Reddit reviews Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition (Peterson Field Guides)

Welcome! First and foremost, I'd just like to say that herpetology is such an underrated and generally unknown science by most of the world. Herpetology comes from the Greek word herpetón, which means creeping thing or essentially just something that crawls. The world has insane diversity of herpetofauna and you can find animals pretty much anywhere you go, so it's a great hobby that doesn't cost much at all.

And of course, we all like to catch the animals and look at them and admire them, but it is important to have a good understanding of the effects of doing this. Picking up animals brings a risk of spreading disease, hurting the animal, or causing them stress. This is especially true of our amphibious friends. I'm not going to preach about some protocol wearing nitrile gloves and whatever, but when dealing with these animals you should thoroughly scrub your hands with just water beforehand to remove as much oil as possible. It would be wise to look up more guidelines -this looks like a decent site. For reptiles, it's a good idea to ID whatever you catch before grabbing it, ya never know what might be venemous or painful.

When flipping logs (the best way to find most salamanders and lots of other herps), be sure to flip the log, remove the animal from the log, and put the log back in place. Then when you're done looking at the animal, place it directly next to the log. This will prevent any animals from getting squished. It's also a good idea to reposition the leaf litter around the log so that no moisture escapes.

Know your local fauna! I live in the Northeast U.S., so I don't really have to worry about venemous snakes except for copperheads and maaaayyyyybe a rattlesnake. But northern water snakes still bite! Aside from knowing what can hurt you, it's good to know basic information about each species that lives there, such as their range, behavior, habitat, and IUCN status. For example, if you find a really endangered herp, it might be important that you report it's location, or at the very least take care to not harm it. Knowledge about local fauna will come with time, but it's good to get some basics, which can come from a lot of googling.

Speaking of that, it's also good to get a nice field guide if you can afford it. If you're in the U.S., I definitely recommend this guide. Other than that, always just pack a bag with hiking essentials and you should have all the necessary supplies to get started-no need to buy a fancy snake hook or anything like that yet.

The most important thing is to just get out there and gather as much knowledge about your local fauna as possible. This will only come by spending hours in the field. For example, at a certain point you might begin to recognize that the terrain may be too inundated with water for a terrestrial salamander to live there, or there might be a frog species which prefers a specific type of evergreen tree. The brain is magnificent in its ability to recognize and learn these hard to describe patterns. So yeah, just get out there and have fun. Keep us updated!

EDIT: and one last thing, try to learn terminology! Actively try to use scientific words to describe behaviors or morphology, as it will naturally expand your vocabulary and knowledge of this science and you will be able to speak very clearly about the animals that you study.

There are a number of resources for snake ID and this list is nowhere near comprehensive.

Globally, comprehensive species lists are available via Reptile Database Advanced Search. Reptile Database is mostly correct and up to date in terms of taxonomy. Another worldwide resource is Snakes of the World which, in addition to being comprehensive for extant snakes, also provides a wealth of information on fossil taxa.

Regional guides are useful. If you're in North America, the Eastern Peterson Guide and Western Peterson Guide are great tools, as is Snakes of the United States and Canada. While plagiarized and problematic, the book Snakes of Mexico is the best easily accessible information for the region. For Central America, the Kohler book as well as Savage's Costa Rica book are excellent resources. South America is tough but has a diagnostic catalog. Australia has Cogger as a herp bible. SE Asia has two guides one in German and one comprehensive. For Europe, you simply can't get better than the three volumes of Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas. Africa is also difficult - no comprehensive guide exists but there are a few good regional guides like Reptiles of East Africa and Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa. Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar is a good source for that distinct region. For the Indian subcontinent, use Snakes of India

Remember, species names are hypotheses that are tested and revised - old books become dated by the nature of science itself. One of your best resources is going to be following /r/whatsthissnake, or (for North America) with the SSAR Standard Names List for the most recent accepted taxonomic changes.

Here is an example of a small personal herpetology library.

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Peterson field guides... ive got a box full of them lol This is the one i think youre looking for

I'll just copy and paste what I responded to earlier in the comment thread. Too lazy to type.

"Snake head shape is also a bad idea. Most snakes will flatten their head when threatened or preparing to strike. Think of what cobras can do, but not so extreme. This is to puff up and look more threatening. This isn't 100% universal, but a common behavior.

Yes your rattle snakes of the family Crotalidae/Viperidae do have very prominent head shape, but the rattling is such a better way to pick them out. Contrasting, the coral snake, Micrurus tener, has a very round head, looks very similar to milk snakes, however their neurotoxin venom will kill you.

EDIT: Best advice I have is to just pick a field guide of your region and read it. (https://www.amazon.com/Peterson-Reptiles-Amphibians-Eastern-Central/dp/0544129970) Other then that, just let the sneks be sneks and slither away!"

A general idea of location would help greatly. For example, Peterson's 4th edition has the most up to date taxonomy for half the the US, and is fairly detailed, but Werler and Dixon's Texas Snakes has a ton of easy to read snake natural history information, but is limited to Texas.

If you can give us a location we can perhaps give better suggestions.