Tag Archives: herpetology

Episode 101: Hiatus Mini-Episode

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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

 

Episode 99: All the Venom in Amazonia

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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

Episode 97: Dr. Emily Taylor: Cali Snakes & Rattle Cams

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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

 

Episode 96: Origin Stories VIII with Dane, Lucas & Brady

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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

Episode 95: Massasaugas with Dr. Mike Dreslik

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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

Episode 94: Herp Science Sunday: Dr. Alex Krohn & Dr. Harry Greene

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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

 

 

Episode 90: HerpMapper Turns Ten

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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

Episode 89: Hogtober with Noah Fields

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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

 

Episode 88: Invasive Tegus with Rachel Pikstein

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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

Episode 87: Herp Science Sunday with Dr. Alex Krohn

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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