Sept. 16, 2018 - Reptiles

I took only a few reptile photos this summer; all of them were taken at our lake home in northern Minnesota. This is a Gray Treefrog. I know, it’s green, not gray. They can change from gray to green, allowing them to blend in with their environment.

FrogGrayTreeWildflowerGardenDunningLakeItascaCounty20180721

Here’s a side view of a Gray Treefrog. Notice the brown stripe running from the eye down along the belly of the frog. These frogs are from 1½ to 2 inches long.

TreefrogGrayFieldwindturbineDunningLakeItascaCounty20180810

We also have Spring Peepers at our home. They are only ¾ to 1 inch long. They have a brown X on their backs and you can see it pretty well in this photo. They also have a brown stripe running from the nose, through the eye, and back behind the front leg.

PeeperSpringFieldwindturbineDunningLakeItascaCounty20180810

Here's a cute picture of a Spring Peeper clinging to a stem of grass.

FrogSpringPeeperDunningLakeItascaCounty201807144x6

We have lots of Painted Turtles in our lake. This partially submerged log provided a place for eight of them to sun themselves.

TurtlePaintedDunningLakeItascaCounty20180906

Earlier this year, I showed you some photos of a snapping turtle burying her eggs in our driveway. I put some large rocks over the spot to keep them safe from raccoons and other predators. That was just over three months ago and our reptile book says the eggs should hatch in two to three months. I took the rocks off over a month ago. Since then, no predators have disturbed the nest, but no baby turtles have emerged either. I will wait another month and if nothing has happened, I plan to dig into the nest to see what is going on.

TurtleSnappinglayingeggsDunningLakeItascaCounty20180609