Dan and I had been dipping for dwarf siren and then road hunting for several hours. At 4:00PM, we found ourselves on a sand road south of the "Big Lake" (Lake Okeechobee) and we were about ready to call it a day. Dan had to drive back to Miami and I to Gainesville. Fair distances, both.

We were on what we decided would be our last drive of the day along the long dirt road. The drive northward had been uneventful and we were almost to the end of our southward return.

Snake!



A fair-sized, heavy-bodied snake was crawling slowly onto the road. From a distance we had thought it to be a cottonmouth. No great prize, but when herping is slow any and all herps are a welcome sighting. As we neared and the snake crawled farther on to the road it became apparent that it wasn't a cottonmouth - it was an eastern hog-nose.

This made what had been a rather blah day a really nice one. But it was about to get even better. As we photographed the female that was now almost across the road, an adult male crawled out of the edging grasses about 6 inches from where we first saw the female.

Bingo. Breeding time! And then from about 20 feet farther down road a second male was sighted. Dan and I spent considerable time taking photos and when we left we were both smiling.