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Best field Guide
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by H20mocasin on September 13, 2005
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out of all the first guide to reptiles and amphibians books out there what is your favorite and which is the worst?
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RE: Best field Guide
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by earthguy on September 13, 2005
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I prefer the Peterson Field Guide (by Conant) for most applications. Whit Gibbons' "Snakes of the Southeast" (UGA Press) is an excellent guide for just the snakes.
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RE: Best field Guide
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by Sal on September 13, 2005
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For a large region I like the Peterson's guide to Eastern Reptiles and Amphibians. It has good drawings, key ID features, and also larval ID (amphibs of course)
If possible I recommend using your state guide. In my case, I use Bob Mount's Reptiles and Amphibians of Alabama. They are usually a lot more detail and can give more a better idea of the true ranges.
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RE: Best field Guide
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by paleoherp on September 14, 2005
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Theirs alot of usefull field guides that ive read i really like the reptiles of central america , frogs of australia , reptiles and amphibians of mount kinabalu and many more i like . The reptiles and amphibains of the west indies isnt what i expected though it has a lot of info about the reptiles that live there just no pictures to show you what they look like .
shaun
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RE: Best field Guide
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by H20mocasin on September 14, 2005
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My opinion the best field guides for beginners are found in most libraries...these are for the non-herper inclined. "Reptiles of North America" Golden Field Guide, "My first Pocket Guide Reptiles and Amphibians" from national geographic, National Audobon Society's first field guide: Reptiles, and "Reptiles and Amphibians" Smithsonian Handbooks. I know most would prefer petersons/conant or National Audobon's Green Reptile and Ampibians guides but they are too bulky for kids to read and the print is way to small for the over 50 crowd. The last book i mentioned above is very condusive to both middle and high school because it introduces many facets of herpetology including biology, collecting techniques, anatomy, reproduction, the reptile and amphibian evolutionary tree( a very confusing topic in schools these days you know evolution vs creation), and the pics of comparable critters from around the globe, not just the US, is very critical to keep the attention. The golden guide is particularly interesting because the meat of the guide lines up similar species side by side, even though the range maps kind of suck.
Here is what makes a great first guide...high detailed photos with anatomical features lined out similar to a biology text book, a large map of where it is found, color/physical description text, and a medium sized paragraph on the habits, habitat, reproduction, and subspecies/races of a particular species, or group of reptiles. The book needs to be less than 150 pages of context in the field guide section to be effective. Too small of text and the book is too easy, too much and can be boaring. I also like both photo and clip-art or hand-painted illustrations with this font captions or larger. I do not care for a ruler at the end of the book, as they are often inaccurate and you don't want to tear a book like this. Okay this is the end of my opinion
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