Richard D BartlettFlorida's Snakes: A Guide to Their Identification and Habits

The images and the descriptions are great! I bought this for a friend who moved to a protected wildlife area of FL because she will inevitably see plenty of snakes. The only bad part is that the descriptions of the snakes are printed in the front the images are towards the back (not side-by-side.) It's ok for quick identification though. I appreciate the information and the author's apparent respect for the ecosystem without having an agenda. It's a fascinating read even if you're not into snakes.

I bought this book a while ago (they have apparently changed the cover in the meantime, but the copyright date is the same- 2003.)I decided to start reading it after seeing all the news in the papers about invasive species here in Florida. I was expected a dry, textbook style read, but this is a well thought-out publication.The species descriptions are numbered to match the numerous color plates in the middle of the book. Within each species description is a description about size, identification, behavior, habitat/ range, biology, and most importantly, a MAP showing the distribution of the species.Good for beginners, but has more than enough information to keep seasoned snake enthusiast satisfied. I drop this in my field pack when I am heading into in the woods.

Nice pictures an information.

We needed a book to help us know the difference in what snakes are dangersous here in Florida. Then it happend we had a run in with a rattler and a timber one at that. I know that was a no brainer however before we got the book we had a run in with a few and I know you can tell by a snakes eyes if they are poisonous or not but who wants to take that kind of time! lol! Now that we have the book I was able to read about the ones I had a run in with. It's a great book!

While the book has lots of information and photos, they did not put the photos with the information. They could have at least given you the page number to find to photo, but the photo pages are not numbered. It seems that the authors wrote the text, which is very intuitive, and then someone else added the photos to the book at printing. The photos are lettered or numbered but the letters/numbers do not appear to reference the text.I will keep the book, but I would certainly not call it a "quick" reference guide. :)