Twelve Months of Northern Ohio Herps in 2022 (Part 3)

Herp habitat.

Spring Peeper - This tiny frog can be heard calling any month of the year in Ohio if conditions are right.

A Black Rat Snake that I saw in Cuyahoga Valley National Park on May 10.

A Common Snapping Turtle with a leech on its nose.

A feisty Eastern Garter Snake - most individuals can be identified by the presence of three yellow stripes down their dark body.

This (non-native) Cooter/Midland Painted Turtle combo was also seen on May 10.

An American Bullfrog seen in Cuyahoga Valley National Park on May 12.

I did a little "community outreach" with this wild Eastern Garter Snake before releasing it.

A Common Snapping Turtle in need of a haircut.

A rather colorful Green Frog. Green Frogs tend to stay close to the water’s edge, ready to leap in (and often give a squeak) if they sense danger.

A sweet looking suburban Eastern Garter Snake on May 14.

A Northern Ringneck Snake on May 17. It's easy to see how this snake gets its common name.

On the same day, I found this Dekay's Brown Snake too.

On May 21 I found my first Pickerel Frog of the year. In case of attack, Pickerel Frogs have an interesting defense mechanism: they emit skin secretions which are irritating to people and toxic to some predators. This toxicity makes the Pickerel Frog the only poisonous frog native to the United States.

An Eastern Milk Snake that I found on May 22.

And a suburban Eastern Garter Snake found the same day.

A super-fine Northern Red Salamander found on May 23. The habitat for this colorful creature is under rocks and logs in and around cold, clean springs and adjacent brooks.

An American Bullfrog/Green Frog combo in Cuyahoga Valley National Park on May 24.

A Common Snapping Turtle/Midland Painted Turtle combo seen there the same day as well.

Other turtles were seen that day as well, such as this (non-native) Red-ear Slider.

A Midland Painted Turtle. True to their common name, these turtles usually have red or orange markings along the edge of their shell.

A newly metamorphosed American Toad found on June 8.

A "spotted" Eastern Garter Snake. Though usually strongly striped, these snakes can vary quite a bit in appearance.