Lancaster Herpetological Society

02/12/2026

To mark the 1-year anniversary of our final meeting, we will be gathering for food and drinks this month! If you want to join us, please comment below or text Zach, Roy, Greg, Carter, Anne, or Jesse for the location, so we can get a head count. It will be Friday, Feb 20 at 7 PM in Lancaster. We are looking forward to reminiscing with old friends in a nice warm building, while it's still too cold to go herping! Hope you can join us.

09/25/2025

Have you ever encountered a hognose snake? Their defensive behavior is extraordinary!

https://youtube.com/shorts/OD1fn6RFRoQ?si=JNG1WGig-rjVO2ZV

09/01/2025

Ad Crable will be dearly missed. Thanks Ad, for all you did for reptiles and amphibians and every other critter.

06/20/2025

Would you help a snapping turtle cross the road? Here’s how to do it:

https://youtube.com/shorts/2032v7MVztU?si=euNo7DHXm6du16ym

Turtles are nesting this month, so they can use our help. Thanks for giving reptiles a chance!

04/14/2025

Would you have seen these basking reptiles?? 👀

https://youtube.com/shorts/ImWubL7PalQ?si=hwVrQqpmgiFffwfH

02/24/2025

Here’s a club memory from LHS board member Jesse Rothacker, and a photo of 3 of our founding members at the final meeting:

In 2005 I showed up in the back alley of the North Museum of Nature & Science with a handful of strangers. We were a ragtag bunch of oddballs and weirdos, stereotypical nature nerds. We had no idea how to do it, but we couldn’t wait to start a herpetology club!

Over the next two decades, new friendships were forged as we gathered every third Friday to learn from researchers, authors, veterinarians, zookeepers, and other animal experts, both professionals and hobbyists. As the years passed, we had weddings, baby showers, and even funerals. New club members came and went, moved away, and even passed away, as we shared in hundreds of meetings, field trips, hiking adventures, campouts, late nights with beer and pizza, and plenty of arguments and laughter.

Exactly 20 years later, under the same roof, the club gathered one last time. It was a joy to see so many old friends. Zach and Roy and I were the last three founding members who remained for all 20 years. I could not have asked for a better group of friends to spend an entire generation of my herpetology career alongside. Thank you to each and every person who made the Lancaster Herpetological Society so special. I feel richly blessed to have had this opportunity. The end of an era!

02/24/2025

Thanks to all who came out to our final meeting of LHS. We viewed hundreds of photos of club memories spanning several decades. The highlight of the event was watching the club “grow up” thru the lives of several members in the slide show. Here are a few of them, in no particular order:

This is Mitch Williams, who began attending LHS at age 10, and is now a senior in college. Mitch holds the record for the youngest member to give a full talk to the group!

We looked back at many other young members who attended LHS before growing up and moving into wonderful careers in conservation and education. Just to name a few more…

Zach Barton joined LHS while he was in college, then began his career as a biology teacher, where he introduced thousands of students to live reptiles and amphibians in his classroom.

Kyle Mays spent years at LHS before becoming a zookeeper at Baltimore Aquarium.

Mark Layton spent his early teenage years at LHS before becoming the director of the Refreshing Mountain Wildlife Center.

Kelsey Frey spent many years in LHS leadership before becoming the director of the Nixon Park Nature Center.

Roy Mellott spent many years at LHS before becoming a master naturalist and leading many, many outreaches to the public.

Both Jake Cramer and Brandon Dooley joined LHS as teens before going on to college and biology careers.

Taryn Shenk joined LHS as a youngster in 2005 and went on to a science career.

Dave McNaughton joined LHS as a young man and went on to a successful career as a wildlife biologist all over the country.

Bob Ferguson gave his first speaking engagements ever to LHS, and he has gone on to publish multiple children’s books about reptiles and amphibians, and raise funds to conserve thousands of acres of rainforest habitat.

Kyle Loucks shared many talks with LHS, and went on to be involved in field research for bog turtles and other species of concern.

Jesse Rothacker joined LHS as a baby-faced 23-year-old and went on to do thousands of educational reptile events for the public, on television, radio, and in-person. He will provide hundreds more reptile programs in 2025 as a baby-faced 43-year-old.

There are many more stories like this we could share. And while our regular meetings are coming to an end for now, the legacy of LHS lives on in our members and all of the lives that LHS has touched. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of LHS, for helping to spread our love for reptiles and amphibians.

02/21/2025

TOMORROW, Friday, Feb 21st, is going to be the last meeting of Lancaster Herpetological Society (LHS) before it goes on a long-term hiatus 😥. It will take place at the North Museum of Nature & Science at 7pm. Enter through the front door.

This meeting will be our opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of the club over the last twenty years, to reflect on where the group has been, to socialize, and to reminisce. We will be sharing over 200 photos from the past 20 years of herp-related goodness. We have many old and new faces planning to attend, so we hope you will join us!

10/16/2024

This month’s meeting is this Friday, 18-Oct-2024, at That Fish Place-That Pet Place. I am very excited to say that Dave McNaughton will be speaking about pond turtles in Lancaster County. Many of you will remember Dave from his tenure as the LHS president a number of years ago!

Meeting Date and Time
The meeting is this Friday, 18-Oct-2024, 7 PM, EST.

Meeting Location
That Pet Place/That Fish Place, 237 Centerville Rd, Lancaster, PA 17603

Speaker: Dave McNaughton – Pond Turtles of Lancaster County
Dave will talk about 3 species of Lancaster County Emydidae (pond turtles): wood, spotted, and bog, including his encounters with them in the region.

Dave now lives and works in San Diego as a Senior Natural Resources Specialist for the Navy at Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southwest. He has coordinated Dauphin County for PARS and was a former LHS President.

I am thrilled to have Dave back in Lancaster County to speak with the LHS. If you are free this Friday, come out to That Pet Place to hear a riveting talk!
-Gregory Wier, LHS

10/08/2024

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know there's a protein in copperhead venom called contortrostatin that is used in the fight against cancer?

Here's a video of a large copperhead that crossed the trail in front of one of our members this week:
https://youtu.be/s4JrVpVz0yE?si=Se2taqb16MPNniu0

09/24/2024

Great rattlesnake program in Lebanon this week!

We hope you'll join us on Wednesday 9/25/2024 for our next program:

Rattlesnakes Demystified by Dr. Scott Boback
Snakes in general, and rattlesnakes in particular, are probably one of the most abhorred animals in the western hemisphere. Some of this fear is because rattlesnakes are venomous and can harm or kill people. But do we really know much about them? In this talk we will journey into the world of a rattlesnake to reveal how they sense their environment, how and when they use their venom, and how they obtain water when none can be found. Hopefully by the end of the talk you will gain a greater appreciation for these often-maligned animals.

The program starts at 7:00pm and is free and open to the public. Our programs are designed for a general audience and children are welcome when accompanied by an adult.

Our programs are held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church located at 723 Lehman Street in Lebanon (north of Lebanon Middle School and east of Monument Park). The church has a well-lit parking lot with ample parking located behind the church off of Spruce Street. Please enter the church from the parking lot entrance.

09/17/2024

My friends and fellow herpers,

Thanks for following the Lancaster Herpetological Society (LHS). This Friday, 20-Sep-2024, is the next LHS meeting! It will be the last nature walk of the season, as it is starting to get darker earlier in the evening. To account for this, we will be meeting at 6pm rather than the accustomed 7pm. For this month’s meeting, will be exploring Pequea Township’s Silver Mine Park!

Meeting Date and Time
The meeting is this Friday, September 20, 2024, 6 PM, EST.

Meeting Location
Silver Mine Park Parking lot, across the road from a historic stone house: 39°56'40.3"N 76°18'46.8"W

If you have trouble finding the parking lot, please call Gregory Wier at 717-725-6269

Nature Walk: Pequea Township’s Silver Mine Park
Pequea Township’s Silver Mine Park consists of 151 acres of land divided by Silver Mine Road. The northern portion of the park is where we will be exploring and is where the park’s name is derived. It includes remnants of the Pequea Silver Mine, which had been sporadically operated since the colonial times to extract silver-containing lead ore. The entrance to the mine shaft is still standing, though it is sealed. This entrance was built in 1863 during the height of the Civil War, and may have been an effort to obtain lead ore for artillery. The northern portion of the park also contains a two-story lime kiln, which was used to burn limestone to create calcium oxide (commonly known as quicklime) for use in fertilizer and concrete. Even if we are not able to see any reptiles, we will be able to experience a few pieces of Lancaster County history!

Since sunset on Friday is 7:04pm, we will be starting the walk at 6pm, which is an hour earlier than normal.

Hope to see you this Friday!