Category Archives: Episode Post

Episode 34: Orianne, Indigos and Buzztails with Dr. Chris Jenkins

February 21, 2021Episode Postamphibians, herp podcast, Indigo snake, Orianne, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Four! Here’s a shout-out to all of the people in Texas, I hope today finds you recovering from the terrible weather last week. Much warmth and good wishes to everyone.

PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Bill Peterman, Cynthia Samake, and Paul-Erik Bakland!. Thank you Bill and Cynthia and Paul-Erik! And thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Our guest this week is Dr. Chris Jenkins, CEO of the Orianne Society. In addition to operating Orianne, Chris also hosts the Snake Talk podcast, which is great and I’ve enjoyed listening to about half of the episodes so far, and I also made an appearance on the show with Don Becker to talk about the HerpMapper Project. Of course I wanted to talk with Chris about Orianne, and about Snake Talk, but we also talked about rattlesnakes! I’m always down to chat about crotes, and it was good to hear Chris’s perspective on observing and enjoying our buzzy buddies in the wild, and not surprisingly, we share some of the same sentiments about enjoying rattlesnakes in a hands-off manner.

I had a great talk with Dr. Jenkins and I hope you all take the time to visit the Orianne Society’s landing page and see what the organization is all about. And if you haven’t already done so, check out Snake Talk! You can reach it via the Orianne page, or search for it on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for coming on the show, Chris!

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, places you’ve never herped but really want to, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers! Mike

Episode 33: Obsessed with Amphibians: Jodi Rowley

February 14, 2021Episode Postamphibians, Australian frogs, FrogID, herp podcastsomuchpingle

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Three! The polar vortex continues here in east-central Illinois, the mercury is pooled at the bottom of the thermometer, so put on a sweatshirt, make yourself a cuppa, and pull up a piping hot episode about frogs! Our guest this week is Jodi Rowley, a conservation biologist with the Australian Museum in Sydney. Jodi has been involved with frog field research in Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other places, and she is also involved with a very cool community science project called FrogID.

On her Facebook page, Jodi describes herself as “a conservation biologist obsessed with amphibians”, which is something a lot of us can identify with. I’ve enjoyed her enthusiasm and passion for frogs on social media and I was not surprised to have those signals come in loud and clear during our conversation. Along with her field research, we discussed the Australian FrogID project, which has been tremendously successful in getting ordinary folks involved with recording calling amphibians, and these days, species conservation absolutely requires the attention and involvement of everyone.

Thanks for coming on the show, Jodi! I had a great time talking about frogs (I guess that’s no surprise to anyone). And folks, you can follow the FrogID project on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

PARC: As I mentioned in the show, here are some links for Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation: the main PARC page, and a ‘find PARC‘ page with a map that identifies which PARC chapters cover which regions. Check it out!

PATREONERS! Thank you so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

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, frog calls you can learn from home, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers! Mike

Episode 32: H-Snakes and Horny Toads with Dusty Rhoads

February 7, 2021Episode Postamphibians, herp podcast, Phrynosoma, reptiles, subocularissomuchpingle

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Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode Thirty Two! Holy cow it’s cold here (thank you polar vortex!) and I’m just gonna stay inside today. I’ve got my coffee, I’m thinking of warm places and I’m whispering encouraging words to the furnace, so it’s all good.

Before we get into this week’s episode, I hope you enjoyed Episode 31, the Jargon Episode, and if you liked the panel discussion format, I would love to hear from you about it. If you have suggestions for another discussion-type show, send them to me and thanks!

PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: David Burkart, and Adam Cooner!. Thank you Dave and Adam, and thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Our guest this week is Dusty Rhoads, a Texan living in Texas, who recently completed his Master’s degree at TCU. This episode focuses on two of Dusty’s ongoing interests – the Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (Bogertophis subocularis), and the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum). So many people (including me) were introduced to the “H-Snake” by reading “The Search for Subocularis“, a chapter in the late Carl Kauffeld’s book Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept. Our guest Dusty literally wrote the book on Subocs (see photo) and has a book on Texas Horned Lizards coming soon. I enjoyed our talk and learned quite a bit more about these iconic reptiles, and by the way, Dusty still has copies of his book available (send a note to ‘subocs@gmail.com’).

Thanks for coming on the show, Dusty! And folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.

And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming! 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.

Cheers! Mike

Episode 31: The Jargon Episode

January 24, 2021Episode Postamphibians, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty One, recorded on New Year’s Day! And I hope you all remain happy and healthy and that 2021 will be a good year for all of you.

PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Anastasia Ware, and Tim Warfel!. Thank you Anastasia and Tim, and thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

So this week’s episode features a different format – a panel discussion with guest hosts Andy O’Connor (top photo, right) and Justin Michels (bottom photo, right). The three of us had an enjoyable conversation as we waded through a list of words and phrases that were sent to me by the listening audience. Of course, we didn’t cover everything, and we did wander away from the subject here and there, but we still knocked out a significant chunk of the list. I hope you enjoy the episode and please drop me a note to let me know your thoughts.

Also, in the epilog after the show I mentioned Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America – Explained which is a website created by Ellin Beltz. Check it out and I hope you find it useful. One more thing – more information on the etymology of the word ‘terrapin’ can be found in my Getting To Terrapin blog post (links to scholarly info in second paragraph).

Thanks for coming on the show Justin and Andy! Good to talk with you both. And folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.

Cheers! Mike

Episode 30: Watching Frogs with Gina Zwicky

January 17, 2021Episode Postamphibians, FrogWatch, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello again everyone, and welcome to Episode Thirty! Today’s episode was recorded just before Christmas. And I hope you are all doing well – keeping your heads down and remaining healthy.

PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Michael Cravens!. Thanks Mike, and thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Our guest this week is Gina Zwicky, a New Orleans biologist who studies reptile immunogenetics, and leads NOLA FrogWatch trips. I follow Gina on Twitter (she’s @GinaGoesOutside) and I enjoyed getting to know her during our conversation. We talked about her immunogenetics research (more specifically, anoles and malaria), Meatball The Tortoise, some interesting earlier work she did in the Pacific Northwest, and FrogWatch USA, which has chapters all over the place (see the link for more info), and hey, there’s a FrogWatch online training seminar coming up on Feb 1st.

Thanks for coming on the show, Gina, and Happy New Year folks! Let’s stay safe and healthy! Thanks again to all my Patreoners, and folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.

Cheers! Mike

Episode 29: Jeff Lemm

January 10, 2021Episode Postamphibians, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Nine! I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we make our way into 2021. I took a few weeks off over the holidays to rest and recharge, but I also recorded some interviews, including this episode.

PATREONERS! Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode: Josh Emms, Matt Cage, Patrick Connally, Chris McMartin, and Justin Elden. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Our guest for this week’s episode is Jeff Lemm, a zoo-based herpetologist/researcher based in southern California. Jeff has been involved with many research and conservation projects in various places around the planet, and I enjoyed talking with him about some of that. Jeff has also been the author of several excellent book projects – he is the author of the Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (part of the California Natural History Guides series) in 2008. Living in the San Diego region, Jeff was a natural for putting this guide together (and let me tell you, writing field guides is a labor of love, emphasis on labor).

Jeff has also been heavily involved in research and conservation efforts for West Indian rock iguanas (genus Cyclura), and consequently he is a coauthor of Cyclura: Natural History, Husbandry, and Conservation of West Indian Rock Iguanas.

Jeff has also spent a considerable amount of time in Australia, which we discuss in our conversation. We also talked about his role as a principal architect of the North American Field Herping Association (NAFHA). I hope you enjoy our conversation, I sure did!

So Happy New Year folks, and let’s stay safe and healthy! Thanks again to all my Patreoners, and folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.

Episode 28: Origin Stories, Part Two

December 21, 2020Episode Postamphibians, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello everyone! Welcome to Episode Twenty Eight! I had so much positive feedback from the Origin Stories episode, I knew I would have to do another. I started collecting interviews last May, and finished up the last one here in December. Five stories. Three hours. I may have gone a bit overboard, but you all have been very good this year, haven’t you?

PATREONERS! I want to give a shout-out to our new patreon contributors since the last episode: Michael Moffat, Andy O’Connor, Jake Scott, Deb Krohn, Duane McDermott, and John Sullivan. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Let’s break it down for this week’s guests! First up is Ryan Borgmann. Ryan lives in Longmont, Colorado, and I’ve used this picture of him and his daughter before. Ryan’s photographic work (including his Beauty of the Misunderstood work) can be found at No Coast Photography.

Our second guest is Marisa Ishimatsu from San Rafael, California. You may remember Marisa from the recent Best-Worst episode. Her photography can be found on Flickr. The photo is from Peru and she’s having all the fun.

Josh Emms lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is the current president of the New Mexico Herpetological Society. Some of Josh’s family (see photo) had cameos on his segment and that was a lot of fun.

Kamil Scepanski came on the show on short notice and it was fun talking to him about salamanders. His cool website is here (translatable to English) and here’s a link about the California newt migration that we talked about. His photo is a happy one, after finding Pleurodeles nebulosus in Tunisia.

Closing out the show is Deb Krohn, AKA The Frog Lady. I enjoyed talking with Deb and I think she makes a tough job look easy. Deb lives in the Chicago area and operates FrogLady Presentations.

So there you have it! Thank you all for your comments, suggestions, advice, support, Patreon support, and for listening to the show! I love hearing people tell me that they listen to the show while in the car. Have a great, safe, and healthy holiday season everyone, and we will talk again next year!

Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!

-Mike

Episode 27: A Conversation with Jeroen Speybroeck

December 13, 2020Episode Postamphibians, European herps, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Seven! And we add yet another country to the list with this episode, a lengthy conversation with Belgian researcher / author/ herper Jeroen Speybroeck, recorded on Thanksgiving. We had a lot to talk about during this episode, including Jeroen’s fire salamander research, herping in various places around the globe, and also his very good field guide to the herps of Britain and Europe (see second photo). Jeroen and I are both life listers, and we talk about that a bit, and for the second show in a row, Australian thorny devils (Moloch) are discussed (top photo of lucky Jeroen and a thorny devil, I’m just a bit envious).

After the interview and before this episode was released, I got a copy of the Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Britain and Europe (available on Amazon!). Between the species descriptions, range maps, and lovely species illustrations by Ilian Velikov, the book is excellent, and Jeroen and his collaborators should be proud of the work. I’ve been poring over my copy, stroking my goatee and making future plans…

Another thing Jeroen and I have in common is the documenting of herp adventures – his trip reports can be found here and are most certainly worth your time. Jeroen is also on Facebook and Instagram. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

PATREONERS! I want to give a shout-out to our new patreon contributors since the last episode: Mike Rochford, Josef Thompson, Alex Krohn, Matt Ratcliffe, Jeroen Speybroeck, Bryan Hughes, Brandon Bourassa, Josh Holbrook, and James Mcghee. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!

-Mike

Episode 26: Aussie Herps with Scott Eipper

December 8, 2020Episode Postamphibians, Australia herps, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Six! We’ve had shows coming from the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and now we get to add Australia to the list. Last month I talked with Scott Eipper, who hails from Brisbane, up in southeast Queensland. Scott and his wife Tie own and operate Nature 4 You, and though their company they are involved in wildlife demonstrations and education, surveys, consulting, and more Scott and I talked about his work, but it was also great to chat about herping in Australia, and some of the differences and similarities to North American herping. I enjoyed Scott’s perspectives, and I have to say that I got more than a little pumped about someday visiting Australia, and perhaps the date for ‘someday’ just got bumped up a little bit.

We also talked about Scott’s book projects (see above photo), co-authored either with his wife Tie or with Peter Rowland. I have the frog book, and it’s pretty good – I will have to pick up more before I head over to you know where.

Patreon: This episode marks the Patreon kickoff for the So Much Pingle podcast, and a number of folks were kind enough to respond the first day! Many thanks and an SMP shout-out to Justin M, HerpMX, Jill Rials, Smetlogik, Joshua Wallace, Ryan “Jungle Deviant” Borgmann, Marty Whalin, Christopher Smith, Emily Taylor, John Burris, Kamil S, Brandon Kong, ChellsBells, James van Dyke, and Brandon Ballard! Much appreciated. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page.

Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!

-Mike

Episode 25: The Best Worst Project

November 30, 2020Episode Postamphibians, herp podcast, reptilessomuchpingle

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Hello again everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Five! The episode where I experiment with a different format – 13 segments featuring a baker’s dozen of folks sharing their best and worst (or worst and best) experiences in the realm of amphibians and reptiles. That’s twenty six anecdotes, if you think about it. I have been collecting these tales of woe and woah for a few months now – many thanks to Andy, Mack, Bryan, Phil, Matt, Marisa, Shaun, Brandon, John, Pat, Alex, and Justin for your participation in this project. I had a lot of fun talking with this group and (with one notable exception) no two stories are alike!

STATE OF THE PODCAST NOTE: I’m still working on making some merchandise available, and I hope to have that and a Patreon supporter page available soon! Thanks for your patience!

Stay tuned for more episodes! And don’t forget to herp better!

-Mike