Summer's First Island Expedition

It is going to be a summer filled with adventure and danger for The Reptile Enthusiast Gang and the first big shoot of the summer was an incredible success. In 6 days our team, Coyote Peterson, Jasper Applewood, Chammp Swaggerty and Blasco captured and photographed 15 species of reptiles and amphibians on Erie Islands North and Middle Bass. We faced some pretty extreme weather conditions and the environments were anything but forgiving.


The first order of business was the Lake Erie Water Snake segment...my job was to get into the water and wrangle the reptiles, they are fast, ferocious, and have mouths full of needle sharp teeth. Luckily they are not venomous so the bites were bloody but not life threatening.



Here are a couple of the 10 LEWS we captured. The second one here was the biggest of the trip...nearly 4 feet long and the attitude to go with it, the lacerations and punctures on my fingers were proof of that!



The second night of the trip we spent the evening capturing Bull Frogs in an enormous marsh on Middle Bass Island...some of the biggest frogs you have ever seen and they were a handful to catch!

On day 3 we headed to the remote island of North Bass it is only a few miles from Canada and upon arrival we knew we would be in for some fun. The environments are nearly unexplored and the animal life on the island was incredible. From birds and mammals to hordes of reptiles and amphibians...this stretch of the trip is where we captured some of our greatest creatures.


On North Bass we caught 12 of our 15 species including:

The Eastern Fox Snake: These beautiful reptiles are rather docile considering their pretty demanding size. This one was about 4 feet in length...but gentle as a baby kitten.


Several Common Snapping Turtles were captured on this expedition...here are some of the smaller ones...the big ones...well...we need to save those images for the pilot episode...can't give away all the treats this early in the game!


Jasper Applewood, field factologist and Common Snapping Turtle lover!


Here are a couple more of the smaller, yet still mighty beasts of the bog!




I'm Coyote Peterson...and this...is The REPTILE Show!


Special thanks to Jasper Applewood for providing all of this incredible photography! These pics are just a few of the best...check out the rest of them at www.thereptileshow.com