Montpellier Snake

[Jürgen Gebhart]

... But the question is - should we make it kind of "cool" to catch and show off, or should we make it kind of cool to show the animal and it's habitat. I prefer the latter.

Micha

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Perfect!

This picture shows exactly what fieldherpers are doing.
Running over fields, destroying micro habitats and plants by flipping something and/or stepping on it, disturbing animals and catching herps.
Than the catch, the snake have no idea what`s going on, the fieldherper is an enemy, it is fighting for his life, what a big stress moment for the creature.
Next the fieldherper try to calm the snake down, the fieldherper lay down in the grass (destroying habitat again) and than the moment the fieldherper get a chance for a pic and he use it, but than the bad moment, the sanke try to escape, and the procedure starts again.
After a while the fieldherper think he got what he want, a perfect Trophy shot, and he shows the snake that he his a good boy and release it in the wilderness!

We in Germany have rules and laws against that and many other countries around the world too!!!

No more Words!

And I don`t want to start a new battle!

These are just my 2 Cents on all this senseless discussion we have in the past, present and we will have in the future.

[Mario Schweiger]

[Martin Romanov]

I know I am new here but I feel like giving my opinion.

Are you suggesting that we should tip-toe avoiding every ant and flower when we go herping? When I go herping I go for my plesure not for the animals's. Lots of things can be stressful for the animal in the wild. I want to interact with the animals and photograph them It's not like I'm injuring or killing them. The stress is hardly life threatening for the animal. Animals at the Kentucky reptile zoo which are used for venom extraction (every 2 weeks) live long and reproduce without any problems. I think it's more stressful for the animal to pull it out of it's cage, grab it by the head and extract its venom than to catch it and photograph it in the wild.

[Ilian Velikov]

We in Germany have rules and laws against that and many other countries around the world too!!!

Jurgen, I thought you hate the law!? I got your point and I think we should all stop pointing the finger at other people and blaming them for stuff that we ourselves do too (like catching snakes to photograph them)!

Martin, Jurgen is just refering to a previous discussion we had here on the forum, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't suggest destroying habitat, etc.

Michael, great shot as usual! Keep these beautiful photographs comming and take it easy!

[Jürgen Gebhart]

We in Germany have rules and laws against that and many other countries around the world too!!!

Jurgen, I thought you hate the law!? I got your point and I think we should all stop pointing the finger at other people and blaming them for stuff that we ourselves do too (like catching snakes to photograph them)!

And I still do!

Good Point Ilian, we have to clear up with ourself what and how we do it!

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Thanks Jürgen! I really appreciate it.

Although likely to be denied, I would say that's about as cynical as anyone can get ...

I think Michael is often misunderstood, which I would attribute for a significant part to his rather bold way of phrasing things. He means for us to question our behaviour, as I think I understood by now (between the US guns and other imho somewhat over-the-top analogies). Fine by me, but the issue for me is/was whether you allow to show this here or not. I don't mean to get personal, just trying to keep the atmosphere friendly...

Now let's get back to that Malpolon picture. Two things...
1) To me, while technically very decent + showing a marvelous subject, your picture shows an animal in a rather unnatural pose on a not really natural substrate. I prefer a more natural look, although (a) I realise that would inevitably be also a staged shot, (b) I'm usually too lazy to do it & lack photographer skills to make it look as good. In line with what I said, I don't mind if it goes with a picture with a human in it.
2) What's the deal with Malpolon that so many people seem to like them that much? Just the "serious look"? It's just a rather dull-coloured snake, no?
Come on, let's hear it from the Malpolon lovers...

[Mario Schweiger]

2) What's the deal with Malpolon that so many people seem to like them that much? Just the "serious look"? It's just a rather dull-coloured snake, no?
Come on, let's hear it from the Malpolon lovers...

As you know, I´m not the special Malpolon lover, but this snake has some behaviour, thats interesting!
Beside "cleaning its self", I think its the only snake (at least from all the species I´ve seen) showing a really interest whats going on around.
See a Malpolon, fleeing when you come to close.
Dont try to catch him!
Sit down nearby and wait.
He will come out again and definitively is watching you, knowing exactly you are the one, first was moving around and now sitting like a rock in the landscape.
And, if you have time - and not have to run to the next location for the next species - you may watch him, how he will get used to you, as long as you not really disturb him.
Just a dull grey to brown snake - but with a fascinating behaviour!
The second species I know with a nearly equal behaviour is dull grey too - Dendroaspis polylepis

Mario

[Martin Romanov]

I think all of Dendroaspis have this behaviour but I sure wouldn't want to find out personally

[Jürgen Gebhart]

Sorry that I came back again, the last time I promise.
Please don`t understand me wrong, I don`t want to left a bad feeling with the things I was writing.
It is what it is!
I`m not better and I`m not more worse than other fieldherpers.
Sometimes I`m out and I ask myself what I`m doing here, is it right what I`m doing?
And I know some of us ask the same question from time to time.
But the thing is I`m a fieldherper and I`m a headhunter and this is my hobby, this is my life and I love to do it!
As I wrote before, clear it up with yourself.

headhunter`s pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56611613@N ... 580439456/

[Peter Oefinger]

Here we go again - great discussion! I know why I love this mad forum.
Btw: Great shot, Michael - I'm still missing something like that on my reptile pages