Questions only a Herpetologist would ask...

ABDonovan

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
119
Ok, so only one question is related to Herpetology. ;) Anyways, HI! My name is Missy, but everyone knows me as AnnaBeth for whatever ungoddly reason. You can call me A.B. lol

Me (23) and DH (22) are reserving in the next week or two for Disney World in October (19-28). We are avid campers and after two months of debating, we have decided to camp at Fort Wilderness. I have looked through the picture thread and even on the Disney Site at all the ammenities, and it DEFINATELY looks like my cup of tea. I'm an M.S. candidate in Wildlife Biology and a Herpetologist specializing in Colubrids (harmless, egg laying snakes). So, I am more than excited to not only camp in Florida, but to BE AROUND FLORIDA HERPS!

Questions:

1) Have any of you caught glimpses of any snakes or lizards while you were camping?

2) Do you have any pics of said animals?

3) Are you allowed to walk down to the creeks and water edges, to look for animals or just to check it out?

4) How generic is it? Basically, am I going to be camping there like I'm in a summer camp or a hotter and much smaller hotel? Or can I explore and see animals and things?

--

Questions non-biology related:

1)My best friend is staying at the All-Star Music Resort. Is there a tram that goes between all the resorts? She may want to sleep over.

2) Does anyone have prices on the activities? I am particularly interested in the Horseback Riding and any trail tours I can get my hands on. I am also particularly interested in renting bikes. Do you rent the bikes for a certain amount of hours? or can you rent them by the week?




If you have any prices, that would be great. I already know that we are looking at 1200 dollars with no mealplan (we would rather bring some deer meat and things from home). So, we have plenty of room for fun expenses, besides the parks.

Thanks in advance!:cool1:
 
I have not stayed at Fort Wilderness, but if you are that into Herps then I would rent a car and drive out a bit to some of the less inhabited areas to see some cool dudes. I am sure they will make your trip worth it.
 
I have seen snakes, lizards, alligators, deer, opossums, racoons, rabbits, and armadillos all in the Fort. I have even seen an alligator in the Magic Kingdom (in the river around Tom Sawyer Island and several snakes in Animal Kingdom. 2 weeks ago while in line for Tough To Be a Bug a snake cut through the line between me an my DS.
Yes you are free to roam around the Fort to investigate and admire the wildlife.
 
I was there about 2 weeks ago and saw a snake by the playground near the dog park. It looked black in color and was about 3 ft long.
We were also over aat bill fredricks park at turkey lake where we was gopher turtles. They have their holes ropeded off with signs saying they are nn endangered list
 

There are plenty of lizards/salamanders. You may also want to visit.......

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiative...sweprotect/the-disney-wilderness-preserve.xml

Horseback riding info.......

http://www.wdwinfo.com/recreation/trailride.htm

Feel free to explore. There is a nice trail by the lake, starts at beach and ends up at Wilderness Lodge.

There is no direct shuttle from resorts. You need to bus to a theme park and then bus to The Fort.

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We have gobs of lizards in our site whenever we're there. Last Halloween we had a long black snake who seemed to live at the base of the tree about 2 feet away from the back of our concrete pad. It was about 3 feet long, and we were in the 300 loop, which is right near the playground/dog park where a pp saw a similar one (heck, maybe it was the same one, lol!)

While biking over to Wilderness Lodge, a huge, long brown snake of some sort slithered right between my bike and dd's as we were riding single file on the sidewalk leading up to the Lodge.

Dh and dd have both seen armadillos.....I've never seen an armadillo, but I hope to one of these days! And we always see dozens of deer when we bike ride between the Fort and Wilderness Lodge. They usually cross the path right in front of our bikes (or stand right on the path!), and we park and watch them as long as we can (until someone noisy goes by.) The deer are one of my favorite things about the Fort!
 
The last time at the fort the dog and I watched a deer swim across a canal.
We've seen lizards/salamanders, those little green tree frogs, Armadillo's and what appears to be a million gray squirrels. Years ago the thug ducks where very aggressive it appears that problem has been taken care of.
Only snake we ever saw was at Typhoon lagoon under a bridge at the lazy river. I also noticed a truck several times, cant remember the name on the side but,it was one of those critter catching companies.
SamBuster (steve)
 















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