2024, and an extension will be held June 16-21, 2024 (the week before). For more information, see the Herpetology Camp link at www.montreat.edu/compass
This episode is the last set of origin stories that I recorded on my second Peru trip in February of this year. Starting us off is a conversation with Dane Conley, followed by a tag-team interview with Lucas Dunn and Brady McGowan. Thanks guys! It was good to talk with you all!
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Five! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank a couple of new Patreoners! – Derek Gillespie and Paul Duren, thank you both so much for supporting the show! Much appreciated! And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Well, if you’re a fan of the longer episodes then you are in luck – this one was a bit of a challenge, with 13 individual recordings to stitch together, and all recorded in the field to boot. In late March I spent a long day in the field with Dr. Michael Dreslik, or Drez as folks call him, and his field team, doing field surveys for Massasaugas here in my home state of Illinois. Mike has been studying saugas for a quarter century now, and it seemed like a good time to check in with him.
Lots of parts to this episode – there’s an interview with Mike to start off, and then we go out in the field to look for massasaugas. I also talked briefly with everyone on Drez’s survey team, and these little vignettes are scattered throughout the episode. I briefly touch base with Mike near the end, and then the last is a chat with Xander Perelman, who is Mike’s PhD candidate, where we talk about some of the other interesting projects that he is working on with saugas and pygmy rattlers, as part of his PhD work. Oh yeah and Xander provides a lot of narrative during the field recordings, doing a lot of explaining, and I thank him for that.
I want to thank Dr. Michael Dreslik for talking with me and letting me hang out and help look for those hard-to-spot massasaugas. Let’s not forget all of the folks on the survey team – Emily Ash, Matt Parry, Joey Cannizzaro, Nick Dunham, Tony Easton, Claire Dietrich, and Xander Perelman.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Four! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank a couple of folks for their support – Clint Guadiana, for his contribution via Patreon, and Dave Weber, who made another one-time contribution via PayPal. Thank you Clint and Dave! And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Here we go with the eighth installment of Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn. I’ve really enjoyed doing these shows with Alex, and this one was no exception – a conversation with Dr. Harry Greene on a variety of subjects including Pleistocene rewilding, Bolson Tortoises, a breakdown of serpent prey items, and much, much more. Harry is a deep thinker and don’t be surprised if you find yourself thinking deeply about some of the topics we discuss!
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Three! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and happy Ground Hog Day!
SMP Patrons! I want to thank Justin Coburn for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Justin, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Well here we go with another Origin stories episode, recorded just a few weeks ago in Peru. Most of you know the drill – I sit down on the back deck of my tambo, and have a chat with folks when there’s a little downtime. And on this occasion, a rainy morning provided me with a captive audience, although we had to slap some mosquitos during the sessions. This is a three-part origin story, featuring Justin Coburn, Greyson Getty, and Kris Haas.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety Two! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year, and let there be peace for everyone in the days ahead.
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This episode comes out of a herping trip I made to south Texas earlier this year. I almost always pack along my field recording kit, and I wasn’t very far along into that trip when I could see the shape of an episode in my mind. On the last night before heading home, I sat down with Erik McCormick, Kyle Elmore, and Clint Guadiana to record. Listening in post-production I could hear how tired I was – definitely not at the top of my game but it is what it is. Before we get to it I want to give a shout-out to John Edward, Isaac Smith, Braden Alexander, and Tim Burkhardt, I really enjoyed hanging out and herping with y’all down in Texas.
Kyle’s YouTube Channel is Pop Milk!
Clint’s YouTube channel is Much Ado About Herping
Thanks for coming on the show, Hans, it was a great pleasure to talk with you! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety One! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. We’re rolling into December and like many people, I have a big block of family time coming up, so I am pushing to get this episode finished and out sooner, rather than later. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and peace on earth for everyone. And be safe out there on the roads, y’all.
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Here’s an episode I have been waiting for and I’m sure many of you feel the same way. Hans Breuer and his wife Lisa live on the island of Taiwan, along with their two boys, Karl and Hans Jr. If you’ve spent any time perusing the old Field Herp Forum, you’re probably familiar with Hans’ posts about his escapades herping around that island paradise. If you’re not, go ahead and do so – we’ll wait. Hans has parlayed his adventures into two delightful books, which we cover in this episode, along with many other interesting things.
Thanks for coming on the show, Hans, it was a great pleasure to talk with you! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Ninety! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I’ve talked about HerpMapper here and there on various episodes, but since September of 2023 was the tenth anniversary of the project, I wanted to devote an episode to it, and talk with Don Becker and Chris Smith. The three of us are the primary architects of the HerpMapper project, and I am immensely proud of the work we’ve done, and of the success of the project. Dr. Josh Otten was kind enough to serve as our interviewer. You may recall that I talked with Josh and Don recently, along with Jim Scharosch, for The Mud-Box-Hog Extravaganza, in episode 86.
Thanks Chris and Don for everything! And thanks to Josh Otten for guest-hosting on this one.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Nine! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank Shawn LaRochelle for his contribution to the So Much Pingle podcast, via Patreon. Much appreciated, Shawn, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I also want to give a shout-out to Colleen McCarthy, Justin Michels, and Noah Fields for their recent comments and suggestions regarding the show, and for just being awesome people in general. As I’ve often said folks, I’m open to your comments, suggestions, feedback, whatever you got. Drop me a note to somuchpingle@gmail.com.
This one is a Noah Fields two-fer, a mashup of two separate recordings. I recently spent a couple days hanging out with Noah and his girlfriend Kaitlyn, during their first visit to Snake Road. We had a pretty good time and I recorded just a ten-minute session with Noah, to get his thoughts on the whole Snake Road experience. My aim was to talk with some other folks as well, and then put together a full episode. But that didn’t pan out, mostly because I was concerned about over-saturation of the subject, because – I was a recent guest on the Orianne Society’s Snake Talk Podcast, and the subject was Snake Road. Chris Jenkins does a great job with Snake Talk and I’m featured on episode 89.
Anyway, after my Snake Road business was concluded for the year, I headed down to Georgia for yet another attempt to see a Southern Hognose Snake, Heterodon simus. Hogtober baby! And I got to hang out with Noah for a couple days on his home turf, so to speak. We recorded the second and larger session sitting around a campfire, and while hognoses and Hogtober were covered, we stray into some other subjects as well. FYI I had an issue with my microphone about 42 minutes into the recording, but I managed to recover my audio from Noah’s microphone track (two mics, two tracks). So be warned, the sound quality is a little warbly for about 8 minutes. Warbly is a technical term. No warblers were actually present.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Eight! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guest for this episode is Rachel Pikstein, and we discuss the issue of invasive tegu lizards in Florida and elsewhere, and we also talk about her research in this area, and much much more. I had attended the International Herpetological Symposium this past summer, where Rachel gave a presentation on the subject and I knew I wanted to get her on the show.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Seven! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
It’s another episode of Herp Science Sunday! On this installment, Dr. Alex Krohn and I discuss two papers:
Between fruits, flowers and nectar: The extraordinary diet of the frog Xenohyla truncata
by Carlos Henrique de-Oliveira-Nogueira et al., and published in Vol 35 of the journal Food Webs
Aggregation and social interaction in garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
by Morgan Skinner and Noam Miller, and published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2020) 74: 51
and as always, drop me a note if you need a copy of these publications.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Six! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
Before we get to today’s episode, I want to thank Gerry Salmon for his one-time donation to the So Much Pingle podcast. Much appreciated, Gerry, thank you so much. And as always, I am grateful to all the show’s patrons who help to keep the show moving forward. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I also want to give a shout-out to Justin Michels and Marty Whalin for their recent comments and suggestions regarding the show, and for just being awesome dudes in general. As I’ve often said folks, I’m open to your comments, suggestions, feedback, whatever you got. Drop me a note to somuchpingle@gmail.com.
I drove up to Iowa to interview Dr. Josh Otten, Don Becker, and Jim Scharosch, about their ongoing project with Illinois mud turtles, ornate box turtles, and western hognose snakes. Initially this was a survey project, but along the way conservation and restoration components were added. Before we talked, I spent the day in the field with Josh and Don and Jim, and I also want to give a shout out to Laura Scharosch, Jeff Faircloth, and May Quiminales, lovely folks who were also present and willingly gave their time and effort to the project.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Five! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. And for those of you experiencing extra-high temperatures, I hope you all are staying cool and hydrated.
As always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guest this week is Dr. Steven Allain, of Kent University in the UK. We talked about some of his research projects that include grass snakes and midwife toads. Steve also keeps the science flowing on his social media accounts and we cover some of that as well.
Steve actively posts about his study subjects, herp science, and other science-related issues on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, and Facebook.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty Four! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
It’s good to be back in the recording studio after a long absence, and I appreciate everyone’s patience while I was out having a good time. I spent several weeks in Thailand, on a herping trip that started in Bangkok and finished at the southern tip of the country, on the border with Malaysia. I saw some amazing herps and other wildlife, lots of pit vipers including several Wagler’s pit vipers, one of those bucket list serpents for me.
So Much Pingle Patrons! A big thank you to the show’s newest patron, Daren Riedle! I’m sure you all remember my conversation with Daren back in Episode 78 – that was a fun one and I get a lot of comments about that show. So thank you so much Daren for supporting the show and for taking part as well! And as always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
So this episode arises out of some singular events that happened in Peru earlier this year. I was down there with Matt Cage for three separate herp tours, and the crazy bit is that we encountered 7 bushmasters across the three trips – one on the first, FIVE on the second, and one on the last trip in February. Now, we are happy to get one Lachesis muta on an expedition – there’s no denying that the chance to see a bushmaster is a big draw for our clients – and sometimes we may even find two. But during our second trip, after five bushmasters were found, I decided to record with some of the folks involved, attempting to capture some of the experience. So please enjoy my conversations with Jill Rials and Michael Moffat, Jeff and Berk, the Brothers Martineau, and Richard Legere.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to the show! Mike Pingleton here, and I am your host for these proceedings. And here we go with Episode Eighty Three, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s early June here at the So Much Pingle world headquarters, and my flower garden is starting to POP! It’s a great time if you’re into that sort of thing.
Well I’ve been kind of busy over the last few weeks, helping out with a couple of different herp surveys, and there’s a podcast episode coming out of one of those, which I hope to put out next month if time permits. I say time permits because I’m leaving for Thailand next week and I won’t get back until July 4th. I’m happy to get this show out before I leave because the last 4-5 days at home before a trip I am running around like a madman trying to get everything ready, and getting the lawn mowed one more time, stuff like that. Good problem to have.
So Much Pingle Patrons! As always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guests for this episode are Sky Stevens and Sheri Monk, which I recorded months ago in Peru. Why did it take so long you say? Well, I had some technical issues – let’s call them what they really are, operator error on my part. When I record in the field, I use a Zoom HN4 recorder, with two Shure microphones cabled in. It’s a lovely rig and I get good results, but on this occasion, I neglected to turn off the Zoom’s built-in omnidirectional microphone and just run the two Shures as per usual. The result was a lot of static and wind noise, and I had to spend some time learning how to clean that up using Adobe Audition. I’m not an audio engineer and every time I have to dig deeper into audio engineering, I feel like my brain forgets a dozen scientific names to make room.
Thank goodness I didn’t have to ask Sky and Sheri to re-record this episode, because it is a gem. There are still a few moments of static, notably around the 2 minute, 39 minute, and 1 hour 14 minute marks, my apologies, but the rest of the recording is quite clear. You may notice some other artifacts – the omnidirectional microphone picks up EVERY buzzing insect, and the birds are a lit louder too, although I’m told some folks enjoy that. Maybe turn down the volume if you listen with headphones.
Thank you Sky and Sheri! So much fun talking with you. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, methods for picking up water snakes, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to the show! Mike Pingleton here, and I am your host for these proceedings. And here we go with Episode Eighty Two, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s a lovely Sunday morning in May and I can’t wait to get out in it after I’m done putting this together.
So Much Pingle Patrons! A big thank you to the show’s newest patron, Skylar Hopkins! Thank you Skylar! And as always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guest this week is Dr. Andrew Hoffman lately of The Ohio State University, and we talk about bucket cams, rattlesnakes, outreach and education, the Life Underfoot You Tube channel, and Andrew’s new job as assistant professor at St. John Fisher University.
Thanks for talking with me Andrew! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, methods for picking up water snakes, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty One! And Season Four! And while we’re at it, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
In this episode, I talk with Gerold Merker, who with his son Walter recently published an updated edition of The Gray-banded Kingsnake, which I think is a fabulous book. I talk with Gerold about the book, about west Texas, and of course, Gray-bands! The book is available from Eco Wear and Publishing.
So Much Pingle Patrons! A big thank you to Gerold Merker, our newest patron and the star of this episode as well. And as always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
And given that we’re now kicking off Season Four, I want to take a little time to mention all of the folks who have contributed to show via Patreon or one-time contributions: Justin Michels, Jason Jones of Herp MX, Smetlogik AKA Rob Kreutzer, Ryan Borgmann, Joshua Wallace, Jill Rials, Marty Whalin, Chris Smith, Dr. Emily Taylor, John Burris, Kamil Scepanski, Brandon Kong, Issac Chellman, Dr James van Dyke, Brandon Ballard, Mike Rochford, Josef Thompson, Dr. Alex Krohn, Matt Ratcliffe, Jeroen Speybroek, Bryan Hughes, Brandon Bourassa, Josh Holbrook my favorite co-author, James McGhee, Michael Moffat, Andy O’Connor, Jake Scott, Deb Krohn, Duane McDermott, John Sullivan, Josh Emms, Justin Elden, Matt Cage, Patrick Connolly, Chris McMartin, Michael Cravens, Ana Ware, Tim Warfel, David Burkart, Adam Cooner, Dr. Bill Peterman, Cynthia Samake, Paul-Erik Bakland, William Bone, Jeremiah Easter, Richard Legere (AKA Squeaks), Tom Eles, Jeremy Schumacher, Neill Jones, Alec Gordon, Martin Habecker, Daniel Dye, Clint Henke, Ross Maynard, Nick Sobel, Moses Michelsohn, Myles Masterson, Ben Genter, Pearson McGovern, Tom Eles again, Sal Scibetta, Alicia Ballard, Ben Stegenga, Kam Delahoz, Dave Weber, JJ Apodaca, the Urbanek family, Will McManus, Jason Folt, Lawrence Erickson, Wes Redridge, Christian Diederich, Brad Allen,Ian Kanda, Kim Brown, Andrew Davis, Dick Bartlett, Craig Howard, Sheri Monk, Ian Kanda again, and finally, Gerold Merker. My apologies for any mispronunciations, or if I left anyone out (pretty sure I didn’t). What can I say? Thank you, all of you, for supporting this show, I am more grateful than I can possibly express to you all.
I also want to thank all the folks who I’ve talked to over the course of three seasons –easily a hundred or more people and I’ll skip reading all those names. I’ve enjoyed talking with each and every one of you.
Thank you Gerold Merker for starting off Season Four on a high note! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Josh, Whitney, Brenna, Sam, John, and MJHello everyone and welcome to Episode Eighty! A nice round number and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
First up, I want to give a shoutout to Claire Pedersen, who only found out about the show recently but has been working her way through the episodes in chronological order. She’s more than halfway through so I expect it won’t be long before she hears this. I also want to give a shoutout to Charlotte Pedersen as well. She’s Claire’s younger sister and both of them are just nuts about herps and other kinds of wildlife.
So Much Pingle Patrons! I want to give a shoutout to Ian Kanda. Ian is one of the show’s patrons and he recently made -another- one-time donation to help the show. Thank you so much, Ian! And as always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
It’s no big secret that I love hanging out in the field with biologists and ecologists and pretty much any kind of ologist, and I have been fortunate enough to assist with a number of survey projects over the years. Last April I drove to North Carolina to help Josh Holbrook and his students with some wetland surveys, which consisted of wading into freshwater ponds to set traps and then return to survey their contents. I had a great time, as you might expect, and then we recorded this episode after dinner, around a campfire. Stories around a campfire, it doesn’t get any better than that. And some of Josh’s students were just getting their feet wet, so to speak, and I enjoyed hearing their perspectives on their first forays into field work.
Thanks to Josh, John, MJ, Sam, Brenna, and Whitney! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 79! It’s been a while since an episode dropped and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there.
I’ve had the best excuse for not getting a show out for a while – I’ve been traveling! I just got back from two weeks in Madagascar, and before that I spent most of January and February in Peru. I am home for a while now, so the show schedule will go back to something close to regular for the near future.
So Much Pingle Patrons! I want to give a big shout-out to the show’s newest supporter, Sheri Monk! Thank you Sheri! And as always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guests this week are Dick Lock and Lieke Verwoerd, who operate the wildlife tour companies Unlock Nature and Herping Suriname. Dick and Lieke came down to Peru on one of our expeditions, and I got to spend some time getting to know them and it was a pleasure to interview them about what they are up to in Suriname, a place I really want to visit someday. You can follow Unlock Nature on Facebook and Instagram, and you can follow Herping Suriname on Facebook and Instagram as well.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 78 and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. After three weeks at home, I am heading back to Peru this afternoon for this year’s third and final tour. I’m happy to get another show out before I leave, and we will touch base again in early March when I return.
So Much Pingle Patrons! As always, I want to thank everyone who keeps the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guest this week is Daren Riedle. Daren is the Wildlife Diversity Coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and he wears many hats as a researcher, administrator, and avid herper. I recorded this interview in Peru this past January, and I enjoyed the opportunity to herp and just hang out with Daren during our stay. Our conversation took us from Kansas to South Africa with many points in between.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, baby monitors to watch baby monitors, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Seven! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and I want to wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.
It’s the first week of February and it’s good to be back home and to be turning out another episode, after being away for nearly a month in Peru. It was an interesting trip, to say the least, with a lot of travel issues going both down and back. I’ll spare you the details, but I am beginning to suspect that the golden age of air travel is behind us. All travel issues aside it was a great trip to Peru, and across 25 days and two back-to-back tour groups we managed to find a total of six bushmasters. Pretty incredible and I’m still processing all of that. Needless to say, I recorded segments with some of the folks who encountered their first bushmaster, and I will put that out sometime in the next few months.
So Much Pingle Patrons! I want to give a shout-out to Craig Howard, the show’s newest patron. Craig was on our first Peru tour last month and he took some awesome photos, I especially liked some of his frog shots. It was good to meet you Craig, and thanks so much for your support. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Well, here we are again with another edition of Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn. That’s right, two in a row, even if they are a month apart, and, this one again features a guest from Australia. As I said before, this is more by accident than design, but Alex and I are happy about it and we hope you are as well. Our guest this week is Jules Farquhar, a doctoral candidate in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University in Victoria, Australia. Jules is a co-author on a paper published in the Journal of Biogeography last year entitled “Using Crowd-sourced Photographic Records to Explore Geographical Variation in Colour Polymorphism” Alex and I talked with Jules just before Christmas, about this paper, which concerns Lace Monitors, and we cover some other cool Australian herp stuff as well.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, baby monitors to watch baby monitors, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Six! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and I want to wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.
Well it’s Sunday, and New Year’s Day, and that can only mean that the first episode of 2023 is a Herp Science Sunday show with Dr. Alex Krohn! I’m happy to get one more show in before I head down to Peru in just a few days. This visit is a prolonged trip, actually two trips back-to-back, and I won’t return home until almost the end of the month, which means the next SoMuchPingle episode will drop the first week of February. But as always, I will be bringing my mobile recording gear and I should come back with more content, complete with screeching jungle birds as a backdrop.
As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons! I’m grateful for everyone’s contributions and it does keep the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This edition of Herp Science Sunday centers on serpent genitalia. The paper we discuss is “First Evidence of Hemiclitores in Snakes”, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society on 12/14/2022. The paper should be available for download here, and as always, you can also request a copy of the PDF from me. The co-authors are Megan J. Folwell, Kate L. Sanders, Patricia L. R. Brennan and Jenna M. Crowe-Riddell. I believe Alex and I both got wind of it from a post made by Dr. Emily Taylor. And we nearly simultaneously decided we needed to talk to at least one of the co-authors of this paper, and soon, since so many people have been interested in the discoveries outlined in the publication. Long story short, Alex and I had a lovely chat with co-author Megan Folwell recently, and I rushed it through the production process to have it ready for New Year’s.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, entertainment partitioning ideas, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Five! It’s the day after Christmas, and I hope you all are safe, healthy, and warm. The temperatures at my house are back into the mid-teens Fahrenheit, after a few blustery and frigid days leading up to the holiday. I’m working to crank out a few episodes over the next week or so before I head to Peru for another visit.
I want to give a big shout-out to Dick and Patti Bartlett, the show’s newest patrons. I appreciate your one-time contribution and I really enjoyed spending a little time with you two earlier this year. And a happy new year to you both.
And as always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons! I’m grateful for everyone’s contributions and it does keep the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Now let’s turn our attention to the show. I want to thank Jason Folt for suggesting this topic, leading to me talking with him, Mike Rochford, and Liz Hughes about the challenges and rewards of getting the little kiddos out there in herp land. And of course, I have many other friends doing much the same and I was thinking about you all as well as we had this discussion, and again as I put this together.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, entertainment partitioning ideas, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Four! I want to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season.
I have shoutouts to some new patrons of the show! Ian Kanda, thanks so much for your one-time contribution. Ian is strictly listening to the show in order so hopefully he’ll hear my shout-out before the fourth of July. I have some new Patreoners as well! Kim Brown, thank you so much and your timing is rather excellent! And a special shout-out to Ruth and Henry, who love to go herping with their dad Andrew Davis. That makes me happy (and thanks for the nice note Andrew, and for supporting the show). I appreciate y’all.
As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons! I’m grateful for everyone’s contributions and it does keep the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I also want to give Kris Haas a shoutout for both his kind words and some very thoughtful comments, thank you sir. I do like hearing from folks – your thoughts, opinions, guest suggestions, whatever you got. You can email me at somuchpingle@gmail.com. Also please note that I am on Instagram, been there a long while now, but I’m also on Post dot News, and Mastodon now, under the SoMuchPingle handle.
This week we’ve got our sixth installment of Origin Stories, and this episode features Stacey Schenkel and Kim Brown. I owe Stacey a bit of an apology because it took me a while to get this one put together – I think we recorded her segment at the end of February. And then I traveled a bunch and went back to work, and didn’t get a bookend interview recorded until this fall with Kim, and so this project got a little dusty. But I like how this one turned out, I think Stacey and Kim pair well together.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Three! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US and I wish everyone a good holiday. It's good to be back in the studio again after a few weeks off.
As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons! I’m grateful for everyone’s contributions and it does keep the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Our guest this week is Zach Truelock, an Indiana native who is currently doing some very important conservation work in Florida. Zach has been involved with a number of very cool herp conservation projects over the past few years, and also a co-creator for the Life Underfoot YouTube channel. I want to highlight a few links for Life Underfoot, some of which we talk about in the episode: Can We Save North America’s Rarest Salamander? Spotted Salamanders In A Vernal Pool Timber Rattlesnake Male Combat Jefferson's Salamanders Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy Two! It's the day before Halloween, an appropriate time to release these tales of strange occurrences from the world of field herping.
As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons, including our newest Patreon member Brad Allen! Thank you so much Brad, and I appreciated your note as well. I’m grateful for everyone’s contributions and it does keep the show rolling along. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This week's show came out of a suggestion from someone (I can't recall who) last fall to do a show on the weird/creepy/spooky/unusual things that happen out in the field. I began soliciting stories and recorded the first of them back in January, and the last was recorded a few weeks ago. I want to say thanks to everyone who contributed to this episode – Matt Ratcliffe, Jake Scott and his alleged litter robot, John Burris, Tim Warfel, Matt Cage, Jeff Martineau, Rob Kreutzer, Pat Kain, and Bryan Hughes. I also want to thank the folks who sent in stories that I couldn't include for one reason or another.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, lifting curses cast by Hungarian witches, tips for herping better, etc.
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy One! Here it is, mid-October and the fall rains are soaking us here at SMP world headquarters.
As always, I want to say thank you to all of the show’s patrons, including Brandon Bourassa, who came in at one Patreon level and recently went up to the next level – thank you Brandon, I appreciate that. I also want to give a shout out to our newest patron, Christian Diederich, who made a one-time contribution via Venmo. Thank you so much, Christian, and it was fun hearing about your recent experiences with rainbow snakes. Christian spotted a neonate rainbow snake while driving 55 on a highway at night, which is pretty cool. It got me thinking about my own rainbow snake sighting, which was 25 years ago and I haven’t seen one since. It was suggested that maybe I should herp better.
I took a peek at some of the show’s stats this week, I don’t do this often, because it’s easy to obsess over numbers and guess what? 42 thousand listens to date. I think that’s an amazing number and I appreciate everyone’s help in getting here.
Our show this week features a conversation with Sarah Lamar, a doctoral candidate at the Victoria University of Wellington in Wellington, New Zealand. It's amazing to me that I can talk with someone on the other side of the planet with relatively little effort at all. Sarah's research brings her into close contact with those amazing rhynchocephalians (see photo) and I thoroughly enjoyed our talk.
Thanks for coming on the show, Sarah! It was so much fun. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, methods for opening your third eye, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Seventy! It's nearly October and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. It’s good to be talking with you all again after a bit of a gap – I had a lot on my plate for the past few weeks. You’re probably thinking that an old retired guy ought to have plenty of free time, and usually that is true enough. But I recently started doing some half-time consulting work for my old department at the university, and I’ll be working there for just a few months or so. A temporary thing, I have no desire to rekindle a career. So thanks for your patience while I worked all of that out and got started.
As always, a big thank you to all of the show’s supporters – there are costs associated with running any entertainment channel and I am grateful to all of you for keeping this little boat afloat. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Here we go with another panel discussion show! I haven't done one in a while, and I came up with the notion of getting a group together to talk about herping in my home state. Jeremy Schumacher and Justin Michels return to the microphone for this, and I’m happy that Joey Cavataio agreed to join us, so we've got representation from the north, south, east, and west corners of the state.
Thanks Jeremy, Justin and Joey - it was fun chatting with the three of you. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, dolomite prairies near you, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Nine! And for the first time, we have a guest host, Josh Holbrook, who graciously agreed to turn things around and ask me some questions. Since I started the podcast, I have received many requests along the lines of "I wanna hear someone interview YOU!". I figured I would just keep putting this off but okay, here it is! Like most people I'm not entirely comfortable talking about myself but Josh made things easy and we rolled along for almost two hours. This interview was conducted in June of 2022 at the Santa Cruz field station near Iquitos, Peru.
As always, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons - there are costs associated with running any entertainment channel and I am grateful to all of you for keeping this little boat afloat. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Thanks again Josh, for the great interview!
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions,, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Eight! Here we are in mid-August and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. I’ve been working on re-siding and painting my garage all week, and it feels good to scrub the paint from my hands and strap into the podcasting chair for a bit.
Now before we get to the show notes portion of the show notes, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons, including our newest Patreon supporters, Wes Redridge, and Lawrence Erickson! Thank you so much, Wes and Lawrence! And as always, a big thank you to all of the show’s supporters – there are costs associated with running any entertainment channel and I am grateful to all of you for keeping this little boat afloat. And if you’re out there listening and you would like to kick in a few bucks, it’s easy to do, you simply go to the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three bucks a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Excellent photo courtesy of Ben Revell.
Episode 68 happens to be another installment of Herp Science Sunday with my pal Dr. Alex Krohn and features Coen Hird, a doctoral candidate from the University of Queensland in Brisbane. This episode came about because Alex saw a tweet from Coen about a paper that he co-authored, concerning a certain species of pobblebonk, in this case the Northern Banjo Frog, Limnodynastes terrareginae. Love that name, pobblebonk, and there are more than one species of frogs under the pobblebonk umbrella. So anyway, Alex pings me right away about this paper as a great candidate for Herp Science Sunday, and Coen was keen to come on the show, so here we are. The title of the paper is:
"The role of environmental calcium in the extreme acid tolerance of northern banjo frog (Limnodynastes terraereginae) larvae"
I've added a link so that you can click on the title and get access. And as always, you can drop me a note and I will send you a PDF copy of the paper.
Also – the teaser at the beginning of the show is a short clip of some pobblebonks calling, and the clip comes from some recordings I purchased from a company called Wild Ambience. Long story short, I got 45 minutes of pobblebonks and cool birds and other nature sounds for about 8 bucks U.S. So THIS is an unsolicited and yet much deserved plug from me – check out wildambience and maybe you’ll hear something you like.
Thank you Alex and Coen! That was a fun show. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions,, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Seven! It's the end of July and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there.
As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three buck a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Many of you have heard my interview with Nick Burgmeier about his work with hellbenders in Indiana. That was Episode 8, way back in season 1, and I didn’t just pull Nick’s name out of a hat for that interview. I had the privilege of helping out with hellbender surveys as far back as 2007, with my buddies Don Becker and Greg Stephens, and little did I know that all of that preliminary work would lead to the current hellbender raise-and-release project going on in Indiana. And to provide just a bit more detail, these are young adult hellbenders that are being released, they are raised from eggs collected in the wild in Kentucky and Ohio. This is necessary because Indiana hellbenders are in trouble – the state has a small population of adult hellbenders and if there are any eggs being produced, they haven’t been located. Thankfully these days there’s a lot of cooperation between various agencies in states with hellbenders, so there’s a lot of dedicated work to keep these awesome creatures in as many rivers as possible.
This show was recorded in the field and since I knew we would be spending time in the water, I didn’t use my standard field rig. I captured everything on my Zoom HN4 recorder, which is my backup recorder these days. I used the unit’s built-in omni-directional microphone and so I captured everything – water noises, buckets, lots of banter and yakking, and sometimes multiple conversations happening in parallel. But I was able to record the event as it happened, and there’s a lot of running commentary from Nick and others that help to set the scene, and all of the banter – well, that’s just a lot of happy people taking part in a joyous event.
Acknowledgements: First of all, special thanks to my friend Nick Burgmeier – Project coordinator and all-around good guy, and Marci Skelton, Nature Nick’s spouse and his number one fan. Shelby Roberts – AKA Bender Baby Mama, thanks for all of your work and for talking with me. Summer Brown, Madison Phillips and Zach Truelock were on hand to make sure everything went smoothly, and let’s not forget Thomas Coggeshall, holding down the fort back at the lab. I want to also thank Jarrett Manek for transporting us around and for the great behind the scenes tour at O’Bannon Woods. Other witnesses for this event include Don Becker, Greg Stephens, Justin Michels, Jeff and May Faircloth, John Burris and Jeremiah Jonothan. It was great to be there with you all.
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, pet names for Hellbenders, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Photo by Kevin Messenger.
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Six! It's good to be back in the studio, and I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. It's mid-summer here at SMP world headquarters and I'm back after a week off to get some work done around the house.
As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three buck a month – less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This week it’s my great pleasure to talk with Dr. Kevin Messenger. Kevin is a professor at Nanjing Forestry University in China. I’ve known Kevin for a number of years and we’ve spent some time in the field, and he and his dad came down to Peru on one of our tours a few years ago. Anyone involved with field herping for a while is familiar with Kevin’s China posts on the old Field Herp Forum. Of course, we talk about those posts, but Kevin has more awesome cards up his sleeve, including his discovery of multiple new herp species in China, and his book on the rat snakes of China. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did, and here are some important links to Kevin's work (and play):
Kevin's post on Field Herp Forum - "A New Species of Kurixalus Treefrog!"
A link to the paper in which Kevin and his colleagues describe the new Kurixalus treefrog
Another paper we discussed where Kevin and colleagues describe a new species of Megophrys
Kevin's list of publications on ResearchGate
Let's not forget about Kevin's new book, "The Asian Ratsnakes and Kin of Greater China". You can find the softbound copy on Amazon.com, or go to Lulu.com if you prefer a hardbound edition. I'm a big fan of this book and I hope you enjoy it as much as i do.
One more thing - you can search Kevin's name on YouTube and find his channel, which includes the "Baby Monkeys Playing in China" video (currently with 55m views).
Thanks for coming on the show, Kevin! It was good to talk with you again. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, frog call recording, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Five! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. I'm back in the booth after a couple of weeks in Peru and it's great to talk with you all again.
As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can support the show for as little as three buck a month - less than a fancy cup of coffee! You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I also want to mention that my buddy Bryan Hughes and I were recent guests on the Arizona Wildlife Federation podcast, which is hosted by my long-time friend, Michael Cravens. And of course Bryan has been on my show a number of times and I did an episode with Michael back in season one. At any rate, Michael had us on to discuss field herping, as a recreational activity and as a recreational activity in Arizona, and it is Episode 12. It was a lot of fun and thanks Michael for inviting me to participate. If you’re living out there and you’re partaking of the tremendous natural wonderland that is Arizona, well you should be listening to the Arizona Wildlife Federation podcast. Michael does a great job with the show and it’s off to a great start. Check it out!
My guest this week is Dr. Andrew Durso, he is an Assistant Professor of Wildlife Biology at Florida Gulf Coast University, and it’s been my privilege to know him for more than a decade and we’ve worked on a few projects together and I hope that continues. Andrew describes himself as an ecologist but as you’ll hear from our conversation, he’s involved in other projects outside the focus of ecology, so I will just call him a scientist with a capital S. Andrew is also the author of the fantastic Life is Short, but Snakes are Long blog, which we cover as well. We also discuss one scientific paper in particular, "Harnessing the Power of a Global Network of Citizen Herpetologists by Improving Citizen Science Databases", which can be downloaded from Dr. Durso's list of publications.
Thanks so much for coming on the show Andrew! It was great to chat with you and I look forward to our next meeting.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, blind snake capture techniques, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Four! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we roll into June. First up I want to give a shoutout to the Minnesota Herpetological Society for inviting me to speak at their first in-person meeting since pre-Covid. I made a rocket run up to Minneapolis St. Paul on Friday and back on Saturday, and I talked about The Field Herping Guide, the Pingleton/Holbrook collaboration project, and also, this show and how it got started. It’s a great herp society and they once again made me feel welcome, so thanks again to all the folks in the MHS.
As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
HERPETOLOGY SUMMER CAMP! Coming up this summer! Through their Compass Summer Experience program, Montreat College is hosting their annual Herpetology Summer Camp for high school students, from June 19th thru the 24th, with an option for an additional week thru July 1st. The camp is hosted by Professor Josh Holbrook, and students will experience amphibians and reptiles through a blend of classroom and field sessions. For more information and to register, see the Herpetology Summer Experience page.
This week's show is a discussion of a recent field herping trip to Greece, Hungary, and Slovenia. I set up a microphone in our AirBNB suite at the end of the trip, in order to get everyone's impressions of the trip. Special thanks to John Burris, Matt Cage, Bryan Hughes, Pat Kain, Chris MacDonald, Jeff Martineau, Erik McCormick, Anniek Tump, Gerrit Verspui, and Tim Warfel.
And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, herping tips for the Acropolis, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Three! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we feature yet another Herp Science Sunday episode, which features aquatic turtles and drones - yay science!
As always, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
HERPETOLOGY SUMMER CAMP! Coming up this summer! Through their Compass Summer Experience program, Montreat College is hosting their annual Herpetology Summer Camp for high school students, from June 19th thru the 24th, with an option for an additional week thru July 1st. The camp is hosted by Professor Josh Holbrook, and students will experience amphibians and reptiles through a blend of classroom and field sessions. For more information and to register, see the Herpetology Summer Experience page.
This Herp Science Sunday is a three-person conversation between me, Dr. Alex Krohn, and Dr. Drew Davis, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Drew describes the details of a drone survey project along the Rio Grande drainage in south Texas, which looked for presence and numbers of the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi). The results are published in a PLOS ONE research article entitled: A drone-based survey for large, basking freshwater turtle species and the authors are Amy P. Bogolin, Drew R. Davis, Richard J. Kline, and Abdullah F. Rahman. You can download the paper as a PDF from the link above, or you can contact me and I will email you a copy.
I enjoyed our conversation and was amazed at all of the logistical and bureaucratic hurdles that needed to be cleared to do this survey. Dr. Davis is also the chief editor for the SSAR publication Herpetological Review, which we also discuss for a bit. I should also mention that Drew is also researching the distribution and ecology of the threatened Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis) in south Texas. Did I mention he's very busy?
Thank you Drew for coming on the show, and thanks as always to Alex, who makes Herp Science Sunday possible. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, drone acrobatics exercises, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty Two! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we roll into Season Three!
First of all, I want to thank all of the patrons of the show - we would not be kicking off a third season without you and I appreciate your support. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
It is great to be back in the studio again after what seemed like a long time away. If you’re on social media, chances are you already know I spent 21 days in Greece, Hungary, and Slovenia. And about two hours in Italy. But mostly Greece, which was amazing and I and I can’t wait to return there. It was a big herping trip and my group did quite well over there, finding more than fifty species, and some of them iconic European herps. I have been reading about these species for the past half century, so it was pretty special to see some of them, like marginated tortoises, and four-lined rat snakes and green lacertas, along with European pond turtles, vipers and Aesculapian snakes.
But it’s good to be back home and I thank you all for your patience while I was away. A few final bits of housekeeping - as I mentioned earlier, I’ve got an AMA slash origin stories show featuring yours truly coming up this summer (and it’s the summer of 2022). AMA means Ask Me Anything, so if you’ve got some questions for me, QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE READ ON A CLEAN-RATED SHOW, send ‘em in to somuchpingle at gmail dot com. I’ve got some responses already and thank you folks for those.
HERPETOLOGY SUMMER CAMP! Coming up this summer! Through their Compass Summer Experience program, Montreat College is hosting their annual Herpetology Summer Camp for high school students, from June 19th thru the 24th, with an option for an additional week thru July 1st. The camp is hosted by Professor Josh Holbrook, and students will experience amphibians and reptiles through a blend of classroom and field sessions. For more information and to register, see the Herpetology Summer Experience page.
For this show, we're reaching back to some recordings I made in Peru last January. We have Origin Stories from Tom Williams, Greg Stephens, and Nick Burgmeier. Tom is from the UK and I hadn’t met him in person before Peru, he’s a world traveler and a real ball of fire and I enjoyed spending some time in the field with him. Greg and Nick are old friends of mine, and so I interviewed them together, as they are buddies with a lot of shared experiences. As I’ve said before it’s a lot of fun when my friends come to Peru for the first time and I get to be there when their minds are blown, and I especially enjoyed having these two come down to the hot and sweaty rain forest.
Thanks Tom, Greg and Nick for coming on the show and sharing your experiences! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, getting mambas out of trees, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty One! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we slooooowly move into spring here in the northern hemisphere. April has been more like March - cold and blustery, and I am quite ready to get on with spring.
Now before we get to the show notes portion of the show notes, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons, including our newest Patreon supporter, Jason Folt. Thank you, Jason! Alert listeners will remember Drs. Folt and Brandehoff from Episode 59. And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Also, thanks to the folks who have responded to my request for weird/unusual/spooky stories from the field, and I still need a few more so if you’re sitting on something like that, please get in touch. I recently had a nice chat with Rob Kreutzer, the one and only Smetlogik, about some crazy / creepy happenings.
I also want to give a shout-out to Patrick, Ian, and Spencer Connolly, winners of a recent trivia contest on Smetlogik's YouTube channel, and listeners of this show. Congrats guys!
Our guest for this episode is Dr. Joseph Apodaca, or JJ as he is commonly called. He wears two very large hats – JJ is the founder and lead scientist of Tangled Bank Conservation, and he is also the Executive Director of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, or ARC. That is a lot of work right there and I’m not sure when he sleeps, but I knew I wanted to talk with him about both Tangled Bank and ARC and we touch on some other interesting topics as well. One of the things we touched on is salamander genomes, and JJ pointed me to an article about them in Scientific American - very interesting read and I hope you all enjoy. And thanks once again for coming on the show, JJ - it was so much fun!
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, snakes on an inclined plane, guesses as to the size of your own genome, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Sixty! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we move into spring here in the northern hemisphere.
As always I want to thank all of the patrons of the show – I appreciate your support, there are expenses associated with every entertainment channel, and you really do keep things rolling along. And if you are listening and would like to kick in a few bucks and become a patron of the show, you can do that easy-peasy via Patreon, just go to patreon dot com slash somuchpingle and somuchpingle is all one word. You can also make one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo, just drop me an email to somuchpingle at gmail dot com for more details.
I have another related request – if you enjoy the show, please take a minute to leave a rating on whatever podcatcher you use, and if you have a couple minutes please consider posting a review. Both of those actions go a long way to promote the show and to help new people discover So Much Pingle. And for those of you who have done these things already, thank you very much.
Thanks to the folks who have responded to my request for weird/unusual/spooky stories from the field, and I still need a few more so if you’re sitting on something like that, please get in touch. And as you've heard in the intro for this episode, we'll be scheduling an AMA show for the near future, so if you have questions for the host of the show please send them in via the show email which is somuchpingle@gmail.com. Thanks in advance!
This week's guest is Noah Fields, the host of the popular NKF Herping channel on YouTube, where he has built up quite a following with his content, which takes viewers along into the field in search of amphibians and reptiles.. Noah is someone I've been wanting to talk with since the show's beginning, and after a fun day in the field near Atlanta, Georgia, we sat down at a picnic table and recorded the interview. I also got to make a guest appearance in one of Noah's videos and that was a lot of fun. In addition to NKF Herping, Noah is also on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Thanks for coming on the show, Noah! So much fun. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Nine! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. Spring has finally sprung here in central Illinois, and we’ve had a nice run of warm and sunny days. My furnace isn’t running and we’ve had the windows open, there’s a nice breeze and I can hear the birds chirping as I put these notes together.
So the frog call teaser before the intro is in honor of World Frog Day, which today is, and a happy WFD to all frogs everywhere. Those calls were recorded this past Friday night here in central Illinois. It had been raining for most of the day and into the night, so I met up with my buddy Justin Michels and we visited a few ponds over in the Illinois River country, in search of the elusive Illinois Chorus Frog, Pseudacris illinoensis. We did not see any, but we did hear one lone male calling, which you can hear in the teaser. And there were plenty of peepers and regular chorus frogs calling and we also observed four tiger salamanders as well. A pretty good night.
Now before we get to the show notes portion of the show notes, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons, including our newest Patreon supporter, Will McManus. Thank you, Will! Much appreciated! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
My guests this week are two physicians, Dr. Nick Brandehoff and Dr. Jason Folt, representing the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation. The ASF is a 501c3 non-profit organization, dedicated to reversing the outcomes of venomous snakebites, and they are currently working in a number of countries in Africa. It seems like most of the people I talk to are giving back in some way, and Nick and Jason and the other members of ASF are giving their time and expertise in a most meaningful way.
Be sure to check out the ASF's home page - you can support this worth cause by direct donation and / or making a purchase from the ASF merch store. Please help if you can and thanks in advance. Also, you can follow the ASF on Facebook, and on Instagram as well.
Thank you Nick and Jason for coming on the show, and best of luck with the ASF project! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, snakes on an inclined plane, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Christoph & Violeta Meyer (left) and Susan Myers (right)
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Eight! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. This show is a couple weeks late, thanks to some software issues and me jumping in the car and heading for Georgia and Florida for a week. Thanks for your patience, and the good news is that I recorded another show while down in the southeast, which I will add to the queue of pending episodes.
Now before we get to this week’s episode, I want to thank the patrons of the show, including Dave Weber, our newest member who made a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks Dave, and thank you for all of your kind comments, much appreciated. I also want to thank JJ Apodaca for contributing via Patreon, thanks JJ and folks we will be hearing more from JJ soon, hint hint. And last but not least, a big shout out to Kevin, Ryan, and Hayley Urbanek for their one-time donation, and it was good to see you guys this past week. The Urbaneks are a herping family and they get after it! And thank you as always to all of the people who support the show and help it roll forward. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
For this week’s episode we return once again to the Origin Stories format, and talk with two remarkable people – Christoph Meyer, and Susan Myers. I talked with both of them in Peru, Christoph one day and Susan the next, so I have them in that order to maintain the continuity of some subjects we covered. Just to paint the scene a little bit – we’re at the Santa Cruz field station, in a small cleared area in the rainforest, and which is situated on the edge of a small lagoon. There are six huts, which we call tambos, scattered along the edge of the lagoon, and all of them have shaded back decks facing the water. Our guests can sit on their decks and watch birds and caiman and occasionally an arapaima will break the surface of the lagoon. The decks are a perfect spot for me to record interviews, especially on hot afternoons after lunch when there’s no pressing business at hand.
Thank you Christoph and Susan for talking with me out on the deck! Folks, be sure to check out Christoph's Facebook page for Wildlife Tours Peru. And you may consider a birding tour with Susan through Wings Birding Tours, and I will be watching and waiting for the printing of her latest writing project, The Bird Name Book!
Thanks for listening, everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, herp name origins, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Seven! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. Like many of you out there, I am so ready for winter to be over, or at least, the return of temperatures above the freezing mark! It's been a rough one here in central Illinois.
Now before we get to the show, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons! I appreciate all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
My guest this week is Ben Stegenga, a biologist who lives and works in Georgia, on a number of projects for the Orianne Society. Ben gets to work with some very charismatic herps, including indigo snakes and spotted turtles and of course the stars of this episode, Suwannee alligator snapping turtles. Ben is very busy with his field work, and I was lucky to get an interview with him just before his survey season ramped up and put him out of touch.
Thanks for coming on the show, Ben! And folks, be sure to check out the Orianne Society and please consider supporting them and their worthy conservation efforts. Additionally, check out this research update on the Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtle on the Orianne website, written by Houston Chandler.
Thanks for listening, everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, broomstick bite patterns, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Six! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there. It's Super Bowl Sunday, and I'm back in the US after a couple weeks of herping in Peru. It was great to get back to the rain forest after a two year absence. Our group had a great time and we saw some cool amphibians and reptiles, despite a rather dry start to the rainy season.
Now before we get to the show, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons! I appreciate all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This week's show features my long-time friend, John Sullivan. John and I go way back to the mid nineteen nineties, when the internet was still new and shiny and we were pioneers of a sort. We were among a small group of early adopters when the world wide web was actually called the world wide web, and it was fun to talk with John about those days, and about the many places he’s traveled to in search of herps. John's one of the OG internet herpers, and his trip reports and herp photos from around the world can be found at WildHerps.com, be sure to check it out! John has also posted on the original Field Herp Forum in the past, and for a good example, here's his Thorny Devil Dreaming post - enjoy!
Thanks so much for coming on the show, John! And thanks for listening, everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, shingleback hat photos, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Five! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there as we move into the new year. Here 's the first episode of 2022 and I'm squeezing it in before I leave for Peru later this week. I'm looking forward to returning to the rainforest after a two-year hiatus, and of course I will be recording some interviews while I'm down there.
Now before we get to the show, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons! I appreciate all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
For this week's show I am joined by Justin Michels, Andy O'Connor, and Joshua Wallace for a free-floating, open format discussion - something a little different. I didn’t have any agenda for this discussion, and really I didn’t want one going in, so I didn’t know what we would be talking about. Kind of a different format for the show and I had to edit a bit for continuity and for people talking over each other, and to remove a few expletives. Just a few.
Thanks to Josh, Andy, and Justin for coming on the show, and thanks for listening everyone! Also, Hollywood Squares frame courtesy of 'FromEquestria2LA'. And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, monkey horror stories, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Four! I hope all of you remain safe and healthy out there, and I wish you the best of this holiday season and a Happy New Year. I'm putting this together on New Year's Eve, so this is the last show of the year. 2022 is looking good, and just to give you an update I have a couple recorded episodes in the edit process, and a half dozen interviews that I classify as “agreed to but not yet scheduled”, so January looks to be a busy month. And I’m hoping to record more episodes from Peru when I return there in a few weeks. And of course, I’m just looking forward to getting back to Peru after almost a two-year hiatus.
Now before we get to the show, I want to take a minute to thank all of the show’s patrons, including our newest Patreon supporter, Kam Delahoz. Thank you, Kam! Much appreciated! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
One more thank you to all of the folks who have reached out to me about the show – I appreciate your comments and suggestions, and your ideas for guests, and so forth. Feedback is important and it keeps me from feeling like I’m operating in a giant bubble. Feel free to drop me an email.
Our guest this week is Paul-Erik Bakland. Paul-Erik teaches high school in the Chattanooga Tennessee area, and he has a master’s degree in the biological sciences from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. So Paul-Erik and I are friends on social media and we know each other a little bit, and I happened to see a post he made about the herpetology club that he started at the high school where he teaches. I knew I wanted to hear more about the Herpetology Club, and of course we talked about other things as well.
Thanks for coming on the show, Paul-Erik, and thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, the optimal number of strings on a banjo, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Three! Things are good here in central Illinois, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. I wish you safe travels if you are journeying for the upcoming Christmas holiday season.
Patrons! I want to give a shout-out to new Patreon member Ben Stegenga! Thank you Ben, much appreciated! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty-plus episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Calendars – if you listened to the Bob is Back episode a few weeks back and then bought a calendar from Bob Fersuon,, I want to say thank you very much! Bob broke last year’s record for calendar orders, by more than three hundred! He received over 1100 calendar orders and as most of you know, all of the proceeds go to preserving rainforest habitat for herps and birds and jaguars and so forth. Great work, Bob, and thanks again everyone who participated..
Our guest this week is Tony Daly-Crews. I was on a conference call a few weeks ago with Tony and some other folks, and he was representing the Rattlesnake Conservancy. And while we were talking a little bell went ding somewhere in my brain, and at the end of the call I asked Tony if he would come on the show and talk about the Rattlesnake Conservancy and he graciously said yes. I knew a little but not a lot about this non-profit organization, so I learned quite a bit from my conversation with Tony, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And folks, be sure to check out the Rattlesnake Conservancy webpage and you can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram. You can also buy some merch and/or make a donation to support the organization ( I just did! ).
Thanks for coming on the show, Tony, and thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty Two! Things are good here in central Illinois, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. Safe travels if you are journeying for the Thanksgiving holiday this week.
Patrons! I want to give a shout-out to new Patreon member Alicia Ballard! Thank you Alicia, much appreciated! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Now let’s get to this week’s episode. I made a trip to Florida in October, ostensibly to do some herping, and I had a great time with that, but I also scheduled an interview while I was down there, and so I spent one very fun evening with Dick Bartlett and his wife Patti, along with Jake Scott. Now if you’ve spent any time at all in the world of amphibians and reptiles, you know about Dick Bartlett, and many of you have at least one of the many books put out by Dick and Patti over the years.
While I was dreaming up this podcast back in 2019, I knew I wanted to get Dick and Patti on the show as guests, and I wanted to get Jake involved as well, since he and Dick travel a lot together and I felt the three of them would play off each other during the conversation. I think you’ll agree that my intuition was spot-on in that regard. Sitting at the kitchen table and talking herps with Dick and Patti and Jake for a couple hours was an amazing experience, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thanks for coming on the show Dick, Patti and Jake, it was fun talking with all of you! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, how to tell if you are a placental lizard, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Fifty One! Things are good here in central Illinois, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s good to be back, I’ve been a bit busy over the past few weeks, first there was my usual fall visit to Snake Road, which for me at this point is a chance to see old friends and make some new ones. After that I headed down to Florida to do a little herping, and I managed to get some cool lifers, including Blue-striped Ribbons and Blue-striped Garters, which I had only previously seen DORs. Oh, and my first swamp snake Liodytes pygaea, which got me more than a little excited. I also got to observe a couple Florida softshells foraging in shallow water, and I got some nice photos of that. Elevated boardwalks can be so good for turtle watching. I also got to see several Florida scrub lizards, Sceloporus woodi. There were also Suwannee cooters and gopher tortoises and corn snakes and rat snakes and an Eastern Diamondback, so a pretty good trip, and of course I also recorded some material for the show and I can’t wait to get that out to you all.
Patrons! I want to give a shout-out to new Patreon member Sal Scibetta! Thank you Sal, much appreciated! And thanks to Michael Moffat, who increased his monthly contribution - thanks Michael! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I’m very happy to have Bob Ferguson back on the show, many of you will recall that Bob was featured on Episode 7 way back in the day. So I brought Bob back on to talk about his calendar project which I think is amazing. If you know Bob even a little, you’re aware he’s a very passionate person, with a lot of energy. Bob’s been producing and selling calendars for ten years now and he’s raising a ton of dough for some worthwhile causes that support herps and other wildlife, and I’m just in awe of what he’s accomplished with it.
Getting Calendars - you can contact Bob directly via social media, or you can visit his Fascinature Etsy shop for easy-peasy ordering. If you use the Etsy option, there’s a coupon code for 5 dollars off a calendar, and that code is PINGLE5. If you order two calendars, use the code PINGLE10 for five bucks off each. Three calendars, PINGLE15, and if you want to order more than three, contact Bob and he’ll give you the details on some bulk discounts and remember folks, all the proceeds go to a good cause.
Thanks for coming on the show Bob, it was fun talking with you again! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, how to tell if you are a placental lizard, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone, I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there, and welcome to Episode Fifty! Yay! It feels good to make it to half-a-hundred shows. It’s a nice milestone to reach!. And this episode features another installment of Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn, and I’m very excited about that and I hope you are too.
Patrons! I want to give a shout-out to Peter Berg for his one-time contribution. Thanks Pete! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going and to reach fifty episodes!. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
I’m excited to put out another installment of Herp Science Sunday, as I received some encouraging feedback and comments about the first show Alex and I did. Plus I just enjoy talking to Alex, his enthusiasm is contagious and I love hearing his perspective on all things herpetological. We will be talking once again about two different papers, but the conversation also veers off on an unexpected and totally cool tangent and I will attempt to tie it all up in a neat and tidy package in the epilog after our conversation.
First paper up for discussion:
Bromeliad Sampling: A Passive Technique for Arboreal Amphibians across Ecosystems in the Neotropics Yonatan Aguilar-Cruz, Marıa de los Angeles Arenas-Cruz, Leticia M. Ochoa-Ochoa, and Gerhard Zotz Ichthyology & Herpetology 109, No. 1, 2021, 211–218
Second paper:
Frequency modulation of rattlesnake acoustic display affects acoustic distance perception in humans Michael Forsthofer, Michael Schutte, Harald Luksch, Tobias Kohl, Lutz Wiegrebe, Boris P. Chagnaud Current Biology 31, 1–6, October 11 2021
For this rattlesnake acoustics paper, be sure to check out the associated YouTube video that provides insight into how the experiments were run.
Bonus paper!
Homoplasy: The Result of Natural Selection, or Evidence of Design Limitations? David B. Wake The American Naturalist, Vol. 138, No. 3 (Sep., 1991), pp. 543-567 (see page 560 for miniaturization discussion)
You can get all three papers from the SciHub repository, or you can drop me an email and I will send you a PDF.
And as always, thanks for listening everyone! Please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, how to see your own genome using this one weird trick, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty Nine! Things are good here in central Illinois, and I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. Here we go with another midweek episode because once again I will be out and about this weekend. A lot of folks say that May is THE month for finding amphibians and reptiles, here in the Northern Hemisphere. But I have to say that I am nearly as busy in October as I am in May, and I see herps in comparable numbers. So I have a big block of away-time coming up in mid-October so I will be working in new episodes as I can. And as always, I will be bringing my mobile recording rig on my journeys in order to talk with people, because those opportunities are too good to pass up. And I’m looking forward to some long hikes on warm October afternoons, and cool nights around a campfire. And I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends and maybe making some new ones.
Patrons! Thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
So this week’s show features another one of those rambling around-the-room discussions that I occasionally capture. And one was recorded this past June, in Mexico City. To be more precise, in a hotel next to the airport in Mexico City, and I had to do some fancy filtering to remove most of the sounds of jet engines taking off and landing. This was at the tail end of a herping adventure in Puebla and Veracruz, mostly Veracruz, and about half of our group had already flown home and the rest of us were waiting our turns. This was a long trip, two full weeks plus travel days, and everyone was very tired when I turned on the recorder. So you can tell from the show’s opening minutes that the energy level in the room was lower than low, but as the discussion progressed you can hear folks getting a little more animated about the subject material and their brains were getting fully engaged, just proving that many of us are never too tired to talk about rattlesnakes.
I want to thank Mack, Andy, John, Bryan, Tim, Armin, Andrew, Pat, and Max for pulling themselves up on one elbow and joining in the discussion. And as always, thanks for listening everyone! Please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty Eight! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. We're edging towards fall here and that means that a trip to southern Illinois is looming - time for another visit to Snake Road, to visit with friends and walk the road and maybe see a serpent or twenty. I'm looking forward to it as I always do.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank our latest Patreon member, Pearson McGovern! Thank you so much for supporting the show, Pearson! I also want to thank Tom Eles for his recent one-time PayPal contribution. Much appreciated, Pearson and Tom, nd thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. And folks, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
For this week’s episode, we return you to the continent of Australia, and Dr. James Van Dyke is our guest. Van as he likes to be called, is a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at La Trobe University’s Wodonga Campus, in Victoria, Australia (Van's professional page is here). Now some of you may remember Van from the old Field Herp Forum where his handle was VanAR. As Dr. Van Dyke he has been living, working, and studying in Australia since 2012, and he’s been involved with a number of very interesting projects, and I talked with him about sideneck turtles and placental lizards and a few other interesting topics.
Areas of interest connected to Van's work with sideneck include the TurtleSat Community Mapping Project, off to a great start with over 10K turtles mapped to date, and the One Million Turtles community conservation program which seeks to involve local communities in releasing a million baby turtles into Southeast Australian river drainages each year.
Thanks Van for coming on the show! It's cool that we could have a conversation from opposite sides of the planet, and hopefully the world will get better soon and travel becomes a possibility again. And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, how to tell if you are a placental lizard, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty Seven! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. I'm back in SMP World Headquarters after a brief hiatus (AKA herping) in Mexico of all places. I went down to Baja California with a group of folks and we dipped all the way down to the northern portions of Baja Sur, and I can now claim to have traveled every inch of Mexico’s highway one. I'm thinking there should be a patch or a merit badge for that. So a couple thousand miles in a little Chevy Spark and here’s a shout-out to Jake Scott for being an excellent companion in that tiny car’s close quarters. One step above a clown car and yet it only held two clowns and their luggage.
PATRONS: I want to thank all of the show’s patrons who contribute to keep this show rolling. It goes without saying that I appreciate each and every one of you. And here together for the first time is a list of all the show's supoorters to date: Justin Michels, Jason Jones of Herp MX, Smetlogik AKA Rob Kreutzer, Ryan Borgmann, Joshua Wallace, Jill Rials, Marty Whalin, Chris Smith, Dr. Emily Taylor, John Burris, Kamil Scepanski, Brandon Kong, Issac Chellman, Dr James van Dyke, Brandon Ballard, Mike Rochford, Josef Thompson, Dr. Alex Krohn, Matt Ratcliffe, Jeroen Speybroek, Bryan Hughes, Brandon Bourassa, Josh Holbrook, James McGhee, Michael Moffat, Andy O’Connor, Jake Scott, Deb Krohn, Duane McDermott, John Sullivan, Josh Emms, Justin Elden, Matt Cage, Patrick Connolly, Chris McMartin, Michael Cravenss, Ana Ware, Tim Warfel, David Burkart, Adam Cooner, Dr. Bill Peterman, Cynthia Samake, Paul-Erik Bakland, William Bone, Jeremiah Easter, Richard Legere, Tom Eles, Jeremy Schumacher, Neill Jones, Alec Gordon, Martin Habecker, Daniel Dye, Clint Henke, Ross Maynard, Nick Sobel, Moses Michelsohn, Myles Masterson, and Ben Genter. Now THAT is quite a list, and some of the coolest people I know. Thank you all.
Andrew DuBois is our featured guest for this episode. Andrew and I have been friends for a number of years and we've been to a number of amazing herp spots across the planet in that time. Andrew is a senior natural resources specialist (and a wildlife ecologist) with Jefferson County Open Space in Colorado and part of our conversation centered on the work he does there with leopard frogs, prairie rattlesnakes, and other interesting critters. Microphone or not, I enjoy talking to Andrew, he is a deep thinker, and I always come away from our conversations having learned something new or seeing something from a different perspective. Aside from collecting data and managing the herps and other flora and fauna that live on the 55K acres across JCOS, Andrew and other colleagues also engage with the general public who recreate on these lands, and I've included some related links, including Jefferson County Open Space Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Andrew also took part in a rattlesnake education video produced by JCOS which provides an excellent overview of the single species of rattlesnake that can be found within JCOS, how to tell it apart from harmless snakes, and where and under what conditions rattlesnakes might be encountered. Very useful for Coloradans who may encounter snakes within JCOS.
Backpack 'Clip Card' mentioned in the show.
As always I enjoyed talking with Andrew, not only about the work he's engaged in, but also about herpetofauna and herping as well. You can find Andrew on Instagram and Twitter, his email is adubois@jeffco.us and his professional profile is on Weebly.
Thanks for coming on the show again, Andrew! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Matt and Joe
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty Six! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. It’s the dog days of summer here at So Much Pingle world headquarters and the afternoons are plenty hot and humid. The flower garden still looks pretty good, but the tomato plants are scraggly and tired. But in my general area it’s also the time of year when female copperheads and rattlesnakes are close to giving birth. I got to see a couple gravid timber rattlesnakes last weekend while out with some friends, and the snakes looked ready to pop and I expect they will do so in just a few short weeks. And of course when gravid snakes are encountered, I prefer just to hang back and observe them without any real disturbance, just let them do their thing and I’m grateful just to see them.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank our latest Patreon member, Benjamin Genter! Thank you so much for supporting the show, Ben! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. And folks, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This week's episode features a conversation with Joe Ehrenberger, and while the main thrust of the interview concerns the venomous snake training that Joe provides to first responders and other professionals, we talk about much, much more. Joe and I have been friends for quite a while, and we’ve shared some cool adventures over the years, including trips to Mexico and Cuba. Joe and his wife Kelly are new parents to a little cutie bug named Emma, and they are quite busy as you might imagine, so I was happy to get a little chunk of time with Joe for this interview. Joe has environmental consulting company out in the Denver area, and we talked about some of the projects the company is involved with, including one in particular. And there is a bonus guest appearance by Matt Cage, friend of the show and my Peruvian herping buddy. Matt works with Joe doing venomous snake training modules and so we’re getting two perspectives on that important work.
Thanks Joe and Matt for coming on the show! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, the best gloves for wrangling caterpillars, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty Five! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there. I myself have been a little bit under the weather and the show is about a week behind schedule, so thanks for your patience with regard to new episodes.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank our latest Patreon member, Myles Masterson! Thank you so much for supporting the show, Myles! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
For this week's episode, we return to the Origin Stories format, for which I've gotten a lot of positive feedback. There are four segments featuring Maximiliano Monroy Sánchez, Brandon Curtis, Jeff Dragon, and Kyran Leeker. I interviewed Max at the tail-end of a recent trip to Mexico, and I talked with Brandon and Jeff together at about the mid-point of that trip, in a small hotel precariously perched on the side of a mountain. Kyran's segment is a more formal interview, which was done more recently. I hope you enjoy these four segments as much as I did! And of course, we talk about much, much more than the central question of how everyone came to be interested in amphibians and reptiles....
Thank you Max, Brandon, Jeff, and Kyran, it was great to hang out and chat with you all, and to get your origin stories! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, the best gloves for wrangling caterpillars, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello again, everyone, and welcome to Episode Forty Four! I hope you all remain safe and healthy out there! It's hot, humid, and full-bore summer here at the SMP world headquarters, so I took a little time off yesterday for some creek walking and queen-snaking. The cold water felt great and there were plenty of Nerodia sipedon and Regina septemvittata to observe. I like the fact that when it's miserably hot, I can change my game a little and still get some herp-time in.
Patrons! Thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This week's guest is Dr. Heather Bateman, an associate professor at at Arizona State University’s College of Integrative Science and Arts, and a wildlife ecologist as well as an educator. Heather is the recent co-author of the paper “Unwanted Residential Wildlife: Evaluating Social-Ecological Patterns for Snake Removals” published in Global Ecology and Conservation earlier this year It's an interesting paper and a little complicated, and I'm grateful to Dr. Bateman for unpacking the publication and breaking it down for me. Also, ASU put together a short 3 min video that gives a little back story to the Bateman et al. paper - it's very well done and it features Heather and Bryan Hughes and some cute buzztails, so be sure to check it out!
Thanks for coming on the show, Heather! I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and we also chatted about some of her other projects (she is a busy person!). And as always, thanks for listening everyone! Please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello again, everyone, and welcome to Episode Forty Three! I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we move through July and into the peak of summer (sort of, it's been very rainy and mild where I live for the past few weeks).
Patrons! Thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
For this episode, I talked with Jeff and Berk Martineau from Mesa, Arizona, and I appreciate them giving me some of their time in the middle of peak herping season out their way. I recently got acquainted with these two herp enthusiasts, and I missed a chance to record with them in person earlier this spring (the wind in the desert was howling that night).
Berk and Jeff have a channel called 'Catch It' on YouTube, and we discussed how that got started, and how their content, style, and delivery have changed over time. A healthy set of subscribers means that extra care must be taken with the show's content and I appreciated our discussion about this, and the brothers' thoughtful approach. We also talked about field herping in various places and I really enjoyed their energy and enthusiasm.
The brothers are both on Instagram as @JB_Martineau (Berk) and @WJMartineau (Jeff), and be sure to check out their Catch It channel on YouTube. Jeff also does some herp-related artwork in various media, including t-shirts and decals, so be sure to check that out, lots of awesome designs.
Thank you Jeff and Berk, really great to hang out and chat with you two! And thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, MEMs, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Illustrations from the Varanus and Spadefoot papers. Click image for full size
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty Two! It's good to be back after a bit of a vacation, I was off in Mexico for a few weeks, chasing some herps in various locations. But as always, I am not idle while on the road, and I captured some recordings for future episodes because that's how this show rolls.
SMP Patrons! I want to thank our latest Patreon member, Moses Michelsohn! Thank you so much for supporting the show, Moses! And thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
This episode comes out of the mind of Dr. Alex Krohn and some fortunate happenstance. I've been looking for a way to talk about herp science in general, without boring everyone to tears, and Alex suggested that we have an informal chat (that's just my game) about some of the recently published herp papers that we think are cool, and that our listening audience would think are cool as well. So this episode is our Herp Science Sunday kickoff, and we plan to do this once a month or so. I hope you all enjoy it as much as Alex and I did! This episode features two papers, and here they are:
"Ecosystem engineering by deep-nesting monitor lizards" published in Ecology and full PDF available here.
"Confirmation Bias Perpetuates Century-Old Ecological Misconception: Evidence Against ‘Secretive’ Behavior of Eastern Spadefoots" published in the Journal of Herpetology
Now as I mentioned after the show, it's not always easy to get access to recent scientific papers, so if you would like a copy of one or both of the papers we discussed, send me a note to somuchpingle@gmail.com and I will get them to you.
Extra Credit: To go along with the Varanus spiral burrow paper, here's a link to the Wikipedia page on Palaeocastor, a genus of extinct beavers who, like the monitors, excavated spiral burrows in early Miocene Nebraska - really cool with some interesting photos. Check it out!
One More Thing: If you like Herp Science Sunday, please let us know! Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, corkscrew techniques for the left-handed, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty One! It is the Memorial Day weekend here in the United States, and this weekend also marks the one year anniversary for the So Much Pingle podcast! And that makes this episode the last of Season One! Who knows where Season Two will take us? It's a mystery to me too.
Patrons! I want to take the time to thank all of the folks who help to support the show, either through Patreon or other means - I can't tell you how much I appreciate your generosity. You really do keep this thing rolling.
I also want to thank all of my guests! So many folks to thank for agreeing to come on the show and talk with me, it's been a real pleasure talking with each and every one of you. And also appreciate all of the folks who have taken the time to give me feedback about the show, and suggestions for topics and future guests. Very important to me and to the show.
This episode comes to you from Paraguay, more precisely from the airport Holiday Inn in downtown Asunción, at the end of a difficult and challenging herp expedition. I sat down with Devon, Tim, Jake, Dermot, Matt, and our new friend Jose to break down the experience, and thanks to all of those folks for their participation. And I want to give a shout-out to Josh, Becca, and Rachel, we missed you!
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, the correct lyrics for La Bamba, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty! I hope you all remain safe and healthy here in this fine month of May, the busiest of months for those of us in North America who enjoy getting out and seeing amphibians and reptiles. I just got back from a trip out west where John, Tim and I drove all over Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah, and we saw a bunch of cool herps, including a dozen or so species that were new to me. As per usual I bring my mobile recording studio along, in the hopes of recording something interesting, and this trip did not disappoint. But first, PATRONS! Here’s a shout-out to new supporter Nick Scobel! Thank you so much, Nick, for supporting the show, and thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
For this episode, I was fortunate enough to spend a little time on California's Carrizo Plain with a group doing research and conservation work with the blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila). After a long day of lizard looking, and lizard lassoing, and lizard processing, I sat around a campfire on a chilly evening and recorded a conversation with Robert Hansen, Emily Taylor, Katie Rock, and Savanna Weaver (They're all under the lizard in the photo). Bob of course is of course the long-time editor of Herp Review, and you will remember Emily Taylor from Episode Twelve recorded last summer. I also spoke with Katie Rock about "Quantifying the Gender Gap in Authorship in Herpetology", an interesting paper that she and her coauthors published in the March 2021 volume of Herpetologica (and is featured on the cover!). NOTE: If you don't have access to the paper, drop me an email to somuchpingle@gmail.com and I will send it to you. And last but not least, Savannah Weaver gave us the lowdown on the blunt-nosed leopard lizard and her ongoing research project.
Thanks Bob, Emily, Katie and Savannah! I had such a great time talking with all of you! Now of course, after listening to the show you'll want to follow these folks on Twitter: Emily (@snakeymama), Katie (@KatietheeRock), and Savannah (@ScienceWithSav).
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, lizard lasso techniques, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Nine! And I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we move towards May, a busy time for herps and herp lovers in many places across the planet.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new supporters Martin Habecker and Daniel Dye! Thank you so much for supporting the show, and thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
In this episode, we talk with Ross Maynard about the Rio Mandiriacu Reserve, up in the mountains of northwestern Ecuador. Now this conversation with Ross hits a lot of marks for me - new species of amphibians, conservation work, and adventure travel in foreign lands, and I hope you enjoy it as well as I did. Ross works for the Biodiversity Group and he and other members are actively engaged in preserving critical habitat for many poorly known and endangered species in Ecuador. See the photo gallery below for more images of the reserve, as well as some of the amphibians mentioned on the show, including Rhaebo ollalai and Nymphargus mandiriacu.
I encourage all of my listeners to help the Rio Mandiriacu Reserve project if possible. You can learn more about the Biodiversity Group here, and you can make direct donations as well.
There is also The Biodiversity Group conservation swag & art shop on Etsy (all products made by Nathalie Aall to raise funds for TBG research efforts), and you can also check out Nathalie's personal Etsy store for more cool art.
Another way you can contribute is via Cameras for Conservation (for donations of functional cameras and other field equipment for reserve staff and local community members)
Also, be sure to check out Fundación EcoMinga, the NGO that manages the Río Manduriacu Reserve. EcoMinga's pages highlight plants and animals from protected reserves, many of them new species, and you get a good idea of what's at stake here. Also see Fundación Condor Andino, the NGO that Sebastian Kohn founded and operates (the original land owner of the Manduriacu Reserve--he is responsible for initiating the research and protection of the reserve).
Thanks for listening everyone! And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, Yaqui origin stories, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Eight of the SMP show! I hope you all remain safe and healthy, and it's great to be back after a few weeks off. I was not idle during that time, I was out in the field for 21 days, and I recorded material for several shows during that time, including this one.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new supporters Jeremy Schumacher, Neill Jones, and Alec Gordon! Thank you so much for supporting the show, and thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).
Weekend at Armin's was just that - an opportunity to walk around a large group of field herpers and get some stories from them, while enjoying some fantastic jambalaya and adult beverages. Thanks once again to everyone who participated - I always appreciate it!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, Yaqui origin stories, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Seven! I hope you all remain safe and healthy and hopefully many of you are getting your vaccine doses. Spring is here where I live and I managed to get the intros and outros recorded for this episode despite a trio of chainsaws working on a tree in the neighbor's yard. Tricky timing but done.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new supporter Tom Eles from Ontario! Tom took the PayPal option and thank you so much good sir. Hopefully we will meet again this year. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email).
This week's guest is Robert Villa from Tucson, Arizona. Robert and I have corresponded over the years, and have never met, so I looked forward to having a nice chat with him, and sure did. Robert is interested in all kinds of different subjects and that makes him interesting as well. We talked about so many different things that it is hard to characterize this show, but at the root of it all is the toad, more specifically the Sonoran Desert Toad, and everything else we discussed is related in some way.
During our conversation, Robert and I talked about spotted box turtles (Terrapene nelsoni), and folks, he wrote a great article about them for Medium entitled "Tortuga de la Sierra Madre - My encounter with a cryptic and elusive turtle" and I urge you to check that out. Robert is also the current president of the Tucson Herpetological Society, and it just so happens that the guest speaker for March will be Gary Nabhan, and the topic will be “Traditional Knowledge and Conservation of Reptiles with the Seri People” which is related to some of the things Robert and I talked about, and that’s a Monday March 22nd Zoom meeting, so check it out! And finally, for more information and discussion on possible border species between Mexico and the United States' check out the thread entitled "Possible Country Records for the US" which was created by Don Cascabel on the old Field Herp Forum.
Thanks Robert! Such a fun talk.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, Yaqui origin stories, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Six! I hope everyone remains happy and healthy as we move into spring here in the northern hemisphere. It is a wild and wooly day out today here in central Illinois, with high winds and freezing rain, but spring will not be denied.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Jeremiah Easter and Richard Legere! Thank you Jeremiah, and thank you Richard, and thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email).
For this week's episode, I packed up my recording gear and headed to southern Illinois, to participate in another Snoring Thunder adventure. After a late Thursday night out chasing frogs in the middle of heavy rains, on Friday afternoon I sat down with Justin Michels and Jeremy Schumacher to discuss Snoring Thunder, crawfish frogs, Illinois chorus frogs, and a few other things. That night we went out again and found a few more crawfish frogs before Justin and I made the long, late night drive back to our homes.
Many thanks to Jeremy and Justin for sitting down with me and having a fun chat.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, your best frog calls, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Five! Apologies for the delay, thanks for your patience, and much warmth and good wishes to everyone.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: William Bone! Thank you William! And thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance! One More Important Thing: If you haven't done so already, please take a moment and rate the show on your podcast platform - it really helps folks to find the show.
Our guest this week is Jason Jones, one of the cofounders of the HerpMX project. I'm so grateful to Jason for coming on the show, as HerpMX is a favorite thing of mine, and for many other people as well. It’s hard to find anyone out there in the herp community who hasn’t heard of Herp MX, and indeed this group has a tremendous following on social media, and for good reason. And if you go to the project’s website, which is simply herpmx, you can dive deep into herp adventure, species quests, scientific knowledge, and herp conservation in Mexico. If I sound like a fanboy it’s because I am one. I love back story – I love the deep details behind amphibians and reptiles, and Jason Jones and the rest of the HerpMX crew do a great job of providing depth and detail. You can follow HerpMX on Facebook, and the project is also on Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you Jason, and thanks to the entire HerpMX crew for all of the great work!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Four! Here's a shout-out to all of the people in Texas, I hope today finds you recovering from the terrible weather last week. Much warmth and good wishes to everyone.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Bill Peterman, Cynthia Samake, and Paul-Erik Bakland!. Thank you Bill and Cynthia and Paul-Erik! And thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
Our guest this week is Dr. Chris Jenkins, CEO of the Orianne Society. In addition to operating Orianne, Chris also hosts the Snake Talk podcast, which is great and I've enjoyed listening to about half of the episodes so far, and I also made an appearance on the show with Don Becker to talk about the HerpMapper Project. Of course I wanted to talk with Chris about Orianne, and about Snake Talk, but we also talked about rattlesnakes! I'm always down to chat about crotes, and it was good to hear Chris's perspective on observing and enjoying our buzzy buddies in the wild, and not surprisingly, we share some of the same sentiments about enjoying rattlesnakes in a hands-off manner.
I had a great talk with Dr. Jenkins and I hope you all take the time to visit the Orianne Society's landing page and see what the organization is all about. And if you haven't already done so, check out Snake Talk! You can reach it via the Orianne page, or search for it on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for coming on the show, Chris!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, places you've never herped but really want to, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Three! The polar vortex continues here in east-central Illinois, the mercury is pooled at the bottom of the thermometer, so put on a sweatshirt, make yourself a cuppa, and pull up a piping hot episode about frogs! Our guest this week is Jodi Rowley, a conservation biologist with the Australian Museum in Sydney. Jodi has been involved with frog field research in Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other places, and she is also involved with a very cool community science project called FrogID.
On her Facebook page, Jodi describes herself as "a conservation biologist obsessed with amphibians", which is something a lot of us can identify with. I've enjoyed her enthusiasm and passion for frogs on social media and I was not surprised to have those signals come in loud and clear during our conversation. Along with her field research, we discussed the Australian FrogID project, which has been tremendously successful in getting ordinary folks involved with recording calling amphibians, and these days, species conservation absolutely requires the attention and involvement of everyone.
Thanks for coming on the show, Jodi! I had a great time talking about frogs (I guess that's no surprise to anyone). And folks, you can follow the FrogID project on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.
PARC: As I mentioned in the show, here are some links for Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation: the main PARC page, and a 'find PARC' page with a map that identifies which PARC chapters cover which regions. Check it out!
PATREONERS! Thank you so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, frog calls you can learn from home, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode Thirty Two! Holy cow it's cold here (thank you polar vortex!) and I'm just gonna stay inside today. I've got my coffee, I'm thinking of warm places and I'm whispering encouraging words to the furnace, so it's all good.
Before we get into this week's episode, I hope you enjoyed Episode 31, the Jargon Episode, and if you liked the panel discussion format, I would love to hear from you about it. If you have suggestions for another discussion-type show, send them to me and thanks!
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: David Burkart, and Adam Cooner!. Thank you Dave and Adam, and thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
Our guest this week is Dusty Rhoads, a Texan living in Texas, who recently completed his Master's degree at TCU. This episode focuses on two of Dusty's ongoing interests - the Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (Bogertophis subocularis), and the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum). So many people (including me) were introduced to the "H-Snake" by reading "The Search for Subocularis", a chapter in the late Carl Kauffeld's book Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept. Our guest Dusty literally wrote the book on Subocs (see photo) and has a book on Texas Horned Lizards coming soon. I enjoyed our talk and learned quite a bit more about these iconic reptiles, and by the way, Dusty still has copies of his book available (send a note to 'subocs@gmail.com').
Thanks for coming on the show, Dusty! And folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty One, recorded on New Year's Day! And I hope you all remain happy and healthy and that 2021 will be a good year for all of you.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Anastasia Ware, and Tim Warfel!. Thank you Anastasia and Tim, and thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
So this week's episode features a different format - a panel discussion with guest hosts Andy O'Connor (top photo, right) and Justin Michels (bottom photo, right). The three of us had an enjoyable conversation as we waded through a list of words and phrases that were sent to me by the listening audience. Of course, we didn't cover everything, and we did wander away from the subject here and there, but we still knocked out a significant chunk of the list. I hope you enjoy the episode and please drop me a note to let me know your thoughts.
Also, in the epilog after the show I mentioned Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained which is a website created by Ellin Beltz. Check it out and I hope you find it useful. One more thing - more information on the etymology of the word 'terrapin' can be found in my Getting To Terrapin blog post (links to scholarly info in second paragraph).
Thanks for coming on the show Justin and Andy! Good to talk with you both. And folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, catbird seating arrangements, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello again everyone, and welcome to Episode Thirty! Today's episode was recorded just before Christmas. And I hope you are all doing well - keeping your heads down and remaining healthy.
PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Michael Cravens!. Thanks Mike, and thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
Our guest this week is Gina Zwicky, a New Orleans biologist who studies reptile immunogenetics, and leads NOLA FrogWatch trips. I follow Gina on Twitter (she's @GinaGoesOutside) and I enjoyed getting to know her during our conversation. We talked about her immunogenetics research (more specifically, anoles and malaria), Meatball The Tortoise, some interesting earlier work she did in the Pacific Northwest, and FrogWatch USA, which has chapters all over the place (see the link for more info), and hey, there's a FrogWatch online training seminar coming up on Feb 1st.
Thanks for coming on the show, Gina, and Happy New Year folks! Let’s stay safe and healthy! Thanks again to all my Patreoners, and folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, sulcata demolition teams, tips for herping better, etc.
Cheers! Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Nine! I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we make our way into 2021. I took a few weeks off over the holidays to rest and recharge, but I also recorded some interviews, including this episode.
PATREONERS! Here's a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Josh Emms, Matt Cage, Patrick Connally, Chris McMartin, and Justin Elden. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
Our guest for this week's episode is Jeff Lemm, a zoo-based herpetologist/researcher based in southern California. Jeff has been involved with many research and conservation projects in various places around the planet, and I enjoyed talking with him about some of that. Jeff has also been the author of several excellent book projects - he is the author of the Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (part of the California Natural History Guides series) in 2008. Living in the San Diego region, Jeff was a natural for putting this guide together (and let me tell you, writing field guides is a labor of love, emphasis on labor).
Jeff has also been heavily involved in research and conservation efforts for West Indian rock iguanas (genus Cyclura), and consequently he is a coauthor of Cyclura: Natural History, Husbandry, and Conservation of West Indian Rock Iguanas.
Jeff has also spent a considerable amount of time in Australia, which we discuss in our conversation. We also talked about his role as a principal architect of the North American Field Herping Association (NAFHA). I hope you enjoy our conversation, I sure did!
So Happy New Year folks, and let's stay safe and healthy! Thanks again to all my Patreoners, and folks, if you haven't done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use - that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, favorite Croc Hunter episodes, tips for herping better, etc.
Ryan Borgmann and his daughter
Hello everyone! Welcome to Episode Twenty Eight! I had so much positive feedback from the Origin Stories episode, I knew I would have to do another. I started collecting interviews last May, and finished up the last one here in December. Five stories. Three hours. I may have gone a bit overboard, but you all have been very good this year, haven't you?
PATREONERS! I want to give a shout-out to our new patreon contributors since the last episode: Michael Moffat, Andy O’Connor, Jake Scott, Deb Krohn, Duane McDermott, and John Sullivan. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
Marisa Ishimatsu
Let's break it down for this week's guests! First up is Ryan Borgmann. Ryan lives in Longmont, Colorado, and I've used this picture of him and his daughter before. Ryan's photographic work (including his Beauty of the Misunderstood work) can be found at No Coast Photography.
Our second guest is Marisa Ishimatsu from San Rafael, California. You may remember Marisa from the recent Best-Worst episode. Her photography can be found on Flickr. The photo is from Peru and she's having all the fun.
Josh Emms lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is the current president of the New Mexico Herpetological Society. Some of Josh's family (see photo) had cameos on his segment and that was a lot of fun.
Josh Emms and family
Kamil Scepanski came on the show on short notice and it was fun talking to him about salamanders. His cool website is here (translatable to English) and here's a link about the California newt migration that we talked about. His photo is a happy one, after finding Pleurodeles nebulosus in Tunisia.
Closing out the show is Deb Krohn, AKA The Frog Lady. I enjoyed talking with Deb and I think she makes a tough job look easy. Deb lives in the Chicago area and operates FrogLady Presentations.
Kamil in Tunisia with Pleuredeles.
So there you have it! Thank you all for your comments, suggestions, advice, support, Patreon support, and for listening to the show! I love hearing people tell me that they listen to the show while in the car. Have a great, safe, and healthy holiday season everyone, and we will talk again next year!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, holiday baking recipes, tips for herping better, etc.
Deb Krohn AKA The FrogLady
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Seven! And we add yet another country to the list with this episode, a lengthy conversation with Belgian researcher / author/ herper Jeroen Speybroeck, recorded on Thanksgiving. We had a lot to talk about during this episode, including Jeroen's fire salamander research, herping in various places around the globe, and also his very good field guide to the herps of Britain and Europe (see second photo). Jeroen and I are both life listers, and we talk about that a bit, and for the second show in a row, Australian thorny devils (Moloch) are discussed (top photo of lucky Jeroen and a thorny devil, I'm just a bit envious).
After the interview and before this episode was released, I got a copy of the Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Britain and Europe (available on Amazon!). Between the species descriptions, range maps, and lovely species illustrations by Ilian Velikov, the book is excellent, and Jeroen and his collaborators should be proud of the work. I've been poring over my copy, stroking my goatee and making future plans...
Another thing Jeroen and I have in common is the documenting of herp adventures - his trip reports can be found here and are most certainly worth your time. Jeroen is also on Facebook and Instagram. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
PATREONERS! I want to give a shout-out to our new patreon contributors since the last episode: Mike Rochford, Josef Thompson, Alex Krohn, Matt Ratcliffe, Jeroen Speybroeck, Bryan Hughes, Brandon Bourassa, Josh Holbrook, and James Mcghee. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, life list bragging sessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Six! We've had shows coming from the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and now we get to add Australia to the list. Last month I talked with Scott Eipper, who hails from Brisbane, up in southeast Queensland. Scott and his wife Tie own and operate Nature 4 You, and though their company they are involved in wildlife demonstrations and education, surveys, consulting, and more Scott and I talked about his work, but it was also great to chat about herping in Australia, and some of the differences and similarities to North American herping. I enjoyed Scott's perspectives, and I have to say that I got more than a little pumped about someday visiting Australia, and perhaps the date for 'someday' just got bumped up a little bit.
We also talked about Scott's book projects (see above photo), co-authored either with his wife Tie or with Peter Rowland. I have the frog book, and it's pretty good - I will have to pick up more before I head over to you know where.
Patreon: This episode marks the Patreon kickoff for the So Much Pingle podcast, and a number of folks were kind enough to respond the first day! Many thanks and an SMP shout-out to Justin M, HerpMX, Jill Rials, Smetlogik, Joshua Wallace, Ryan "Jungle Deviant" Borgmann, Marty Whalin, Christopher Smith, Emily Taylor, John Burris, Kamil S, Brandon Kong, ChellsBells, James van Dyke, and Brandon Ballard! Much appreciated. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, roos and wallabies, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello again everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Five! The episode where I experiment with a different format - 13 segments featuring a baker's dozen of folks sharing their best and worst (or worst and best) experiences in the realm of amphibians and reptiles. That's twenty six anecdotes, if you think about it. I have been collecting these tales of woe and woah for a few months now - many thanks to Andy, Mack, Bryan, Phil, Matt, Marisa, Shaun, Brandon, John, Pat, Alex, and Justin for your participation in this project. I had a lot of fun talking with this group and (with one notable exception) no two stories are alike!
STATE OF THE PODCAST NOTE: I’m still working on making some merchandise available, and I hope to have that and a Patreon supporter page available soon! Thanks for your patience!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tales of two cities, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hey there everyone! Welcome to Episode Twenty Four! Thanks for your patience, I had a lot of crazy stuff going on over the past couple of weeks! I think I'm back on track again and I plan on releasing another episode next week for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. This week's guest is my friend and co-author, Josh Holbrook, and this past October I got to sit around a campfire with Josh, down in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, and we had a nice fireside chat.
The picture of Josh that I chose for these show notes was taken down in the Peruvian rainforest last March. Josh is an ecologist who specializes in wetlands, and he was in the process of setting a series of aquatic traps in a small forest creek. Looking at the photo, I think it's safe to say that Josh was having a pretty good time!
FUTURE SHOW NOTE: My request for herp jargon is coming to an end – the window closes after this weekend! I’ve got a neat little pile, but I could use a little more! Get those pithy phrases and clever words to me via the show email below, and we’ll get a future episode together from the results!
STATE OF THE PODCAST NOTE: I'm still working on making some merchandise available, and I hope to have that and a Patreon supporter page available soon! Thanks for your patience!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, salad recipes, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Three! I like turtles, you like turtles, we all like turtles, so I'm very happy to have Carl Franklin on the show to talk about - turtles. There's Carl in the photo with a double-handful of Alligator Snappers. Carl is a very busy person, with an impressive list of accomplishments to date, and along with talking about turtles, we also cover a number of other topics - including flying turtles, weaponized turtles, and worm lizards. And who doesn't like worm lizards? It's been a long while since I spoke with Carl, so I was happy to sit down with him for ninety minutes and do some catching up, and I hope you all enjoy our conversation as well. It was so much fun for me.
And folks, be sure to check out the Texas Turtles website, and if you can, get yourself a cool tshirt and help out Texas Turtles and of course, Texas turtles. Conservation, research, and outreach, y'all.
Also - if you're interested in worm lizards and amphisbaenians in general, check out WormLizard.org for more information. I've managed to see a few different types over the years and I find them fascinating.
FUTURE SHOW NOTE: My request for herp jargon is coming to an end – the window closes in one week! I’ve got a neat little pile, but I need more! Get those pithy phrases and clever words to me via the show email below, and we’ll get a future episode together from the results!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, flying turtles, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone! We're going to hang around south of the border for just a while longer. Episode Twenty Two was recorded in September in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at the tail-end of a two week visit to Baja Sur. Tim, Bryan, Matt, Mack, Andy, John, Pat, Shaun, Brandon and Jeni agreed to hang around the hotel for an hour or so, with the notion of having a round table discussion about herping in Mexico. Cumulatively, this bunch has spent hundreds of days in Mexico, across many regions, and I thought it was an appropriate group to cover the subject. Thanks to the media's focus on drug cartels, Mexico can seem like a scary place, and my goal with this round-table was to get folks more comfortable with the idea of visiting and herping there. I can't wait until I get to go back!
We may have talked at lot about tacos, but hey, they are pretty terrific in Baja California. Thanks to the whole gang for sitting down and making it a fun conversation! I needed two photos to get everyone included in the round-table (pay no attention to those Little Caesar's pizza boxes).
FUTURE SHOW NOTE: My request for herp jargon is coming to an end - the window closes in two weeks! I’ve got a neat little pile, but I need more! Get those pithy phrases and clever words to me via the show email below, and we’ll get a future episode together from the results!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. shrimp taco recipes, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty One! I recorded a bunch of material while in Mexico back in September, including this episode with Shaun, Jeni, and Brandon Vought. I recorded our interview at the Casa Juarez bed and breakfast in La Paz (an excellent place operated by a lovely Italian couple), where we stayed before visiting Isla Cerralvo just off the coast. Herping families are a fairly common thing now, which I think is pretty cool, and so I was happy to get the Voughts talking about their experiences. A herping family and a family of metal heads as well (hence the intro done by Shaun and Brandon). I hope you enjoy our conversation - I know a number of parents who provide their children with full experiences out in the wide world, and not just with amphibians and reptiles. And I'm proud to know them.
FUTURE SHOW NOTE: I am still asking you to send me interesting herp jargon! I've got a neat little pile, but I need more! Get those pithy phrases and clever words to me via the show email below, and we’ll get a future episode together from the results!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. heavy metal t-shirts, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Howdy herpsters! And welcome to Episode Twenty! My guest is Steve Marks from Windsor, Ontario. And at left we see composite photos of Steve engaged in tracking fox snakes. Steve and I have been buddies for a long while now, and I am happy to get him on the show and talking about his projects and passions, which are often one and the same thing. One of the things we talked about is the Herb Gray Eco-Highway conservation project which Steve has been a part of for many years. The man has taken a deep dive into fox snakes and I was happy to get him talking about it! I've also had the privilege of watching Steve radio-track one of his beloved study animals up in Windsor - the man has done a wonderful job in not only keeping fox snakes going in Windsor, but in future-proofing their populations as well.
Steve is a well-traveled fellow and we covered some of his herp adventures in detail. I enjoyed our chat and didn't realize until near the end that we talked for nearly two hours! Wanna meet Steve? Come on down to Snake Road during Canadian Thanksgiving some time. Here are some links related to this episode:
A wonderful blog post written by James Paterson about the Eco-Pass and other projects
The Canadian Herpetological Society
Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre, Steve's favorite herp charity
TRIVIA: The teaser intro is borrowed from the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor, and adapted from Dashiell Hammett's novel of the same name. I'm doing my best to bring back obscure phrases like "crackin' foxy" and "I won't play the sap for you!" And if you haven't already seen it, the Maltese Falcon is worth your time. Film noir murder mystery at its finest and heaps of obscure phrases.
FUTURE SHOW NOTE: Speaking of obscure phrases, once again I am asking you to send me interesting herp jargon! Get those pithy phrases and clever words to me via the show email below, and we’ll get a future episode together from the results.!
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. maltese falcons, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome back to the show! After a few weeks off, here we go with Episode Nineteen, which features Dr. Alex Krohn. Alex and I have been friends for a decade, and we have visited some exotic places, and had many an interesting conversation, so I am happy to have one more conversation to share with you!
Alex is the assistant director of the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I took the photo of Alex, his wife Allie, and their dog Juniper at the south end of Snake Road a few days ago. It was great to hang out with the three of them while seeing some cool serpents on the road. Thanks for coming on the show, Alex, it was great to talk with you again!
FUTURE SHOW NOTE: In the intro I asked everyone to send me interesting herp jargon! Get those pithy phrases and clever words to me via the show email below, and we'll get a future episode together from the results.
And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. nights at the museum, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hi everyone and welcome! For Episode Eighteen, we travel to Arizona to talk with Michael Cravens. Mike and I go waaaay back, and we've spent time in the field together in a number of cool places, and had a number of interesting conversations around various campfires (hence the episode title). Mike and his wife Mary are from Missouri but have lived out in AZ for a number of years now, and it was good for me to chat with my old friend and catch up.
Along with talking herps, I also heard about Mike's work with the Arizona Wildlife Federation, and a couple of his side interests, including Hunt To Eat. Here's a link to an article Mike wrote for HTE - "A Life Defined By Wild Places", which I think you will find interesting. I am also including a YouTube link to "Wild Game Big Mac Challenge", where Mike takes on the infamous hamburger using a pound or two of elk. That was fun Mike! You're a natural and it was great to see the kids in there. And now I want an Big Elk Mac!
Mike is also involved with BackCountry Hunters and Anglers - which I didn't know much about, but I enjoyed looking through their website and there's a lot of interesting material there. If you're a hunter or angler and you haven't already checked BHA out, take a look!.
Thanks for coming on the show, Mike! Good to talk with you again. And thanks for listening, everyone! And don't forget, the podcast will be taking a two week hiatus after this episode, while I do some traveling. In the meantime, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. game cooking, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome! Episode Seventeen features my conversation with Priya Nanjappa (photo courtesy of Kevin Urbanek). Among other things, Priya spent ten years with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), and served as the state agencies coordinator for Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC), and she currently serves as one of the commissioners on the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. During our conversation, we got into the nuts and bolts of wildlife conservation, and we also talked about the Recovering America's Wildlife Act, which should be of interest to anyone who enjoys herps (or any wildlife, for that matter). From Rep Dingell's press release: "RAWA is the most signification investment in wildlife and habitat conservation in a generation. The bill would dedicate roughly $1.4 billion to the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program for proactive, voluntary efforts led by the states, territories and tribal nations to prevent vulnerable wildlife from becoming endangered." That's 1.4 billion EVERY YEAR, folks.
On another note, you all should know that So Much Pingle is not Priya's first podcast rodeo - we also talked about her guest appearance (as it were) on Alie Ward's Ologies podcast, where the subject was "Bufology". You can listen to the Ologies toad episode on your favorite podcast platform. You can also follow Priya on twitter (@toadallypriya) and on Instagram (wildbeautifulworld).
Thanks for coming on the show, Priya, and hanging in there while we worked through some technical difficulties! And thanks for listening, everyone! Please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. toad therapy, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello again everyone, and welcome to Episode Sixteen! I've been having a conversation with Daniel Dye for more than a decade, and for this segment, microphones were put into play! Along with amphibians and reptiles, Daniel also has a great deal of knowledge and experience with insects, spiders, and other invertebrates, and fortunately for all of us, he's crafty with a camera, and so there are a number of venues where you can check out his work. We didn't cover it in the interview, but Daniel is also a serious audiophile, and he has a home audio system that he built himself that will blow your hair back (I've been there, done that). I get a kick out of his Facebook posts that feature a delicious breakfast and a selected album to go with it. Jethro Tull's 'Minstrel in the Gallery' was on the turntable this morning - tasty stuff, Daniel!
Be sure to check out Daniel's Florida Backyard Snakes site, which also has a corresponding Facebook Group. And you can follow Daniel on Instagram (he's @danielddyeii) and he's on Flickr as well as Daniel D. Dye II. It was great talking with you again Daniel, and thanks for coming on the show! And as always, thanks for listening, everyone! Please keep the comments and suggestions coming! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions. product placement, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello again everyone, here is Episode Fifteen, the second part of my conversation with Justin Elden on this Sunday double-fun day. The main thrust of our conversation is Justin's work in Guatemala with the Highlands and Islands Conservatory, which is centered around the pictured Guatemalan pit viper, Bothriechis aurifer, but of course includes other herps and more importantly, their habitats. And of course, we wandered off topic, but in ways you'll appreciate!
Justin and his associates put in a lot of time and effort with this conservation project, and that includes getting the local people involved, and in some cases employed. So what can YOU do to help? Pretty simple - buy a tshirt or other merch at the links below and I will say thanks in advance!
The Highlands and Islands Conservatory also has a FaceBook page that you can follow. I'm also including a link to the associated Ranchitos del Quetzal Natural Reserve, where birders come to see the Resplendant Quetzal, and which I myself hope to visit when travel is again open and safe. I might even look for a quetzal.
Here's the link to Highlands and Islands merchandise, which feature Bothriechis aurifer, and here is the link to the original Mayan t-shirt design, which is pretty cool as well.
One more bit of Herp Love: here's a link to the FaceBook page of Andres Novales, who is involved with the conservation projects with his buddy Justin. Andres shares his great photos of Guatemalan wildlife on his page. Check it out!
And on a final note: we make fun of Marlin Perkins a bit, but the dude was pretty bad-ass in all actuality....
Once again, thanks Justin for coming on the show! And thanks for listening, everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hey there herpsters, it's Episode Fourteen! What shall we talk about? Let's ask the triumphant dude on the left, the one with the little viper in a tube. That's Justin Elden, the viper is Armenian (Montivipera raddei), and guess where they are? In this episode, I talk with Justin about his involvement with the St. Louis Zoo's mountain viper conservation project, (be sure to check out the link for more info and cool photos).
Justin and I both grew up in the St. Louis area, and we had a lot to talk about. The time just flew by as we covered a number of topics, and we talked so much that I decided to split the interview into two parts! Both episodes drop today, so bonus! There's more to come with Mr. Elden and you won't be disappointed.
Thanks for talking with me, Justin, and thanks for listening, everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, trainspotting, scary bear stories, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode Thirteen! Lucky! We're talking about herps, herp trips, photography, and the overall coolness of the cosmos with Josh Wallace. We've been to some places, and we've seen some things.....Josh also brings a strong herp meme game to social media, and we talk about that, and much, much more. The fantastic photo at top left is representative of Josh's astroscape work with a camera. Think about it, folks - while you're tucked snug in your beds, Josh is slapping his cheeks to stay awake and capture images of the universe as it wheels overhead.
So what's the correct way to pronounce Charina? Is it Shar-eena, Chair-eena, Car-eenah or Car-eyenah? Shar-eye-nah? Susan? Nobody seems to know, or agree. Regardless of how you pronounce it, you can check out Josh's herp, landscape, and astro photography at his Charina Photography portfolio site. You can also follow Josh on Instagram - @charina.photography
Thanks for listening, everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, arguments about pronunciations, cosmic debris, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Welcome to Episode Twelve! In this installment, I talk with Dr. Emily Taylor, professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly (California Polytechnic State University), and we cover a number of topics, including rattlesnakes and leopard lizards. Dr. Taylor is pursuing some fascinating lines of research and her passion for her work comes shining through. Now this episode comes with some homework - I want you all to read "Squirrels vs Rattlesnakes", an article Dr. Taylor posted to medium.com just a few days ago. You'll be glad you did!
We also talked about her Rattlesnake Beauty Pageant Calendar project - I know many of you will be interested, and 100% of the proceeds from sales of this calendar will benefit Advocates for Snake Preservation. Dr. Taylor sent out a call for high-quality photos of our buzzy pals, and when the herp world responded, she chose the best of the best for this calendar. Check it out! I pre-ordered mine today. You can also follow Emily on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram - she's "@snakeymama" on TW and IG. The cartoon image of Emily featured here is her Twitter avatar, and was rendered by Ethan Kocak, who also did the artwork for this show! He does good work.
Thanks so much for coming on the show, Emily, I enjoyed our conversation and my brain is still in high gear thinking about some of the things we talked about!
Thanks for listening, everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, robot burrow-cams, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hi folks! For Episode Eleven, we have an interview that I recorded last month, on location in eastern Colorado, with Tim Warfel and Hunter Johnson. The main thrust of our conversation was the recently concluded COPARC Otero County herp survey, and we managed to cover a few other topics as well. This was the eighth Otero survey and I was happy to participate, and to hang out with a lot of Colorado herpers. We found some pretty cool herps as well. In photo left is Ryan and Cambria Borgmann. Cambria was the youngest participant, and she got to see her first horned lizard and her first rattlesnake. Guess who the oldest surveyor was?
Herp surveys and bio-blitzes are great ways to meet and hang out with herpers, biologists, and others of like mind, while seeing some cool herps and helping with conservation and research efforts. For more information about upcoming COPARC surveys and other activities, join the COPARC Facebook group. There are some photos of CO herps and shots from the recent survey as well.
Also, check out the COPARC web page for more information on the group's activities. COPARC is a local chapter of PARC (Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation)
One more item - I threw together a trip report for the event on my Notes From The Field blog. Oh yes, and thanks to Jill Rials and Michael Moffat for the intro! :)
The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, dinosaur bones, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello again everyone! Welcome to Episode Ten! I like that double-digit number. For this episode, we're talking with Rob Kreutzer, AKA SmetLogik, a YouTube content creator par excellence when it comes to documenting herps and herp adventures. Rob, Jennifer and Nick Kreutzer recently relocated from the Denver area to Tucson, Arizona, and I caught up with Rob a few weeks ago in their new home. I really like Rob's approach to the herp vid medium - he's got a great sense of style and flair, as does son Nick (also, see photo at left). I've also had the good fortune to spend some time in the field with this father-son combo and I enjoy their company.
Here's a link to the SmetLogik YouTube channel.
And here's an Amazon link for some SmetLogik merch!
Also, I'm throwing in this photo of Rob's grandfather, who was the very first U.S. Forest Ranger. Those Kreutzers come from hardy stock! And you can read more about William Kreutzer on this Facebook page that Rob put together. Very cool!
Thanks for talking with me, Rob! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to the next time we can hang out in person.. And as always, thanks for listening everyone!
The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, forest ranger sightings, VHS versus BetaMax, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone! Episode Nine finds us both in and out of the water with photographer/herper Matt Sullivan. Two shows in a row where we dip ourselves in the drink to visit with fascinating creatures! We'll have time to dry off before our next installment, but for the moment, we'll talk with Matt about his experiences photographing both herps and cool aqua-creatures. Matt's underwater camera housing is featured in photo left - an awesome rig.
Matt's photography portfolio page is 9 Miles North (love the name). If you can, check it out before or during the podcast because we talk about some of the photos from his page.
Matt was also featured as Dive Photo Guide's Photographer of the Week - pretty cool.
And he was a featured guest on the Wildlife Inspired YouTube channel - 10 Images With Matt Sullivan - I think you'll enjoy a number of those episodes along with Matt's.
During our conversation, we also talked about Monterey Bay, and Matt alerted me to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's channel on Instagram - mbari_news - where you can ogle ocean critters non-stop. Check it out!
Thanks for coming on the show Matt! I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. And as always, thanks for listening everyone!
The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, Nemo sightings, octopi versus octopusses, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone! For Episode Eight, we take a deep breath and submerge ourselves into the world of the Hellbender via a conversation with Nick Burgmeier. When it comes to cryptobranchids (hellbenders are in the family Cryptobranchidae, along with the Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders), Nick is a subject matter expert. I enjoyed talking with Nick on the subject, especially since he and his colleagues have made great progress in protecting Indiana hellbenders. Nick is featured in the photo at left, with a hellbender, which is inside the water snake he's holding - we realize that even water snakes gotta eat, but why not a delicious bass?
Nick provided a ton of links to hellbender materials - this is part of a comprehensive effort to educate kids, landowners, fishermen, etc.
Help the Hellbender: Website Facebook Instagram
Brochures: Help the Hellbender, North America's Giant Salamander How Our Zoos Help Hellbenders Lesson Plans: These are standards based lessons that can be used in classrooms, home schooling, etc. The Nature of Teaching: Discovering the Watershed The Nature of Teaching: Healthy Water, Happy Home The Nature of Teaching: Hellbenders Rock! The Nature of Teaching: Adaptations for Aquatic Amphibians
Videos: Just some short videos we've made over the last few years. How Anglers and Paddlers Can Help the Hellbender Improving Water Quality Around Your Farm Improving Water Quality at Your Livestock Operation Improving Water Quality by Protecting Sinkholes on Your Property
Thanks for coming on the show, Nick, it was great to talk with you about snot otters! And as always, thanks for listening everyone!
The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, alternate names for hellbenders, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello again everyone! Episode Seven features a conversation I had with Bob Ferguson, recorded in the New Jersey Pine Barrens last month. I got to spend some time in the field with Bob and he was nice enough to spend an hour or so putting down the interview. In the photo, Bob is on the left with me and Nate Nazdrowicz, taken at Snake Road in southern Illinois (back in the days when we could be in close proximity). In our conversation we talked about herping in both local and exotic locations, adventure travel, and we also touched on Bob's calendar project. Bob's been to some awesome places on the planet and it was fun to hear him talk about it. I think Bob's energy and passion come shining through in this episode - he's a pleasure to talk with and a heckuva nice guy.
You can find out more about Bob via his social media channels: www.fascinature.net - lots of Bob's photos and other cool stuff And he also has a Fascinature channel on YouTube. On Instagram he is @bob_ferguson_fascinature Thanks for coming on the show, Bob, and as always, thanks for listening everyone! Next week we'll be underwater, so dress appropriately!
The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone! Here in Episode Six we're trying something a little different - we're talking about origin stories. How did YOU come into the world of amphibians and reptiles? Everyone has a story, and on this show we've got five people telling us about theirs. Four of the interviews were recorded in Peru in January 2020, and one just a few weeks ago. Some of these folks I met for the first time in Peru, and the rest I've known for some time.
Jill Rials is from Mesa, Arizona, and the critter she is holding is a smooth-fronted caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus).
Andrew DuBois is from Lakewood, Colorado. Here he is enjoying a Pinocchio Anole (Anolis proboscis) in Ecuador.
Cynthia Samake lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico. In this photo she is sketching a leaf-mimic katydid in our Madre Selva field station.
Elizabeth (Liz) Hughes lives in Phoenix, Arizona and here she is with her first giant monkey frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor).
Justin Michels is from Pekin, Illinois. We herp in Illinois together quite often, and here he is with a large and thankfully tranquil diamondback water snake (Nerodia rhombifer).
I hope you enjoyed our little origin story experiment! Thanks to Jill, Andrew, Cynthia, Liz, and Justin for coming on the show!, And as always, thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, origin stories, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode Five! In this episode I talk with Peter Mooney, a birder, world traveler, and herper from the era when it was called "snake hunting". A New Jersey native, Mr. Mooney served his country in Vietnam, and afterwards he spent time in teaching school in Jasper County, South Carolina. Along the way he knew many of the old-school east coast herpers.
I've spent time with Pete in Peru and in Cuba (he's on the far left in the photo, taken in Havana) and I've gotten to know him a bit. I heard some great stories from Pete about snake hunting in the old days, in both the New Jersey Pine Barrens and in the Okeetee area of South Carolina, and I knew I wanted to get him on the show.
I'm know many of you out there are are familiar with the works of Carl Kauffeld and Richard Bartlett, but since they are all out-of-print works that can be hard to find, I will list them here for those who haven't read them yet - these books carry the essence of the old-time snake-hunting days. Bartlett, Richard D. In Search of Reptiles and Amphibians. Published by EJ Brill, 1988. Kauffeld, Carl F. Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept. Doubleday, 1969 Kauffeld, Carl F. Snakes and Snake Hunting. Hanover House, 1957. All three are available from used book specialists (I like AbeBooks).
Thanks for coming on the show, Pete, and as always, thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode Four! My apologies for being a few days late, I was doing some out-of-state herping. In New Jersey. And it was great! But that's another story for another time.
Back in January, I interviewed Bryan Hughes in the Peruvian Amazon, during a bit of afternoon downtime. Brian and his wife Liz own and operate Rattlesnake Solutions, a Phoenix / Tucson company specializing in rattlesnake removal, and in techniques to keep rattlers away from homes and businesses. The welfare of the snake is an extremely important element of relocation, and it was interesting and gratifying to hear how Bryan and his people use their data and experience to move snakes to appropriate habitat. There is much more to successful rattlesnake relocation than I realized, but knowing Bryan, I'm not surprised that they are seeing positive results. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did!
The Rattlesnake Solutions website also has some cool tshirts that you may like, and RS has a Facebook page as well.
Thanks for coming on the show, Bryan, and thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, dirty limericks, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello again everyone! Thanks so much for your support, and your kind comments and messages! Much appreciated.
This is the Episode of the Bushmaster! This past January I sat down with Matt Cage in my tambo (AKA jungle hut) and we chatted about bushmasters (known locally as "shushupes". This photo is an in situ shot of the first bushmaster that Matt and I found in 2013. Since then we've paid attention to the habitat and weather preferences for this serpent, and have learned how to find shushupes on almost every trip (and we feel both lucky and grateful for such opportunities). Join us as we talk about our experiences with this super cool pit viper.
Matt's extensive herp photo collection is here on SmugMug.
Thanks for coming on the show, Matt, and thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, recipes, tips for herping better, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes! And don't forget to herp better!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome back! For Episode 2: The Python Problem, I chat with Mike Rochford, who certainly has a unique perspective on the issue of Burmese pythons in the Everglades, and elsewhere in Florida. I interviewed Mike back in January of 2020, and along with the skinny on Python bivittatus, he was kind enough to provide me with this photo, taken in Florida. Burms are awesome serpents, and it's not their fault that they are where they are - the photo speaks more to human folly than anything else.
Thanks Mike! I appreciate you coming on the show!
Thanks for listening everyone! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, recipes, secret herping spots, etc.
Stay tuned for more episodes!
-Mike
Hello everyone and welcome to the So Much Pingle Herpetology Podcast! This first episode is short and sweet - just an introduction to the show that describes how this thing is gonna roll. Conceived last summer and kicked off last winter, we'll start off with some episodes recorded as far back as January. I'm only a couple of months behind my target start date, thanks to a bit of a pandemic-related hiatus.
Show notes and links to the episodes will appear here at somuchpingle.com, and there's also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, recipes, secret herping spots, etc.
More content and other goodies to come as we get settled in to a production routine (this whole process is just a bit more difficult than I was led to believe).
Funk Intro and Reggae Outro by Kevin MacLeod Introduction by Nora Lenderby Artwork by Ethan Kocak (@blackmudpuppy on Twitter)
Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for more episodes!
-Mike